CLUB INFORMATION
 
 

Watford Chess Club's venue is Herts Bowling Club, Bellmount Wood Avenue, Watford, WD17 3BT. Club nights are on Mondays for both adults (7.30 onwards) and juniors (6.0 onwards)

 

Intending new members of all levels and abilities (with the obvious proviso that they know how to play chess) are welcome - but, if it's your first visit, we recommend contacting us first to let us know you're coming.  That way, we know to expect you.  Club policy is that newcomers are allowed two visits as guests to sample the atmosphere and decide whether they wish to apply to join the club.  This website aims to give full information about the club but, if you find there is anything not covered here, please use the "Contact Us" facility and a committee member will get in touch. 

 

Adults and juniors play competitively.  League match programme for 2023-24 is as follows:

4 Nations Chess League (4NCL) - two teams

Hertfordshire League - two teams 

Hillingdon League - two teams (juniors only)

World Chess League.live - one team (Chess.com)

Online 4NCL - one team (Lichess)

Online Junior 4NCL - three teams (Lichess)

 

There was a short General Meeting of the club on 8 January to deal with important developments since the adjourned AGM on 18 December, when both motions were passed nem con.  The two motions put to the 8 January meeting were also passed nem con.  

 

Latest OTB results: Hertfordshire League:  Hertford 3 3-2 Watford 2 (30 January) Watford 1 4-1 Enfield 1 (12 February), St Albans 6 3.5-1.5 Watford 2 (19 February). Watford 1 3.5-1.5 Royston (26 February) Letchworth 3 1.5-3.5 Watford 2 (4 March)  National League:  W Watford A 2.5-3.5 Iceni B, SPTW Uni 6-0 Watford B (10 February), SPTW Young Stars B 0.5-5.5 Watford A, Watford B 3.5-1.5 War & Piece B (11 February),  SPTW Uni 2-4 Watford A (9 March), Watford A 3.5-2.5 SPTW Young Stars A (10 March). See "Results" (when fully updated) for details of these, and previous, matches.

 

 

 

 

 

 4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE

Two teams confirmed for 2023-24 - details to follow.

Our 2022-23 squad (two teams) was fairly evenly divided between adults and juniors.   Watford 'A' played in Division 3 East, Watford 'B' in Division 4.   Both events took place over 11 rounds spread across five weekends.

 

DIVISON 3E - FINAL PLACINGS Match Points Game Points
1 Anglian Avengers 1 17 40
2 Cambridge University 2 16 36½
3 Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg 13 33
4 Hull & East Riding Tigers 13 31
5 Crowthorne A 12 32½
6 Iceni 1 10 31½
7 Sussex Martlets 2 9 29½
8 Poisoned Pawns 8 29½
9 Surbiton 5 22½
10 Watford A 4 20
11 MK Phoenix 1 3 23
12 Guildford Castles (w/d) 0 0

 

DIVISON 4 - FINAL PLACINGS Match Points Game Points
1 Average Wood Pushers A 20 47
2 Poole Patzers 18 44
3 Wessex Some Stars A 16 40½
  ..................    
28 Watford B 7 17
  ..................    
35 Cambridge University Y2 2 4½

 

Time control is first 40 moves in 100 minutes with another 50 minutes for all remaining moves plus 30-second increments per move starting at move 1. 

Above - the 4NCL scene before the action starts

 

4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE ONLINE 

See above.  Contact Paul Litttlefair if interested.

 

HERTFORDSHIRE CHESS LEAGUE

 

See above.   Use "Contact us" tab if interested.

 

MINUTES OF EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING, 8/1/2024
 
1.   There was a quorum at the meeting which appointed Roger Lancaster as chair and Ushma Chadha as minute-taker.
 
2.   It was proposed that the club open an account with Metro Bank (subject to Metro Bank being agreeable) as soon as this could conveniently be arranged.   This was passed nem con.
 
3.   Ushma Chadha (club secretary), Sagar Patel (club treasurer) and Roger Lancaster (juniors secretary) had been nominated by the committee as signatories for said account with Metro Bank and their appointment was confirmed nem con.
 
4.  The meeting's intention was that any one of these signatories would be valid for payments not exceeding £300 but, for larger payments, a second signatory would be needed.   If this was not possible, the club committee was instructed to negotiate with Metro Bank for whatever most closely resembled this arrangement.
 
 
MINUTES OF ADJOURNED AGM, 18/12/2023
 
1.   There was a quorum at the meeting which appointed Roger Lancaster as chair and Ushma Chadha as minute-taker.
 
2.   Sagar Patel had been nominated by the committee as club treasurer and his election was confirmed nem con by the meeting
 
3.   Sagar Patel, Paul Littlefair and Jennifer Hurrell had been nominated by the committee as signatories for any future account with Barclays Bank and their appointment was confirmed nem con by the meeting
 
4.   EGM called for 8 January to deal with any further matters arising

 

 
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 5 September 2022 and the Extraordinary General Meetings held on 19 September 2022, 13 February and 28 August 2023 have been moved to the 'Club Constitution' page of this website.
 
MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 11/9/2023
 
1.   Appointment of chair / minute-taker for meeting.
  • Roger Lancaster (RL) appointed as Chair
  • Ushma Chadha (UC) appointed as minute taker
2    Consider, and if appropriate approve, minutes of AGM of 5 September 2022 - Nothing to consider, approved
 
3.   Consider, and if appropriate approve, minutes of EGM of 19 September 2022 - Nothing to consider, approved  
 

4.   Consider, and if appropriate approve, minutes of EGM of 13 February 2023 -  Nothing to consider, approved

5.   Consider, and if appropriate approve, minutes of EGM of  21 August 2023 - Nothing to consider, approved
 

6.   Deal with matters arising from any or all of items 2-5 above - Nothing applicable

7.   Agree to defer consideration of the Club's accounts until an adjourned meeting of this AGM, the date thereof to be fixed once accounts are available.   Agreed, noted that the club treasurer has resigned.  Therefore, there are no club accounts to discuss at present and accounts will be discussed once they are available.   However RL observed that, as far as he was amiss, there was nothing radically amiss. 
 
8.   Receive and consider report on the past year's activities.  RL provided feedback as follows:
  • Over the board chess has not been strong.   Although the club's first team narrowly avoided automatic relegation in the 4NCL, its first team in the Hertfordshire League finished bottom of Division 2 and were relegated.
  • The club had approximately 40 junior members.  However, around 6 adult members of the club, many unhappy at the way the club is developing, appear to have decided not to rejoin.
  • Last year's treasurer has advised that the club will run at a loss if subs are not increased and the financial arithmetic worsened with the unexpected move, during the year, to HBC.
     
9.  To consider, and if applicable approve, the committee's recommendations regarding annual subscriptions for 2023-24, being
 
(a)   For the general membership, being those who attend club nights, £75 due on 1 October or alternatively payable by two instalments of £38 due on 1 October and 1 January; and
 
(b)   For those who do not attend club nights, £15 due on 1 October but with the committee to consider a supplementary charge for those playing in weekend events such as the 4NCL.   A discussion followed:
  • All in agreement for subscription increase to £75 pa irrespective of age of the member.     Discussion for  non club night attending members, or family discounts to be discussed adjourned to a later date.  
  • A point was raised that junior members should be given a discount.  However this was countered with the fact that the juniors tend to attend club nights and take advantage of any training offered.
  • The £75 rate was agreed with item (b) to be left to the committee to decide
10.    To consider any motions subject to their having been received no later than 4 September - none received 
 
11.    To amend clause 5.1.3 of the club constitution by replacing the words "aged over 16" by "aged over 14" so that all members eligible to vote are also eligible to join the committee
  •   After much discussion it was agreed nem con that  "aged over 16" in clause 5.1.3 of the club constitution shall be replaced with "aged over 14" so that all members eligible to vote are also eligible to join the committee was agreed.   This vote met the two-thirds constitutional requirement.
12.   Elect Officers, Secretaries and Committee for 2022-23. Committee nominations are:
 

President:   None at present

Treasurer:   None at present

Club Secretary:   Ushma Chadha (incumbent)

Membership Secretary:   None at present

Juniors Secretary Roger Lancaster (incumbent)

Tournament Secretary      None at present

Other Committee members   Ewan Davids, Tomy Joseph, Maya Saujani, Sophie Mitran (incumbents)

  • Ewan Davids agreed to take on the role of Membership Secretary.  It was felt that it was important that the club offer a meet and greet service to potential new members.  The meeting thanked Ewan for agreeing to perform this vital function.   

 

13.   Appoint suitably qualified auditor     This can only be done once the accounts are in order.  So, this is adjourned till date TBC.
 
14.   Any other business
  • A discussion was had around increasing membership numbers for adults and juniors:
  • Suggestions focused on:
    • Attracting sponsorship for the club
    • Reaching out local educational institutions.  Thanks to Mia Scally for offering to share information with Middlesex University students The Juniors offered to share information with their  schools.
    • It was also felt that a club identity and the Membership secretary was much needed role and vital to creating the right impression of the club for new members.
  • The club is heavily reliant on the goodwill and time of Roger Lancaster in teaching the juniors
    • It was noted that whilst the juniors form the larger part of Watford Chess Club's members, there was no desire to be a junior only club.  The club is a community where it is hoped that juniors will progress their skills and continue to play chess as adults for Watford Chess Club, it was noted that a number of members had been here for a number of years and had formed friendships and had no desire to play elsewhere at the age of 16/18.
    • The appointment of Ewan Davids as second coach to some extent removes the single point of failure for the junior coaching but further assistance is still required.  Suggestions for assistance to be adjourned date TBC.  However, there was a discussion around more parental involvement and some of the higher rate juniors assisting in training younger juniors.  It is also felt that the expansion of resources in this space, along with more thought as to playing layout may assist in noise control.  
    • For a fee coaching services to be brought in occasionally.
  • It was agreed that the committee would consider these matters and endeavour to report back at the adjourned session of the AGM

Note to Minutes:   Sophie Mitran's intention to stand down from the committee was not received in time to be recorded in the Minutes but this, and Ewan Davids' agreement to take up the role of Membership Secretary which has an automatic place on the club committee, means there are now two committee vacancies.

 

 

PRICE CUP   

 

Round 4 results as notified to the ECF Rating Officer (junior names in italics):   Darrell ?-? Luuk, Simon 0-1 Risharb, Tomy 1-0 David H, Keith 1/2 Sanjay, David S 1/2 Jake, Sophie ?-? Judith,  Aashna 1-0 Kevin, Jasdeep 0-1 Ananya, Vijesh bye.