About the club

Surbiton Chess Club, Surrey, England, is a friendly chess club playing in the Surrey, Thames Valley and 4NCL Leagues. Many of our players regard us as the most sociable club they have ever played for. A key feature of our club is that we try to be more than just a chess club that plays chess matches. Many of us visit a local hostelry after matches for a bit of team bonding and we also organise social events such as Christmas meals and summer garden parties.

We are back to our former venue of Fircroft which has received an extensive renovation while we have been away. Current and prospective new members are assured of a warm welcome! We can be contacted by e-mail at enquiries@surbitonchessclub.co.uk.

The club has been in existence since 1949 (see a 1950 request for players!). We have members with a wide range of abilities, from ungraded to 2200+ ECF (see our ratings), and we once had a world champion playing for us. Unfortunately, R Fulford was world champion at croquet! We have had successful players who have played for us including British Open Championship competitors, a US Amateur Championship winner and a former member of the Italian Olympiad team. Probably our most famous player was Michael Basman, an International Master and a former joint winner of the British Championship.

More historical information about the club can be found here.

We like to compete for and win trophies and we have had some notable, historic, successes in recent years. We cater for all of our members by entering teams at many levels in our leagues. We also run internal, grade limited (U-100 and U-150), tournaments to cater for people relatively new to the game as well as improving players. This gives opportunities to play chess at a level that suits each of our members. Juniors of the appropriate standard are likewise offered the opportunity to play in our teams if they wish to.

Please note that Surbiton Juniors is an entirely separate organisation run by Chris and Jo Briscoe. If you would like to contact them to see what they offer please email them using these links: Chris Briscoe or Jo Briscoe.

Annual club membership fees for the 2023-2024 season are £50 for adults and £25 for juniors.There is a further fee for those who wish to play in the 4NCL competition.

Please note that the above figures do not include English Chess Federation Membership fees. Club members should join the ECF if they play four or more games in one or more leagues during a season. We believe club and ECF fees should be kept separate to provide transparency in terms of what each organisation charges and to allow club members to directly select the appropriate level of ECF membership that suits them.

See our Constitution

See our Privacy Notice