About

Membership

The club runs from September to May every Tuesday at 6pm at the Blue Ball Inn (see map below).

This year, the last club night is 20th May 2025 and will resume in September.

Sets (boards, pieces and clocks) are provided by the club, as are scoresheets to write down your game if you like.

Membership for the 2023/24 season is £20 for adults and £10 for juniors.

The first hour at the Blue Ball, starting at six o’clock, is for socialising over a drink and blitz/rapid games. There will be some coaching for inexperienced and young players. The serious business of the club competitions starts at seven o’clock.

The standard time control for long games at the club is 60 min + 15 sec/move (increment) – this means that the games are very high-quality, and won’t (usually!) be decided by one-move blunders. This may seem like a daunting amount of time! If that is the case for you, then many of the current members would be happy to play shorter games (eg. 15-30 minutes) in order to get you used to the pace – just ask. These longer games will count towards the club championships: a round-robin tournament and a knock-out – so be prepared to be competitive!

Questions? You can contact secretary Barry Perchard: Home: 01395 516615; Mobile: 07932 695637; barry@perchard.me.uk . Alternatively, just turn up at the Blue Ball on a Tuesday evening!

History

Sidmouth Chess Club started in 1970 with a group of enthusiasts, and was founded in 1972 by Arthur Fletcher. The members have met weekly ever since, although this is the first year the club will be held in the Blue Ball – for the past 38 years it was in the Community College.

Some of the stronger players not only compete against other clubs, but also against other counties for Devon in regional and even national leagues. Steve Martin, one-time Devon Champion, plays regularly for the county, as does long-term member Steve Dean. As well as the high-flyers, the club caters for players of all abilities and all ages, so please join us at the Blue Ball on Tuesday evenings.