Club News

Alice in Whitby Chess Tournament - brief report

A very successful tournament took place at Whitby museum on 20th August in the Normandy room. 18 players aged 4 to 15 took part, accompanied by very supportive parents.

Big congratulations to Jodey (first), Kio (second) and Jack(3rd). They all played some exciting and very competitive games.

Special mention must go to the youngest stars in action :-6-year-old Jacob, who only recently started playing, 7-year-old Pippa who achieved an excellent score of 2/5 and 8-year-old Benjamin who is also quite new to the game.

The event was organised by Claire Marris and Sarah Porteus from the excellent Whitby museum - https://whitbymuseum.org.uk/

The chess was run by Brian Stevens from Whitby chess club and Neil Pennock from Scarborough chess club -- http://www.scarboroughchess.org.uk/

Support came from John Gower and Paul Armstrong

Photos were taken by Paul Armstrong, who we very were lucky to get from the Artistic lens photo studio -- www.theartisticlens.co.uk

Special thanks to Neil Pennock -his help was invaluable

Winner Jodey receiving his medal from Claire

Drawing based on John Tenniel illustrations

Alice in Whitby chess event update

Reminder:- a chess competition will be held at Whitby museum on 20th August from 11.00 till about 1.30 for younger players. The event is being organised by the museum but we are organising the competition itself

It would be very helpful if you could support the event in some way to make the event a success and get some publicity for the club

YOU COULD:-

Turn up for the event and enjoy the couple of hours of play

Turn on the charm with parents and play some games with them

Help set up boards and reset clocks between rounds (as easy as that!)

Offer to help get sets and clocks to the playing room on the morning of the event

Do a flyer for our club - I am really bad at this

Help needed! - Alice in Whitby Chess event

We have been asked by the good folks at Whitby museum to help in setting up a a chess event/competition day.

This could be a good opportunity to promote the club and get involved in he community.

The event will take place on Thursday 20th August.

If you can help in any way please let me know when I see you or by text. We are not the main organisers but we should be able to help in the running and organisation of the actual chess

stuff. They (Claire) has yet to finalise a date, so if there are days you are not able to help, even if it's only turning up to have a look, please let me know.

We really need a bit of help from as many as possible, so that none of us has to do a lot! It's mostly on the day and ideas to organise it

Here is the her email for context:-

Hello Brian,

It was good to meet you last Thursday at the Chess club meeting night. As discussed it would be great to collaborate with Whitby Chess Club and organise a tournament for children during the summer holidays.

We were thinking of arranging a tournament during the week beginning Monday 17th August - do any dates in that week not work for you and the club?

Kind Regards,

Claire Marris

Club Venue option Update 25/4/2026

The club is will now meet at the Friendship club starting from Thursday 26^th.

This rather sudden change was prompted by a change of circumstances at the Con club.

Meeting report 25/3/2026

(9 present – names?)

This was a very good opportunity for members to meet, get to know each other and discuss ideas and plans for the club. Excellent contributions were made by members

As hoped, the discussion centred on what the club wants to be and, in broad outline, how to get there.

Some of the ideas aims that arose are:-

Make Whitby a chess hub - a club well known both locally and wider through publicity and events

Effective social media presence

Club competition /league

Friendly matches against near by clubs for experience

Team in league and cup competitions– probably Cleveland

Chess event/s in Whitby (e.g. publicity event/s such as outdoor play, introduction evenings)

Weekend congress or a rapid play tournament/s

Children/ youth section (reaching out to schools)

Also issues raised:-

Club venue / meeting times / structure of club nights / getting in reluctant beginners / communication(WhatsApp preferred)

There is great optimism about what we can achieve.

Club meeting Wed 25/3/26

Thoughts on the following items are welcome. Some should be quick as they be for the future – long grass items.

If there are any other big 'items' let me know if possible. Ok to raise issues on the day.

For Discussion so far (This is not a fixed agenda):-

Do we want /need any more than we already have? - ie. very informal gathering - if so, meeting closed! Otherwise :-

Priority-

PUBLICITY - We need lots of it and ideas about how to increase number of players.

Suggestions please:-

Ambitions

Beat Scarborough in Yorkshire Coast Cup

Club competitions – do we want some/ when?

Kids in the future? If yes groundwork to implement needed

Club night ‘structure’/as is/venue/time/other?

Other Stuff

Do we need a committee as club membership increases ?

Communication method?

Venue and meeting times -satisfied

for now/change?

Finance minister needed?

Club Venue option Update 7/3/2026

Our newly enlarged club met at the conservative club on Wed 4^th. Everyone (9 on this occasion) liked the proposed venue and we will continue to meet there for the time being. We had an excellent welcome from the new management family team.