Club Competitions

club championship

The Club Championship is ‘standard play’ (1 hour or over time control) which is run as a 7 round ‘Swiss’ competition. Each round is allocated a time period of about 6 weeks in which to play the games. Games are usually played at the club on a Wednesday evening but can be played anywhere, any time. Players drawn with the white pieces must contact their opponent to arrange the game.

The dates, which are displayed below each round, are the dates by which the round is to be completed and any unplayed games will, without good reason, be defaulted in favour of black. White needs to contact their opponent within 2 weeks of the pairings being drawn to avoid losing by default, even if it’s to say that they won’t be available for a while. If you don’t, your opponent can claim a win by default. So, don’t wait until you know when you can play and if that might be after the deadline, tell me, I will, within reason, extend your deadline but if you don’t tell me, you will lose by default.

Mike and Nathan played their game yesterday, with Nathan geting the upper hand. This leaves just Alice v Michael and that should be played May 20th. There is however, still Ciso v Mike to play from round 2.

The draw for the fourth round and the crosstable can be seen below.

Good luck in your games…

……………Andy McAtear 10th May 2026

club Knockout

The Penrith Club Knockout is, as the title says, a knockout competition played at 1 hour each on the clock. The winner will progress to the next round, the loser is knocked out of the competiton. If the game is drawn, then you will play another game with colours reversed and if that game is a draw, there will be 30 minute rapidplay games, again with colours reversed. If after the rapidplay there is no winner after two games, an ‘Armageddon’ game (6 minutes for white and 5 minutes for black but black need only draw to win the game) will be played with colours decided at random. So, bear in mind the possibility of several games to be played by the deadline and contact your opponent early.

The date above the round in the table below, is the date by which the round must be completed. Colours will be decided at the board with a coin toss. There is a possibility that your game will end in a draw, so please take that into account and leave enough time to play rematches before the deadline.

The player on top of the pairings, in the table below, should contact their opponent to arrange the game.

The pairings for the 2025-26 Penrith Club Knockout have been drawn and are displayed below. The date above each round is the date by which the round is to be completed which, by my reckoning, gives each round about three months.

Round 1 was completed last night when Nathan embarked on a complicated combination against Eggert and lost a piece. Nathan fought on in an endgame of several pawns each and a knight for Eggert but he resigned when there was no obvious chance of a draw.

………………Andy McAtear 7th May 2026

club ladder

The Ladder is ‘rapid play’ (over 10 minutes and under 1 hour time control). There are many ways to run a ladder competition but these are our rules:

1) Anyone can challenge anyone.

2) The player on the higher rung has black in the first game and colours alternate thereafter.

3) The time control is 30 minutes all the moves.

4) The higher placed player must win or draw to retain their position on the ladder. If they lose, they drop one rung and their opponent takes their original rung.

5) The player on top at the end of the season (July 31st) , provided that they have played at least 10 games, will receive the trophy ….but, after every third session there is a time-out, anyone who hasn’t played a game since the previous time-out will drop one rung and be replaced by someone who has played.

Just one game last night. Dave H challenged Andy. Dave sac’d a rook to get out of a sticky situation but despite Andy’s king looking vulnerable, it turned out to be quite safe.

All results and current positions below:

…………….Andy McAtear 7th May 2026

Club Quick Ladder

By popular demand, we have started a Quick Ladder competition. The rules are the same as the Rapid-play Ladder but with 15 minutes, instead of half an hour, to play all the moves.

Only one game this week; Dave H found that he couldn’t castle without losing a piece that was pinned to his king by Andy’s queen. Andy gradually employed more pieces and eventually, the pressure on the pinned piece became overwhelming. There would have been no change in the Quick Ladder positions, except that this week was a timeout week. Both ladies benefitted this time, with Alice and Sibella moving up 5 rungs. Alice is now poised on the 3rd rung and Sibella on the 11th.

Positions and all results below:

……………..Andy McAtear 7th May 2026

Club Blitz Ladder

Again by popular demand, we have started a Blitz Ladder competition. The rules are the same as the other two Ladders but with 4 minutes + 6 seconds per move.

Eggert made a bid for the top rung of the Blitz Ladder by challenging Cameron but despite winning the first three games, failed at last hurdle and Cameron retains the top rung for another week. This week was a timeout week but it made no difference to positions.

Positions and all results below:

……………..Andy McAtear 9th April 2026

blitz championship

The Blitz Championship is, as the name suggests, a blitz (all the moves in 10 minutes or less) all play all competition. As some struggled to set the clock, the time control going forward, is anything less than 10 minutes per game. Each match must be won by 2 games in order to pick up 1 match point. As some matches can last many games, they need not be finished in one session, colours are recorded, along with the score, so that adjourned matches can continue where they left off.

Alice has taken the lead in the Blitz Championship after beating Andy 3 – 1 last night. There are three players just one match point behind so anything can happen before August.

…………..Andy McAtear 9th April 2026