An unusual entry in the ECF Event Calendar for 27/07/2025 was an Eccles Chess Club Fundraising Event at Eccles Town Hall, Church Street, Eccles, M30 OLH

Eccles Chess Club spent its first 5 years meeting in members’ homes. This is not without precedent, for instance, Sharrow Chess Club in Sheffield met in a member’s home around 90 years ago, sometimes playing on the lawn in summer. Indeed, around 50 years ago Beighton Chess Club in Sheffield moved from its venue which had become too noisy into a hostel for “drying out” alcoholics, merging their chess club with that of the hostel.

Now, Eccles Chess Club has moved. On Saturday 20 January 2024, Eccles Community Chess Club was formally opened in commercial property which previously had been occupied by Top Notch Hair & Beauty Salon at 21 Church Street, Eccles, M30 0DF.

Before the move, the new property looked as follows:

After the move, it had become as follows:

(photo from the club website)

A report on the formal opening by Salford's Ceremonial Mayor, Gina Reynolds, can be found at https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-01-22/unique-chess-venue-seeks-funding-to-stay-open.

As indicated in the cited article, club funding is a potential long-term problem. In particular, it seems the club has been experiencing similar noise problems to those of Beighton Chess Club, as this event was organised to raise funds to go toward soundproofing!

The event was arranged as a rapidplay with three stars-barred Swiss sections (U2250, U1850 & U1500), each being both FIDE- and ECF-rated. So far, it sounds like a relatively normal chess congress. However, there were to be only 2 rounds! Also, there were to be no prizes, BUT paying the £12 entry fee automatically put entrants into a free draw for a £100 prize. That’s no different from the Inland Revenue’s approach to chess congress prize money: that it’s a lottery for income tax purposes!

According to Chess-Results.com there were 58 entrants. So, funds raised look like being £12 x 58 – £100 = £596, from which some running expenses might need to be deducted.

Round-by-round section results were as in the following tables. If you want to know who won the £100, then you need to look at the club website: https://eccleschess.com/.

	Under 2250

No	Name	Rating		1			2		SPS

1	Aidan M Rawlinson	2068	1	W	10	1	B	9
	Manchester Social			1			2		3
2	Mike J Surtees	2100	1	W	15	1	B	7
	Great Lever			1			2		3
3	Daniel T Lee	1924	1	B	17	1	W	6
	Chorlton-Cum-Hardy			1			2		3
4	Michael Anthony Cook	1911	½	B	14	1	W	13
	Hackney			½			1½		2
5	Chris Jardine	1855	½	B	13	1	W	14
	Great Lever			½			1½		2
6	Christopher Hodgson	1879	1	W	12	0	B	3
	Swinton & Worsley Community			1			1		2
7	Shriaansh Ganti	2144	1	B	16	0	W	2
	Ilkely Chess Centre			1			1		2
8	David Stuttard	1691	1	W	11
	Atticus			1			1		2
9	Harrison Roberts	1791	1	B	18	0	W	1
	Atherton			1			1		2
10	Matthew Grimley	1669	0	B	1	1	-	bye
	Burnley			0			1		1
11	Robert McLean	2069	0	B	8	1	W	18
	3Cs			0			1		1
12	Tim Hilton	1920	0	B	6	1	W	17
	Rochdale			0			1		1
13	Francis E Moan	1916	½	W	5	0	B	4
	Great Lever			½			½		1
14	George Fishwick	1840	½	W	4	0	B	5
	Burnley			½			½		1
15	Mark Taylor	1785	0	B	2	½	W	16
	Rochdale			0			½		½
16	Damian M McCarthy	1924	0	W	7	½	B	15
	Culcheth			0			½		½
17	Ved Sudeep Boganadham	1622	0	W	3	0	B	12
	Ashton			0			0		0
18	Nathan Madzia	1881	0	W	9	0	B	11
	Leeds Junior Chess Club			0			0		0

	Under 1850

No	Name	Rating		1			2		SPS

1	Mohammed Andeel	1755	1	W	11	1	B	7
	Ashton			1			2		3
2	Paul Leonard	1725	1	B	12	1	W	6
	Atherton			1			2		3
3	Aram Marsh	1680	1	W	18	1	B	17
	Chorlton-Cum-Hardy			1			2		3
4	Aidan Berry	1716	1	W	19	1	B	8
	Ormskirk			1			2		3
5	Danylo Laba	1776	1	W	16	0	B	10
	St Helens			1			1		2
6	James Buckley	1517	1	W	13	0	B	2
	Eccles Community			1			1		2
7	David Boulden	1708	1	B	21	0	W	1
	Denton			1			1		2
8	Scarlett Sanderson	1282	1	B	20	0	W	4
	Cheshire & N Wales *			1			1		2
9	Bassey Hogan-Itam	0	1	W	15	0	B	11
	Greater Manchester			1			1		2
10	Mohamed Gouda	1543	+	W	14	1	W	5
	Eccles Community			0			1		1
11	Jason Barber	1629	0	B	1	1	W	9
	Eccles Community			0			1		1
12	Charles Palmer	1594	0	W	2	1	B	19
	Greater Manchester *			0			1		1
13	Chaitanya Krishna Vadlamani	1037	0	B	6	1	-	bye
	Greater Manchester *			0			1		1
14	Akin Soyoye	1645	-	B	10	1	B	18
	Heywood			0			1		1
15	Derek Rooney	1661	0	B	9	1	W	21
	Atticus			0			1		1
16	Vlad Gorchev	1541	0	B	5	1	W	20
	Liverpool			0			1		1
17	Chagdarsuran Batbileg	1649	+	W	22	0	W	3
	Eccles Community			0			0		0
18	Darren Stanway	1546	0	B	3	0	W	14
	Eccles Community			0			0		0
19	Oliver Wilson	1514	0	B	4	0	W	12
	Bury			0			0		0
20	Ian Walsh	1673	0	W	8	0	B	16
	Eccles Community			0			0		0
21	John Donegan	1498	0	W	7	0	B	15
	Chorlton-Cum-Hardy			0			0		0
22	Jordan Freely	1795	-	B	17
	Liverpool			0			0		0
23	Nicholas A Burriss	1732
	Culcheth			0			0		0
24	Stephen Farrar	1628
	Eccles Community			0			0		0

	Under 1500

No	Name	Rating		1			2		SPS

1	Mikhail Kupriyanov	1340	1	W	8	1	B	7
	Leeds *			1			2		3
2	Philip Clare	1571	1	B	15	1	W	5
	Stockport			1			2		3
3	Prudhvi Nalluri	0	1	B	12	1	W	6
	Greater Manchester *			1			2		3
4	Lawrence Harold	1443	1	B	9	½	W	11
	Eccles Community			1			1½		2½
5	Kieran Leonard	0	1	W	10	0	B	2
	Eccles Community			1			1		2
6	Chris Lysons	1485	1	W	13	0	B	3
	Eccles Community			1			1		2
7	Jayawardhan Karthik Vaddi	0	1	B	14	0	W	1
	Greater Manchester Juniors			1			1		2
8	Toby Jones	0	0	B	1	1	-	bye
	Kings School Chester			0			1		1
9	Kim Shin Ho	0	0	W	4	1	B	16
	Newcastle *			0			1		1
10	Oleh Matuzenko	1338	0	B	5	1	W	14
	Eccles Community			0			1		1
11	Zakariya Salih	0	+	W	16	½	B	4
	Eccles Community			0			½		½
12	Stuart Hamilton	1272	0	W	3	½	B	13
	Rhyl & Prestatyn			0			½		½
13	Daniel Cook	0	0	B	6	½	W	12
	Eccles Community			0			½		½
14	Paul Whitwell	1170	0	W	7	0	B	10
	Eccles Community			0			0		0
15	Johnny Hunt	730	0	W	2
	Greater Manchester *			0			0		0
16	Mykhailo Yashchera	1206	-	B	11	0	W	9
	Eccles Community			0			0		0