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The club will be closed 20th, 24th and 31st December

Bristol Open: 27-30 December 2024

Event Details (Entries received)

  • Venue:  Bristol Bridge & Clifton Chess Club, 99 Oldfield Road, Hotwells, Bristol BS8 4QQ
  • Entry Limit: 60 players (First come, first served)
  • Entry Fee:
    • £50 before 30th November 2024, £60 from 1st December 2024
    • ECF Bronze and Non-members: Additional £15 (juniors £6)
  • Competition Format:
    • Section: Single Open Section
    • Rounds: 7 Rounds, Swiss System
    • Time Control: 90 minutes per player plus a 30 second increment per move
    • 2 half point byes; not available in the last round
    • FIDE & ECF Rated
  • Playing Schedule:
    • Friday 27/12/24  Round 1: 18:40
    • Saturday 28/12/24  Round 2: 10:00;  Round 3: 15:00
    • Sunday 29/12/24  Round 4: 10:00;  Round 5: 15:00
    • Monday 30/12/24  Round 6: 10:00;  Round 7: 15:00
  • Prizes:
    • The prize money is based on 60 entrants and is indicative. In the event of less than 60 entrants the prize fund will be reduced.
    • 1st £500, 2nd £250
      best junior £100, (min 3 juniors under 17 on 1st September 2024)
      best woman £100 (min 3 women players)
      5 rating prizes of £100
  • Refunds:
    • Before 30th November £2.5 admin fee deducted and remaining money paid.
    • 1st to 15th December 50% refund
    • after 15th December no refund
  • Additional Information:
    • Tea, coffee, drinks and snacks will be available from the bar.
    • Smoking/Vaping: Strictly prohibited within the venue and grounds.
    • Mobile Devices: Must be switched off and unreachable during games.
    • Child Supervision: The responsibility of the parent or guardian.
    • Data Use: Player details will be held electronically for administration and future events. Please let me know if you wish to opt-out.
    • Liability: The organizer is not responsible for personal items or accidents.

Please fill out the Form to register your interest.

Bristol League season 2024/25 (please use the links to check the teams’ schedule)

KO and MKO fixtures

Division 1 fixtures; Clifton A (Mondays), Clifton B

Division 3 fixtures; Clifton C

Division 4 fixtures; Clifton D, Clifton E (Juniors 1), Clifton K (Thursdays)

Division 5 fixtures; Clifton F

Division 6 fixtures; Clifton G, Clifton H (Juniors 2)

It is never late to join the club and play chess either casually or for a team!

Bristol League Seasson 23/24

Division 1 – Clifton A 2nd place.

Division 2 – Clifton B 1st place.

Division 3 – no Clifton team.

Division 4 – Clifton Juniors 1st place.

Division 5 – Clifton C and D won 1st and 2nd place respecivelly.

Clifton are winners of the League Minor Cup.

Elliot Bleeg won the U18 shiled.

90th Bristol (Centenary) Congress

Several club members succesfully competed at the tournament.

IM Chris Beaumont won the Bristol Championship (23/24) for the second year running.
Advay Misra won the U1600 section with a perfect score of 5 points out of 5 games. Second place was shared between Rayyan Mussa and Milan Milicevic both Clifton club members.

Please read the detailed report here.

89th Bristol Congress

Several Clifton club members played at the tournament.

IM Chris Beaumont is the Bristol Champion 22/23 with an impressive score of 4.5 out of 5 games.
Tom Weale won the U1600 section with 4.5 points out of 5 games.

Please read the detailed report here.

Obituary: Professor Michael Furmston

We regret to report the death of Professor Michael Furmston who was a member of the club for several years early in the millennium while he was at Bristol University. He played correspondence chess and continued to work into his late 80s.

Here is a link to an article regarding his long and distinguished academic career: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-09-michael-furmson-1933-2020

And a link to the Varsity match a mere 64 years ago: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/195603vars-viewer.html

Covid-19 update

Due to the pandemic the Bristol and District Chess League was suspended in March. The League has decided that it would be impractical to restart the League and all divisions would be decided on the basis of the average match points gained over the matches completed (teams having completed a different number of matches depending on when their fixtures fell).

The result is that Clifton A are Champions by the smallest of margins from Clifton B (1.56 per match as against 1.54). The B team had actually dropped less points but had played fewer matches.

The League has no plans to start the new season as it is difficult to reconcile over the board chess with social distancing. We will have to see how the pandemic resolves itself.

9th Graeme Thomson Memorial Tournament (2019)

The 2019 Graeme Thomson Memorial was held on Sunday 2nd June. The event raised a total of £138 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Thanks to all those who donated.  

The Open was won by veteran USA international Jim Sherwin, ahead of top seed Greg Tooczek, currently from Cardiff, and Leon Burnett from Manningtree.  

Joint winners of the Major were Tim Jones of Cabot and Andrew Munn of Downend. Full results are on the Chess-Results server (links below)  

Open Results

Major Results

Bristol & Clifton’s A team 2018/2019 Champions!

Bristol & Clifton’s A team made sure of the First Division Championship with a round to spare by beating nearest rivals Bath 4-2. After a slow start to the campaign we won 7 and drew 2 matches in the second half of the season to overhaul the various teams that were ahead of us in the first half.  

We hope to continue our good form when the new season starts in September. The club will be shut over the Summer but we are interested in hearing from potential new members at any time”