Welcome to Darwinian Knights chess club, the friendliest and we think the best in Shropshire. We have always welcomed new members of all standards, from beginner to grand master, young to old, neuro diverse and all genders.

We meet on Tuesday, 7pm - 11pm, at The Unison Social Club, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6BT. Play in the league or just a friendly social game with a refreshing beverage from the bar.

New players please contact our Secretary, Dennis Bonner at chess29@live.co.uk

Every Tuesday

7-11pm

News

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Come to our Xmas Dinner

The date for this year's Darwinian Knights Christmas Dinner is Friday 13/12 at 7pm at the Coleham Tap, Shrewsbury. There are still places open for reservation but you do need to be quick as the place is filling up quickly. Please contact Steve Wilson if you would like to reserve a place with your deposit.

Archie Takes The Under 1640 Crown

Archie beat Krish Thimmegowda to win the 7 round Swiss County Minor Individual competition for Shropshire players graded up to FIDE 1640.
The presentation was made by our own James Holyhead who won the Minor Cup in 2023.

June 24 Rapid Play

1st Rudi Bedford 5 /5 2nd Rhys Macmillan 4/5 3rd Archie Flavell 3/5 4th Waylon Chan 3/5 5th Freddy Wyatt 3/5 Rudi is our junior rapid play champion 2024.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Come to our Xmas Dinner

The date for this year's Darwinian Knights Christmas Dinner is Friday 13/12 at 7pm at the Coleham Tap, Shrewsbury. There are still places open for reservation but you do need to be quick as the place is filling up quickly. Please contact Steve Wilson if you would like to reserve a place with your deposit.

Archie Takes The Under 1640 Crown

Archie beat Krish Thimmegowda to win the 7 round Swiss County Minor Individual competition for Shropshire players graded up to FIDE 1640.
The presentation was made by our own James Holyhead who won the Minor Cup in 2023.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Rudi Steps Up a Level

20.09.24 Darwinian Knight Junior Rudi Bedford has been making his mark at the national level. Read on to hear how Rudi is setting his sites on world domination.

Following his 6/7 and joint second-place at the under 10 Northern Gigafinal in July, he repeated the same score in the online U10 Gigafinal earlier this month, claiming third place out of 179 entries. This was followed up by a strong performance at the recent Terrafinal Challengers event in Northampton. He scored 5.5/9 in one of the most high-level junior tournaments in the country. The average FIDE rating of his nine and ten year-old opponents was 1650!

In a busy month of chess, he was also the overall winner of the first Darwinian Knights Rapidplay evening, scoring 4/5 and winning on tie-breaks. Fred Bench and James Holyhead tied second place, also on four points. Many thanks to Steve Wilson for organising a successful, enjoyable evening.

And to top it all off, Rudi recorded a victory in his first game in division one for the Darwinian Knights A team against Maddocks A - becoming possibly the youngest player to win a league match in division one history. He beat the highly experienced Gary White, rated more than two hundred points above him, in a three hour game, as the team came tantalisingly close to an upset. Matthew Clark and James Holyhead secured good draws, but in end the team narrowly lost 3-2.

Quiet Chess

Almost silent chess club starts at 6pm every Tuesday, contact our Autism Aware support Paul Billington to find out more... Paul's email

Every Tuesday

6pm

Upcoming Events & Tournaments
Click or tap to expand (this section is in progress)

Shropshire Congress '25

Shropshire Junior Championships

Shropshire MegaFinal

Staffordshire Junior Championships

Warwickshire Junior Grand Prix

Warwickshire
Junior Open

Shropshire Online Junior Grand Prix

Shropshire Primary Chess Championships 2024-25

Shropshire Primary Team Chess Challenge

Coventry Junior Open

Warwickshire
Junior Open

Solihull Junior Open

Results
Click or tap to expand

September
'24

October
'24

January
'25

December
'24

January
'25

February
'25

March
'25

April
'25

May
'25

June
'25

July
'25

August
'25

We are located in the corner of Shirehall carpark and behind Sainsbury's. For Satnav, use this...The Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6LY

Our Location

Club Championship 2024/25
Click or tap to expand

R'1
Results

R'2
Draw

January
'25

December
'24

January
'25

February
'25

March
'25

April
'25

May
'25

June
'25

July
'25

August
'25

Award 01

Our Junior non playing captain Luke accepts an award from Dennis on behalf of his son Rudi Bedford

Award 02

Our handsome and charming web designer Steffan MacMillan receives an award from Dennis on behalf of his son Rhys MacMillan

Award 12

Club mentor Paul Billington presents Nathanael Paul with an award recognising his premier standing in the club as the highest rated player.

Award 01

Our Junior non playing captain Luke accepts an award from Dennis on behalf of his son Rudi Bedford

1/12

Awards Night 2024

Following a three-month period in which our growing club has operated from two great venues - Telepost & Unison, members gathered on 3rd July for a well-attended AGM which has decided the future direction of the club. The meeting began with reports on the 2023-24 season. The standout achievements were a classical and rapidplay double by Telepost A, Telepost B’s promotion from Division Two and a successful first-ever season for Telepost Juniors. Presentations were made to recognise these achievements, presented by Club Secretary Dennis Bonner.

Membership Information (rules of engagement/decorum to come)

Membership of the Unison club is £28 per annum and the Adults charge for the Chess club is currently £10 and Juniors under 18 it is £5.

The Unison club membership allows members discounted rates for drinks in a very comfortable and spacious lounge plus eligibility to join any of the other clubs who are part of the Unison club

A1 Fixtures

2024/25 Fixtures

Date

Tuesday, 17-Sep Thursday, 19-Sep Monday, 23-Sep Tuesday, 01-Oct Tuesday, 01-Oct Wednesday, 02-Oct Tuesday, 08-Oct Tuesday, 15-Oct Thursday, 17-Oct Tuesday, 22-Oct Wednesday, 23-Oct Tuesday, 29-Oct Wednesday, 30-Oct Wednesday, 30-Oct Tuesday, 05-Nov Tuesday, 12-Nov Tuesday, 19-Nov Sunday, 14-Jan Sunday, 21-Jan Sunday, 28-Jan Monday, 29-Jan Sunday, 04-Feb Sunday, 11-Feb Sunday, 18-Feb Sunday, 25-Feb Monday, 04-Mar Monday, 04-Mar Wednesday, 06-Mar Monday, 11-Mar Tuesday, 19-Mar Monday, 25-Mar Wednesday, 27-Mar Monday, 01-Apr Monday, 08-Apr Monday, 08-Apr Monday, 15-Apr Monday, 15-Apr Monday, 22-Apr Monday, 22-Apr Monday, 29-Apr . . . .

Home

Darwinian Knights C Maddocks A Church Stretton A Newport JuniorB Telford C Telepost A Darwinian Knights A Darwinian Knights C Oswestry B Darwinian Knights Jr Shrewsbury A Darwinian Knights Jr Telford A Shrewsbury B Darwinian Knights B Darwinian Knights B Newport A Darwinian Knights Jr Darwinian Knights C Shrewsbury B Telford B Darwinian Knights A Darwinian Knights B Darwinian Knights A Darwinian Knights A Darwinian Knights C Darwinian Knights Jr Oswestry A Darwinian Knights B Telford C Newport B Maddocks B Darwinian Knights A Darwinian Knights A Newport JuniorA Darwinian Knights C Newport JuniorB Darwinian Knights Jr Newport B Darwinian Knights B . . . .

Away

Vs Darwinian Knights Jr Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Darwinian Knights B Vs Darwinian Knights C Vs Darwinian Knights Jr Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Oswestry A Vs Telford C Vs Darwinian Knights B Vs Newport B Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Newport JuniorB Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Darwinian Knights C Vs Maddocks B Vs Newport JuniorA Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Darwinian Knights C Vs Newport B Vs Darwinian Knights Jr Vs Darwinian Knights B Vs Maddocks A Vs Church Stretton A Vs Telepost A Vs Shrewsbury A Vs Newport JuniorB Vs Telford C Vs Darwinian Knights A Vs Oswestry B Vs Darwinian Knights C Vs Darwinian Knights Jr Vs Darwinian Knights B Vs Telford A Vs Newport A Vs Darwinian Knights B Vs Shrewsbury B Vs Darwinian Knights Jr Vs Shrewsbury B Vs Darwinian Knights C Vs Telford B . . . .

Club Facilities

Large Chess Hall
Licensed bar with 10 different beers and ciders
Full range of soft drinks and snacks
Large function room to book for all members parties.
Cricket pitch, football pitch
Outdoor picnic area

Hot food may be ordered in advance
Free parking
Disabled Access
Sky Sports/TNT on six TV's
12 foot snooker table
Outdoor picnic area
6 foot pool table

2024/25

Every Tuesday

7-11pm

News

Quiet Chess

Almost silent chess club starts at 6pm every Tuesday, contact our Autism Aware support Paul Billington to find out more... Paul's email

Every Tuesday

6pm

Upcoming Events & Tournaments Click or tap to expand (this section is in progress)

Shropshire Junior Championships

Shropshire MegaFinal

Staffordshire Junior Championships

Warwickshire Junior Open

Shropshire Online Junior Grand Prix

Shropshire Primary Chess Championships 2024-25

Shropshire Primary Team Chess Challenge

Warwickshire Junior Open

Results Click or tap to expand

September '24

October '24

January '25

December '24

February '25

March '25

April '25

May '25

June '25

July '25

August '25

Club Championship 2024/25 Click or tap to expand

January '25

December '24

February '25

March '25

April '25

May '25

June '25

July '25

August '25

Membership Information (rules of engagement/decorum to come)

2024/25 Fixtures

Date

Home

Away

Club Facilities

Large Chess Hall

Licensed bar with 10 different beers and ciders

Full range of soft drinks and snacks

Large function room to book for all members parties.

Cricket pitch, football pitch

Outdoor picnic area

Hot food may be ordered in advance

Free parking

Disabled Access

Sky Sports/TNT on six TV's

12 foot snooker table

Outdoor picnic area

6 foot pool table

Upcoming Events & Tournaments
Click or tap to expand (this section is in progress)

Warwickshire
Junior Open

Warwickshire
Junior Open

Results
Click or tap to expand

September
'24

October
'24

January
'25

December
'24

February
'25

March
'25

April
'25

May
'25

June
'25

July
'25

August
'25

Club Championship 2024/25
Click or tap to expand

January
'25

December
'24

February
'25

March
'25

April
'25

May
'25

June
'25

July
'25

August
'25