About

Newton Abbot Chess Club is a friendly and active club based in the South Devon market town of Newton Abbot. We meet every Thursday evening at 7 p.m., from September to mid-May. The club is located in The Courtenay Centre on Kingsteignton Road; an excellent and comfortable central venue with good parking and catering facilities.

We run a variety of internal competitions, enter teams in all divisions of the Torbay Chess League and also participate in the leagues of the Devon County Chess Association. We have an active junior section and encourage junior players interested in chess to come along to club nights.

Home matches in the Torbay League are held on Thursdays, with away matches on other nights depending on the opposition.

Joining the Club

Subscriptions for 2025-26 are £65 for adults and £20 for juniors. Discounted memberships are available for students/unemployed. Subscriptions are due by the end of October. We prefer payment by bank transfer: details of the club bank account are available from any of the club officers.

If you wish to play in league matches, tournaments or have you games rated, you must join the English Chess Federation. Details can be found here.

Safeguarding

Newton Abbot Chess Club recognises that it has a duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and will make sure safeguarding practice:

• reflects our legal responsibilities and Government guidance

• complies with the English Chess Federation Child Protection Policy Guidelines.

A link to our full policy is provided here.

History of the Club

The club was founded in 2005, although there had been two previous incarnations in the distant past. The current founder felt that, because the town was so central in South Devon and had good road links, it had a good chance of attracting players from a wide area. This has proved to be the case.

The club has enjoyed considerable success since our founding: three times Devon League champions and multiple times Torbay League champions. However our greatest moment came in 2015 when we won the ECF National Club Championship (Major Section) in Birmingham.

A few years ago we had a very enjoyable visit from Grand Master Keith Arkell (a resident of nearby Paignton) who gave an enjoyable simultaneous display against 20 of our members.

Members

We welcome members of all ages and standards of play. Our current membership of about 30 ranges in age from 9 to 90 and in grade from below 1000 to above 2000 ELO. We are well-known as a club which actively fosters juniors and these juniors, when ready, are given plenty of opportunity to play in our league teams. A typical club evening will see 20 members in attendance and on evenings when there are two matches going on the room is full. We offer regular coaching sessions for both adults and juniors.

Our membership is diverse – in recent years we have had members from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, India, Italy and Scotland. Locally, members travel from towns such as Modbury, Hexworthy, Totnes, Torquay and Exeter.

We organise several internal competitions which run right through the season: Autumn Swiss, Club Championship in 2 sections: Junior championship: Rapidplay tournament (30 minutes each). We also have a busy match programme. We compete in all divisions of the Torbay Chess League as well as the Rapidplay and Knock-Out Cup competitions.

We are grateful to the officers of the club who help to run the club efficiently. Current postholders are President: RICHARD BRENTON, Joint Secretaries: TREFOR THYNNE, PAUL BROOKS, Treasurer: LES BARRON.