Who Are We?

We also have our club night, every Thursday in one of the meeting rooms in SUHQ (formerly known as Union North) between 8pm and 10pm - exactly which room we get allocated might change from one week to the next, but you'll be able to tell which one's ours by the chess board on a chair outside. This gives members a chance to play chess socially, usually short, informal games and variations such as 'exchange chess'. Special events take place every term, such as lightning chess (where you get 10 seconds per move) tournaments and the annual inter-university tournament. Our socials have become a great tradition in the club over the last few years. For anyone who hasn't experienced one, they involve drinking games, pool, poker, special awards - anything goes really, except for chess!

If you want to join, or find out more about what we do, contact the President or Secretary. We have four teams this season, so we are looking for lots of new players. If you are a new member and wish to join a team, contact the relevant captain. The approximate standard of next year's teams, in ECF grade, is expected to be:

A Team (Division 1): 120+
B Team (Division 1): 100+
C Team (Division 2): 80 to 120
D Team (Division 3): Beginner to 100
 

Note: These are only approximate guidelines i.e. you will not be prevented from playing division 1 with a grade of 129 or denied entry to division 3 with a grade of 111.

If you don't have a ECF grade, however, we can still approximate it and put you in an appropriate team.

Coventry And District Chess League

The Coventry and District Chess League has its own website: www.coventrychess.co.uk

Locations

Comprehensive journey planning can be done using the Transport Direct website.

Disclaimer: the directions below are provided in good faith, but bus and train timetables can change, fares can go up etc. - if you're in any doubt, please check the relevant website (Travel Coventry for buses to and from Massey Ferguson, the number 12 to the station and to Pool Meadow en route to Newdigate; Stagecoach for the number 55/56/57 from Pool Meadow to Bedworth and Nuneaton; National Rail Enquiries or The Trainline for trains from Coventry to Rugby, Bedworth and Nuneaton). In addition to this, adverse weather, roadworks/engineering works, industrial action or the occasional more original excuse ("we're trying to find the driver") can cause buses/trains to be delayed or not turn up at all. We cannot accept responsibility if you arrive late (or don't get there at all) for an away match - bear in mind that the home team is technically entitled to claim a default win if their opponents are not present by 8p.m. Most teams understand that the university sometimes has problems with transport and tend to be sympathetic if we arrive late, but some have been known to claim the default practically the second the clock strikes 8, so it's preferable not to risk it!

Coventry

Teams: 7

Division: All

Venue: Massey Ferguson Social Club, Broad Lane, Coventry, CV5 7NL

Directions (car): see here.

Directions (public transport - thanks to Steve Turvey for providing these): Catch the number 12 bus at 18:53 from the Arts Centre bus stop and stay on it until the Village Hotel stop (one stop after Whoberley’s old venue, the Standard Triumph Social Club). You should alight at approximately 19:04.

Village Hotel/Broad Lane junction:

You now have two options. Catch the number 10 bus to Banner Lane terminus (3 minutes from venue) or catch the number 32C to Banner Lane, Tile Hill Lane stop (10 minutes walk from venue).

• Number 10: The nearest stop for this bus is on Whoberley Avenue. This can be reached by crossing Broad Lane (at the roundabout) and walking through the small wooded area to Whoberley Avenue. The bus is scheduled to depart at 19:15 and arrive at Banner Lane terminus at 19:27. From here, you walk along Broad Lane, heading away from the city centre and the venue will be on your left.

• Number 32C: This bus will depart from the Village Hotel outbound bus stop (on the opposite side of the road) so involves less walking to begin with (though more at the other end). This bus is scheduled to depart at 19:15 and arrive at Banner Lane (near the junction with Tile Hill Lane) at 19:20. From here, you need to continue on foot along Banner Lane, until you get to the end of this road and the junction with Broad Lane. Turn left on to Broad Lane and the venue will be on your left a short way along.

Returning to campus: going home is much easier as both the above routes run late and from stops close to each other (so you can run from one to the other if you see a particular bus arriving and are at the other stop).

• Number 10 buses depart from Banner Lane terminus on the hour and half hour up to and including 23:30 and arrive at Whoberley Avenue 14 minutes later.
• Number 32C buses depart from Banner Lane, near the junction with Broad Lane at 26 and 56 minutes past each hour, with the final departure at 22:26. These arrive at the Village Hotel 14 minutes later.

Number 12 buses back to campus from the Village Hotel stop run at random intervals (approximately 15-20 minutes apart) and take about 10 minutes on average to reach campus.

Alternatively, ask one of the opposition club members if you can get a lift anywhere near to campus (Dave Filer has been especially generous with this in the past!)

Tickets: due to the number of buses involved, players are strongly advised to buy Evening Saver tickets (£3 each), if they do not already possess a bus pass.

Earlsdon residents: for those of you living in Earlsdon, you only need to catch one bus in each direction, as the 32C continues on to the Hearsall Common bus stops. The number 10 also stops close enough to Earlsdon to leave a 10 minute or so walk home (the route passes the northern end of Queensland Avenue, the opposite end from Hearsall Common).

Real time information: the Arts Centre and outbound Village Hotel stop now have RTI displays. This should make it a lot easier to know if the number 12 to Coventry or 32C to Banner Lane respectively will be arriving on time, or if it is worth in the latter case trying to catch the number 10 instead (but there's always the chance that either the display isn't working at all, or the information on it is wildly inaccurate...).. Failing that, you can find out real time departures by virtue of the existing SMS service.

• For the number 12 departures from Arts Centre, text nwmdwptd to 84268;
• For the number 10 departures from Whoberley Avenue, text nwmgadgm to 84268;
• For the number 32C departures from Village Hotel, text nwmgadjd to 84268.

Texts will cost 25p, plus your standard text message cost.

Finally, for anyone with the internet on their mobile phone, you can visit http://www.netwm.mobi and enter the same 8-letter codes to also find out this information.

Newdigate

Venue: Newdigate Colliery Sports And Social Club, Smorrall Lane, Bedworth, CV12 0JP

Teams: 1

Division: 2

Directions (car): see here.

Nuneaton

Venue: Bentley Road Sports and Social Club, Bentley Road, Nuneaton, CV11 5LR

Teams: 5

Division: All

Directions: the number 12 bus from campus stops at the railway bridge, from where you take the steps down to the station; you'll need to catch the 18.45 train, which arrives in Nuneaton at 19.03. It's about twenty minutes' walk from the station to the club venue. Important note: the last train from Nuneaton back to Coventry is at 22.20, so if you're relying on public transport to get to and from Nuneaton you'll have to arrange with the home captain either to start earlier than usual or play a slightly shorter game. There is a later bus, but it only runs as far as Prologis Park in the north of Coventry, rather than to Pool Meadow - so you'd have to get a taxi the rest of the way.

Rugby

Venue: British Rail Social Club, Hillmorton Road, Rugby

Teams: 3

Division: All

Directions: take the number 12 bus to the station; there are trains to Rugby at 19.01, 19.11 and 19.21. The train takes about ten minutes, and it's another ten minutes' walk from the station to the club. The last train back is at 23.16 so there shouldn't be a problem even if you finish late.

Who to contact:

This year's exec, who will run the club until summer 2011, are as follows:

President - Jake Langham: e-mail Jake
Secretary - David O'Neill: e-mail David
Treasurer - Victor Vas: e-mail Victor
Social Secretary - Dev Sahota: Dev
Webmaster - Steven Turvey: e-mail Steve

Team Captains:

A Team - Steven Turvey: e-mail Steve
B Team - David O'Neill: e-mail David
C Team - Jake Langham : e-mail Jake
D Team - Jack Preston: e-mail Jack

About the webpages

These webpages were created by:

James Humpherson - Results, Tables, Player Records and this page.
Simon Gardner - Index, Notices.
Chris Bishop - 1996-97 information.
Richard Maclannan - 1999-2000 Results and Review
Steven Turvey - 2000-01 Results and Tournaments page
Richard Colfer - 2001-02 League and Inter-University Tournament Results
Joey Stewart - 2002-06 Games , Club History, Coventry League, Tournaments
Michael Jones - 2006-07 and 2008-11 information, Puzzles, Pictures and a few miscellaneous other bits

Chessbase - Players' games in 1999-2000 season (courtesy of Richard Maclannan).
e4e5 - Players games in 2003-2004 season (Credit for creating the site goes to Brian Butcher of Nuneaton, games Uploaded by Joey Stewart).