About Us
The Kings Head Chess Club - London
Our new venue is
The Carpenters Arms 12 Seymour Place W1H 7NE
This new venue is for Middlesex League home matches only – people are welcome to come along and spectate but downstairs the pub is generally quite busy so there is no real scope for social chess
WE are London's most exciting and friendly, central pub-based chess club. We welcome players of all strengths and nationalities from woodpusher to GM, whether for a night or a season. Why not send us your details here, and we'll email you.
Check out some
Games and Articles
Alex Bourke just sent me this fantastic game, the possible sacs at the end of all 3 major pieces would have been amazing!
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.f4 Bb4 7.Qc2 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 O-O 9.Nf3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.O-O Nb6 12.Ba3 Nxc4 13.Rad1 Nd6 14.Ng5 f5 15.Qb3+ Kh8 16.Rfe1 Qf6 17.Bxd6 cxd6
And now with a minute to go I needed to analyse Rxd6, Re8 and Nf7+. The idea is to decoy the queen and get a smothered mate with the N at f7, or a mate with Re8. But I got the moves in the wrong order, playing first 18.Nf7+ (hoping for QxN; 19.QxQ RxQ 20. Re8 and mates) RxN; 19.Rxd6 Qxd6 20.Qxf7 Bd7 and black won
But just imagine if I'd played
18.Re8 Rxe8 19.Rxd6 Qxd6 20.Nf7+ Kg8 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.Qg8+ Rxg8 23.Nf7# 0-1
Did you ever see anything like it?? White was a piece down and sacced both rooks and queen to mate with his last piece. Maybe in another forty years eh.
Of course black can probably improve, if he can find it in a five-minute game at this level, e.g. 19.... Qf8 for a likely draw.
If 18.Re8 Bd7 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Nf7+ Kg8 21.Ne5+ Kh8 (not 21... Kf7 22.Nxd7+) 21.Rxd6-d7 looks ok for white.
If only.....
But this is why I play chess! - Alex Bourke
Grandmaster
Blaster
Steve Berry
Kogan had flicked out all his moves at blitz-clip. It was only after my next that he really began to think. Too late!
GrandMasterBlaster
Easychess pdf Article
Free Download - Capa.pdf
Capablanca and his Analysts by Stephen Berry
Did Capablanca's personality sway judgments on his play?
To read this file you need a pdf reader - . For example you can download the excellent Foxit reader free.
Cappelle 2017
Graham's Mewling Capelle Index
note from GB , i've just started this index after conversations in Capelle this year ... here are the first links but hoping to have more details on each year and all years. This brings together all the scattered reports made over the years. Now we can see any missing years. If you see any thing missing that you can send me something for like photos or a game or an aritcle, please email it to me graham@etrwebdesign.co.uk
Latest Results
Results list pdf
Player performance pdf
| Middlesex League Results - All Clubs |
Selena's Report on Cappelle 2015
see all the hi-res photos on dropbox
Cappelle 2015 photos here
Cappelle 2015 Cupcake!
Cake to celebrate 35 years of Chess and Friendship!
Cappelle 2015 photos here
the latest
by Alex Bourke
See also Members Guide to France, Alex's French Chess Dictionary
38th KINGS HEAD RAPIDPLAY
OPEN and U150 tournaments
Entry Form doc
Entry Form pdf
Saturday 16 May 2015, 11:00 a.m.
Westbourne Grove Church
Game Fee
Grand Prix
Westbourne Grove, W1H 7NE
Prize Fund £650
First Prize (Open) £150
First Prize (U150) £150
Enquiries: Colin Mackenzie: 020-8992-1849
or email us at: rapidplay@khcc.org.uk
A New Game...
Alex Bourke author of many of the best of the best of the good old khcc articles, (check this out start from here) has alerted me to this game and Jim Falzarano has kindly sent it to my from his ipad
Enjoy clicking through a cracking game!
Chess for me is Art
Kasparov
Andrew Whiteley
RIP Andrew W...
Kings Head Chess Club won't be the same without you! -
Selena on facebook
Last Game ...
This just in from Colin ...
The last game of chess ever played by Andrew ...
Andrew Whiteley has sadly passed away, an era is over. Please feel free to send any text you want to khcc@khcc.org.uk
and I will publish it here.
The funeral took place on Friday, 18th July, 12:00 noon, at the West London Crematorium, Kensal Green Cemetery W10 4RA Any donations to the Macmillan Cancer Support should be made via the funeral directors, J H Kenyon 83 Westbourne Grove, W2 4UL
(020 7229 3810).
He's not in the bottom photo but that's not really true is it, OK we got banished from the Porchester Hall but now he's there again ... you can see him clearer than ever. What a great rapidplay that was in it's heyday and Andrew was the force behind it. He so loved the area and chess and he would sit on that stage and you could see him drink it all in!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/chess/malcolmpein/3671003/Whiteley-shows-his-class.html
I liked his little lessons he did for a few of us upstairs in the Durham Castle, was it £3 each?, and that went into a tupperwear box. he scrawled out the lesson in his scratchy but neat enough writing and we each got one to keep and there was always a puzzle for us to solve, then he went through a game.
I never played him much but he once asked me to play the icelandic gambit against him in the pub as I'd won 13.5 out of 14 against my peers in the London League, lets say 150 and below. I enjoyed having the turbo charge of this gambit behind me, until his principled defensive style crept up on the game and bang! My king falls! The King of the Kings Head is gone, long live the King in our hearts.
Graham Brown
37th KINGS HEAD RAPIDPLAY
CHESS TOURNAMENT
Saturday 29 March 2014, 11:00 a.m.
Westbourne Grove Church, Westbourne Grove, London, W1H 7NE MAP
New Grades for 2013
khcc grades click here >
ecf database online >
Kings Head Rapidplay,
20 April 2013
Westbourne Grove Church, Westbourne Grove, London, W1H 7NE MAP
Contact: Colin Mackenzie Email: rapidplay@khcc.org.uk – a six-round Swiss tournament with a guaranteed £700 prize fund. First prize is £250, second £100, third £50 and there are also five grading prizes of £60 each |
Results in Word format
Letters received
David Hirst from Leeds has written to say that he likes our site and to offer the following excellent article.
King and Pawn Trickiness - http://www.leeds-rose-forgrove-chess.org/kingandpawn.html
35th KINGS HEAD
RAPIDPLAY CHESS TOURNAMENT
Download results in pdf format 
Download results in word format
Results webpage
Baz Dennis sadly passed away on Friday 20th April 2012
more ...
Rapidplay 2012 photos from Alex Bourke
A Scrap of Paper >
Cappelle Photos 2011
from Selena Cox
Cappelle Photos 2011
from Mark Davey
The 34th Kings Head Rapidplay took place on Saturday 12 March 2011 start time 11:00,
6-round Swiss rapidplay (30 minutes), prize fund £700 Results!
Cappelle Photos 2010
from
Steven Coles
Club Location and Meeting Times Player Guide Where are we?
Cappelle Photos 2009
I have just had an email from Mark Carey with a link to his photos from Capelle 2009. As usual they are superb photos, take a look ...Cappell Photos 2009
Charles II
Here's a name most people should know. I have had another great archive game from Charles Wallace who now resides in Scotland. I now live in Stroud - well that's the internet age for you!
game
bookwork ... Sometimes you get caught in your opponenents book .... Then it's a question of hard work! So well done Mark Davy, who here nearly completely refutes Black's book prep over the board but runs out of time and has to settle for a hard fought draw. Enjoy the battle!
You've read Swamp 1-7. You think you've seen jammy. You ain't seen nuffink. swamp 8
Knight of the Living Dead
by Alex Bourke
See Also Swamp 1, Swamp2, Swamp3 Swamp4, Swamp5, Swamp6, Swamp7
See also Members Guide to France, Alex's French Chess Dictionary
What happens when tiger meets tiger and both would rather go down swamping than risk a stodgy draw? Alex Bourke returns with more hair-raising swamp on swamp action in the final apocalyptic Clash of the Swampmeisters!
Blast from the Past:
