Early Knights Junior Chess Club
Monday 6.15pm to 7.15pm during school term.
County Club, 29 Ridgmont Road, St Albans, AL1 3AG.
See map
Early Knights Junior Chess Club provides coaching and matches for boys and girls who are typically aged between 6 and 16 and who are experienced chess players already, usually with an English Chess Federation rating or similar (the club does not cater for beginners).
Our members have the opportunity to play regularly against a wide variety of junior opponents within the club and also receive group coaching sessions. Many of our juniors play regularly in tournaments and have been selected for Hertfordshire county teams. Many progress to the latter stages of the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge and some have been chosen to represent England in international tournaments.
The member-only sessions are held in person at our usual club venue and are led by National Instructor Matt Ball.
Term dates for 2024-2025
The season starts on Monday September 9, 2024 and will end in June 2025. All our places for this season are currently taken.
How to apply to join Early Knights
The popularity of the Early Knights Club has obliged us to use a waiting list for new members and we would like to hear from you. Please register your interest in being added to the waiting list via the organisers' email link below and include all the following information in all three sections:
Surname:
Age:
School year: (for example: year 2, year 3 etc)
School:
Section Two - chess experience:
a) How many years have they been playing chess?
b) Do they play in a school club?
b) Skill level - which one of the following most closely matches your child's chess skill level?
A - Absolute beginner
B - Knows the rules, how the pieces move and can play a basic friendly against an opponent
C - Knows a few openings, basic tactics, key end games
D - Has experience of playing in tournaments, knows how to use a clock and can record the moves (this is the standard of player we prioritise on our waiting list. Such players also typically have an online rapid play rating on chess.com significantly above 1000)
When a place becomes available players are selected from the waiting list based on playing strength, not how long they have been on the waiting list. Typically, players on the waiting list will need to have achieved an online rapid play rating on chess.com of over 1300 to be near the top of the waiting list.
Please note that the club does not cater for beginner players. Parents whose children need to learn the basics may want to help them with lessons on a website such as ChessKid and then consider applying to join our waiting list.
Our annual subscription fee per member is £50.
Organisers: Matt Ball & Michael Flatt, email: