Joining the club
Prospective members are encouraged to visit the club on one of our regular club nights. There you can be introduced to other members of the club, play some casual chess and learn about the club and what being a member is about.
There is currently no membership fee to become a member of the chess club.
Competitive Chess
Competitive chess comes in all different forms.
Club events
Club chess describes internal chess competitions - at Macclesfield Chess Club we have four internal competitions. The two standardplay events are the Club Championship and the Pomeroy Cup - both have a time control of 75 minutes, and 10 second increment.
The other two internal events are quickplay events. The Secretary's Quickplay is a rapidplay competition which is played towards the latter half of the season. It's time control is 20 minutes plus 10 seconds. The other competition is the Quickplay Championship, which is played sporadically throughout the year, and is a fun handicapped rapidplay event featuring a time control of 15 minutes, which is altered either way based on the players rating.
League events
League chess is team based matchplay chess. Macclesfield Chess Club enters teams into two leagues, the Stockport Chess League and the North Staffs & District Chess Association. Teams of between 4-6 players travel to different chess clubs around the local region to play in standardplay matches with similar time controls to our internal standardplay competitions.
This is a great way to meet many different people from different clubs and experience a broad variety of openings, techniques and styles.
Congress events
Congresses are larger scale events that happen up and down the country throughout the year. They typically use a swiss style system of pairing, meaning you will get to play the same amount of matches as everyone else. They typically range from between 1 day for a rapidplay event, to 3 days for a 5 game standardplay event. The most prestigous events can take up to two weeks!
They often are "sectioned" – there are separate competitions for different rating bands, which means that you are guaranteed competitive chess whatever your rating.
Macclesfield does not currently organise a congress, however members do often head out to the various congresses around the region, such as the Stockport Rapidplay and the Crewe Chess Congress amongst others.
ECF
Joining the ECF isn't a requirement for joining Macclesfield Chess Club. You are free to enjoy casual chess, club events and limited league play without being an ECF member. However, if you do want to participate in league chess more extensively, becoming a member does become a requirement.
There are other benefits to being an ECF member. All matches between ECF registered players in club, league and congress are submitted for ECF rating, meaning you will recieve an ELO rating based on your play. There are currently three levels of ECF membership:
Bronze - £18pa
Allows rating of club and league games.
Silver - £27pa
Allows rating of club and league games, all ECF-rated congress events, and FIDE-rated rapidplay events.
Often the only open section of standardplay congresses are FIDE-rated, and to play in that section you would need a Gold membership. The minor sections are typically only ECF-rated.
Gold - £39pa
Allows rating of club and league games, all ECF congress events, and all FIDE events.
Platinum - £75pa
Allows all of the Gold benefits, plus a copy of the annual year book.
Click here for more information about joining the ECF.
Childrens Chess
Macclesfield Chess club does not currently have many junior chess players.
Based in Heald Green, this club is run by local WFM Sarah Longson and FM Alex Longson.
The club's website has lots of useful information for children who want to begin their chess journey or improve their chess skills.