Welcome to the Jersey Chess Club
The Jersey International Chess Tournament returns! Saturday 5 April to Saturday 12 April 2025.
Two 9 round fide rated swiss tournaments - full details under Events tab
The Club Jersey Chess Club
The Jersey Chess Club (JCC) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the joys and benefits of chess, holding weekly games and chess tournaments in order to give Jersey players an outlet to play. There are 30-40 members of The Jersey Chess Club with between 20-30 each year competing in the Island Championships.
Player ability at the Jersey Chess Club ranges from 1200 up to nearly 2200 and the top 16 players on the island compete in the annual inter-island match between Jersey and Guernsey with the island champion on both islands playing on board 1 and competing for the title of Channel Island Champion. The club also boasts a successful European Small Nations and Chess Olympiad team and runs competitive leagues where players can qualify for these events through their league position as well as Blitz and Rapidplay tournaments throughout the season and casual games for anyone unable to enter the competitions.
THE CLUB COMMITTEE
OUR AIM
We opened a chess school for girls and boys under 18. We will learn and play chess at The Salvation Army cafe (behind Minden place) on Thursdays 4-5 pm. There is no entry fee. Experienced chess players from Jersey Chess Club will teach the children. We would ask that you think about your commitment twice before you make your final decision, as numbers are limited to 30 students. We offer an international coaching programme, a lot of competitions and fun.
The case is exceptionally strong for using chess to develop our children’s minds and help them cope with the growing complexities and demands of a globalizing world. More and more schools around the world are recognizing the value of chess, with instruction now becoming part of standard curriculums. It’s of course just a game. Yet it has fascinated and challenged some of the greatest minds of the last century, sparking enough books about how to play to fill an entire library.
THE BENEFITS
Chess is an especially effective teaching tool. It can equally challenge the minds of girls and boys, gifted and average, athletic and non-athletic, rich and poor. It can teach children the importance of planning and the consequences of decisions. It can further teach how to concentrate, how to win and lose gracefully, how to think logically and efficiently, and how to make tough and abstract decisions.
At more advanced levels it can teach flexible planning since playing well requires a coherent plan yet not one that is rigidly followed regardless of the opponent’s response. Chess can also build confidence and self-esteem without overinflating egos, as some losses are inevitable, even for world champions. We can say with full confidence that chess has been proven to enhance creativity, problem solving, memory, concentration, intellectual maturity, self-esteem, and many other abilities that a parent or teacher would desire.
DONATIONS
Should you wish to support our junior chess academy or make a donation to support our future Jersey chess champions, then please contact one of our officers whose details are provided below.
WANT TO PLAY CHESS?
Our club is open to beginners and experts, young and old so why not join us on a Tuesday evening from 7 pm and improve your game? We currently hold our club nights at the New Gilson Hall, La Pouquelaye. (The badminton hall behind d’Auvergne School. You’ll find us on the first floor. If the door is not open, ring the bell on the right hand side and someone will pop down and let you in).
Our doors are always open or drop us a line to find out more.
TRIBUTES
GRAHAM BOXALL
Graham was a very good chess player and highly respected member of the club. He represented Jersey 33 times in the Inter-Insular against Guernsey, first playing in 1976. Of the 33 games, he won 15, drew 11 and only lost 7. A very good record. Graham also played for the Jersey team in 5 Olympiads. Olympiads are the chess equivalent of the football World Cup. They are held every two years and are organised by FIDE (the world chess organisation). In the 2000 Olympiad Graham drew against the Lithuanian International Master Algimantas Butnorius who went on to become a Grandmaster.
Graham was a strong supporter of Jersey chess both within the island and abroad. He played a major part in Jersey’s successful application to join FIDE in 1995. He was the Jersey representative at FIDE Congresses for many years. Indeed he was very active in FIDE and for a number of years headed up the FIDE Verification Commission. The Verification Commission is authorised to examine FIDE ledgers and all information pertaining to FIDE financial management. They highlight problems with FIDE’s financial affairs and submit an annual report to the FIDE General Assembly.
Graham’s contribution to Jersey chess and his wise advice will be greatly missed.
ANTHONY FULTON
Anthony Fulton (Tony) was Jersey Island Chess Champion in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985,1990, 1991 and on 5 of these occasions Tony also became Channel Island Champion, attaining the most prestigious Channel island chess title outright by defeating the Guernsey champion in 1978, 1983, 1985, 1990 and 1991 and sharing the title of Channel Island Champion on 3 further occasions with a draw on board 1 versus Guernsey.
With 8 Jersey league championships to his name, Tony is the 3rd most successful Jersey player ever, behind only Paul Wojciechowski (9) and Jon Hawes (17).
Tony also played in the Inter-Insular match versus Guernsey on no fewer than 35occasions, winning 18 times, drawing 14 times and losing on only 3 occasions, becoming currently the 3rd all time highest scorer in the Inter-Insular with 25 points out of 35 matches behind only Jon Hawes (25.5/33) and Philip Le Feuvre (29.5/54).
This is a phenomenal record for one of Jersey’s all time greats.
Tony also represented Jersey and the combined Jersey/Guernsey Channel Island chess team in 7 Chess Olympiads in Malta in 1980, Luzern (1982), Thessaloniki (1984), Dubai (1986), Bled (2002), Calvia (2004) and Turin (2006) as well as representing Jersey in the 2nd Small Nations in The Faroe Islands in 2011.
EDWARD GEOFFREY LE QUESNE MBE 1942-2014
‘A QUIET BUT FORCEFUL MAN’
Ed passed away following his brave battle with cancer. He will be sadly missed by all at the Jersey Chess Club, but especially by those associated with the Junior Section.
Ed was a very clever man, gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Natural Sciences at Trinity College Cambridge and became an inspirational Physics teacher at Victoria College. A deeply religious man he was also a preacher at the Methodist Church , Chairman of Oxfam, Chairman of Christian Aid, and helped promote Fairtrade in Jersey.
Ed has been organising Junior chess events since the 70’s and we are proud to have named a trophy after him, the Ed Le Quesne Junior Blitz Trophy. He has been chief Arbiter at countless Senior Inter-Insulars and guided many junior chess players throughout their careers in chess and life.
In the 2014 New Years Honours List Ed was awarded the MBE for his Community Service to Jersey. Ed was a quiet, but forceful man, who just got on and did so much with the minimum of fuss; an inspiration to us all.
CHARLES HARRY GREIER
Charles Harry Greier died at the age of 79. He will be remembered as one of Jersey’s best ever chess players.
His career with the Jersey Chess Club spanned six decades from the 1940s to the 1990s as he followed in his father’s footsteps, Karl Greier also having been one of Jersey’s strongest players.
Charles won the Jersey Chess Club championship four times between 1959 and 1963. He later turned his energies to the organisation of chess events, acting as the controller of Jersey International Chess Festivals and Island junior championships. Following the Fischer-Spassky chess boom he became the club’s match captain in the 1970s and 1980s, running three hotly-contested divisions of the chess club’s league.
His captaincy of the inter-insular teams led to Jersey’s record-breaking run of nine consecutive wins against Guernsey. Charles was a player himself in 29 inter-insulars, winning the individual Channel Islands’ championship for victory on top board in 1963 and sharing the title in 1959, 1962 and 1964.
His strongest adversary was W. Withers, with whom he drew in 1959 but lost to in 1960. His other opponents included Eugene Laine, Tom Moriarty, Eric Palmer, Cecil de Sausmarez and John Cummins for an overall score of 16.5 points from 29 games played.
The Jersey Chess Club would like to record its appreciation for his contribution to the development of chess.
Jersey International Chess Tournament 2025
TWO 9 ROUND FIDE RATED SWISS TOURNAMENTS
THE OPEN - open to all
THE HOLIDAY - ELO rating under 1900 or under ECF rating under 160
Saturday 5 April to Saturday April 12 2025
Hotel Ambassadeur, St Clement Bay, Jersey JE2 6SB
CHIEF ARBITER Adam Raoof
Assistant Arbiter Graham Mooney
GM AND IM norms possible in The Open tournament
Highest placed players in The Open not already qualified will qualify for the 2025 British Open