All posts by John Upham

John is an English Chess Federation accredited coach and has taught in schools and privately since 2009. John started chess relatively late(!) at the age of twelve following the huge interest in the Spassky-Fischer World Championship match in 1972. John Upham is the founder of British Chess News, staff photographer and the IT Manager. John performed similar roles for British Chess Magazine from 2011 until 2015. John is an English Chess Federation accredited coach and has taught in schools and privately since 2009. John started chess relatively late(!) at the age of twelve following the huge interest in the Spassky-Fischer World Championship match in 1972. John is Membership Secretary of Camberley Chess Club and an ordinary member of Crowthorne and Guildford Chess Clubs. John plays for Hampshire and for 4NCL Crowthorne. John is Secretary of the Hampshire Junior Chess Association and the Berkshire Chess Association and manages the Chess for Schools partnership. He has played in the British Championships and represented Yateley School, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Guildford Chess Club, CentYMCA, Crowthorne Chess Club and Camberley Chess Clubs. He is an active photographer for with his own gallery. John has both junior and adult learners as private students. John has recently re-launched the Hampshire Junior Chess Association. John has recently started playing for the Crowthorne team in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).

Hampshire Junior Open Congress 2024

We are delighted to continue our return to Over the Board (OTB) chess with our fourth tournament of 2024 on Sunday, November 17th at Badger Farm Community Centre in Winchester.

Full details can be found from this EventBrite entry form.

You may see who has entered via here

(Please note that no Badgers will be farmed or otherwise harmed during this event)

Ted Mayne
Ted Mayne
Sophia Blin
Sophia Blin

Monthly Lichess Team Battle: November

Lichess.org
Lichess.org

The Monthly Team Battle on the Lichess Arena will take place on Monday, November 4th starting at 6pm.

Please register at https://lichess.org/tournament/63oZ9HBc

Please register for this ASAP!

The match starts at 6pm monthly on a Monday night and completes by 7.30pm

Please register (for free) on lichess.org and then email me (John Upham) at john.upham@zen.co.uk and will get you into the team!

Hampshire EJCOA National Junior Championships Qualifier 2025

We invite all junior chess players who are under 20 years of age to compete in the Hampshire qualifier for the National Youth Championships organised by the English Junior Coaches and Organisers Association (EJCOA).

This will be on Sunday, February 2nd 2025 at the Badger Farm Community Centre, Winchester.

The cost of entry is £30 and the event has five rounds of rapidplay chess that are ECF rated.

The entry form is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-ejcoa-national-junior-championships-qualifier-2025-tickets-1054117637229

Please enter ASAP as places are limited!

(Please note that no Badgers will be farmed or otherwise harmed during this event)

Hampshire Open Junior FIDE Blitz 2025

The Hampshire Open Junior FIDE Blitz is for all players who are aged 18 or fewer years on August 31st 2025 regardless of location of residence and / or school and will take place on Sunday April 13th, 2025 at Badger Farm Community Centre, Winchester.

There will be 15 rounds by Swiss pairings, Blitz time control, a £215 prize fund.

At the moment the entry is limited to one hundred players so be sure to enter early to avoid disappointment!

See https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-open-junior-fide-blitz-2025-tickets-1055001490859 for full details

See Swiss Manager / Chess Results

£215 prize fund.

Here are the results from the 2022 hugely successful event.

Here are the results from the 2023 hugely successful event.

Here are the results from the 2024 hugely successful event.

(Please note that no Badgers will be farmed or otherwise harmed during this event)

Hampshire Delancey UKCC Megafinal Date & Venue Confirmed

New Hall, Winchester College
New Hall, Winchester College

HJCA is delighted to confirm the date and venue for the Delancey UKCC Megafinal 2025 as

Sunday, June 22nd, 2025 at New Hall, Winchester College, Winchester, Hampshire.

Entries are on-line here or https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/

You may see who has entered so far via here

Please put this date into your diary!

She Plays to Win

Introduction

An event designed for girls of 18 years old or less who  are new to tournament chess and this event will be either their first or one of their first tournaments.

This is part of the She Plays to Win (SPTW) initiative created by IM Lorin D’Costa

More details at She Plays To Win Official Web Site

Please enter via: https://form.jotform.com/241126242122036

Entries to date:    https://chess-results.com/tnr973984.aspx?lan=1

Schedule  (Sunday 22nd September, 2024)

Round 1. 10am
Round 2. 11.am
Round 3. 12pm
Round 4. 1pm
Round 5. 2pm

The time control will be rapid play with twenty (20) minutes for each player.  DGT 2010 timers will be used throughout.

Prize Giving: 3pm

Prize Fund

1st- £30
2nd- £15
3rd- £10

Entry will be confirmed once payment have been received.

All entries will be updated on chess-results.com at https://chess-results.com/tnr973984.aspx?lan=1

All SPTW enquires to Maha Chandar email: kidschess@hotmail.com

Results: Hampshire EJCOA National Junior Championships Qualifier 2023

Forty eight children started play in the 2023 EJCOA Qualifier at the Badger Farm on Sunday February, 12th.

The Under 8s were merged into the U10 section due to insufficient entries.

After six rounds the results were:

Under 10 (and Under 8)

Under 12

Under 20

All results are submitted for rating by the ECF. You may see this by visiting

https://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/new/list_games_swiss.php?event_code=HE10&section_no=1
https://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/new/list_games_swiss.php?event_code=HE12&section_no=1
https://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/new/list_games_swiss.php?event_code=HE20&section_no=1

You will notice they are submitted as Standard Play whereas they should be Rapid Play. We are having this corrected.

The prize winners in each section after six rounds were:

Under 8

In third place was Kota Kudmany (Winchester)

Runner-up was Advik Bommireddy (Kempshott)

Advik Bommireddy
Advik Bommireddy

Winner was Samuel Cupela (Rake)

Samuel Cupela
Samuel Cupela

Under 10

In third place was  Reuben Thurstans (Basingstoke)

Reuben Thurstans
Reuben Thurstans

Runner-up was Daniel Gunton (Winchester)

Daniel Gunton
Daniel Gunton

Winner was Carolus Tang (North Bristol)

Carolus Tang
Carolus Tang

Under 12

Third place was Stanislav Belyaev (Hampshire)

Stanislav Belyaev
Stanislav Belyaev

Runner-up was Oleksii Pustyntsev (Hampshire)

Oleksii Pustyntsev
Oleksii Pustyntsev

Winner was Henri Blin (Sussex)

Under 20

Best placed girl was Sophia Blin (Sussex)

In third place was  Ashton Grimmett (Crowthorne)

Ashton Grimmett
Ashton Grimmett

Runner-up was Matthew Deacon (Fareham)

Matthew Deacon
Matthew Deacon

Winner was Finn Schell (Southborne)

Finn Schell
Finn Schell

Congratulations to all those who took part and had a great day of chess!

Prior…

We invited all junior chess players who are under 20 years of age to compete in the Hampshire qualifier for the National Youth Championships organised by the English Junior Coaches and Organisers Association (EJCOA).

This will be on Sunday, February 12th 2023 at the Badger Farm Community Centre, Winchester.

The cost of entry is £30 and the event has five rounds of rapidplay chess that are ECF rated.

The entry form is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-ejcoa-national-junior-championships-qualifier-2023-tickets-514065542877

Please enter ASAP as places are limited!

Hampshire Junior Trial / Selection Tournament

We are delighted to continue our return to Over the Board (OTB) chess with our first tournament of 2022.

This will be the

Hampshire Junior Trial / Selection Tournament on Sunday, February 13th, 2022.

Full details can be found here.