The evening of Wednesday 16 July saw the debut of a “Right through the Pack” Pro Am teams tournament at the club. The motivation behind this fun event was to provide a competition in which the Ams (less experienced players) could take part alongside the Pros (mostly not actually professionals, but still very experienced players). The format had every pair of Ams matched with a pair of Pros to form a team to play a multiple teams IMP event. The movement wasn’t a regular teams one, but designed so that Ams played only Ams while Pros played only Pros. In other words, the Ams didn’t have to directly face any of the (perhaps fearsome) Pros at the table.

A free glass of Pimms all round kicked off the evening while the Ams got to socialise with their respective Pro teammates. The event attracted twelve teams and ran for nine two‑board rounds. Congratulations to the winning team of Éva Balázs‑Elek (MindSports centre manager), Sara Chiappara, Guy Hart and Mark Lehto who received modest prizes.

Results

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Thank you to all the players who came along and supported this new event, to Gitte Hecht‑Johansen for directing a previously untried movement, and to Jonathan Lillycrop for technical advice and work on the movement.

The club hopes to repeat this style of event occasionally in future, ironing out some of the glitches that come with trying anything new.

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Item posted 19 July 2025

The final of the Young Chelsea Knockout 2024 took place, very overdue, on Thursday 10 July 2025. As neither team had remembered to book the match in with the club, they arrived mid‑afternoon to find the building closed. After some hasty phone calls, the club scrambled to produce boards, playing accommodation and refreshments and the match started about a half‑hour late.  

The teams contesting were Lawrenzo (Patrick Lawrence, Oliver Lawrence, Charlie Bucknell and Stephen Kennedy) and the undefeated Tommasini (Stefano Tommasini, Sebastian Atisen, Neil Rosen, John Atthey and Peter Taylor). Team Tommasini played four handed in the final with Taylor sitting out.

Team Lawrenzo was trailing but not without hope after 32 of the 48 deals. However, team Tommasini promptly opened up too large a lead in the next set of eight deals and team Lawrenzo conceded. Congratulations to team Tommasini who emerged victors by 91 IMPs.

The winners and runners‑up received prizes of £800 and £300 respectively..

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Item posted 12 July 2025

The Young Chelsea is affiliated to the LMBA which, as last year, ran the London Congress at the club. This year’s event took place over the weekend of 6 & 7 July. On the Saturday, 35 pairs played a seven‑round Swiss Pairs.

Congratulation to the winners on 102 VPs Adam Hickman and Andi Boughey. They had the day’s competition sewn up going into the last match and took home their prize of £200.

Results

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On the Sunday 16 teams played a six‑round Swiss Teams.

Congratulations to the winning team on 82.95 VPs: Sam Anoyrkatis, Rob Lawy, Harry Anoyrkatis and Tom Furness. They received a £240 prize.

Results

[See more…]

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Item posted 9 July 2025

YCKO 2025

Sixteen teams have entered this year’s competition. (You can still view the YCKO 2024 competition.) The club will contact those teams which entered last year and have not yet done so this year.

After seeding the teams by NGS (team numbers 9 through 16 being chosen randomly), the draw (updated regularly with match results) has been made. The competition is now under way and teams should contact their opponents to arrange a match date. Once the teams have a date agreed they should book the match in, preferably online via the match booking page, or by emailing the club at bookings@ycbc.co.uk. All Quarter‑final matches have been played and the draw for the Semifinal has been made, chosen randomly from the two possibilities that minimised rematches. (This season Trevor Mathews is policing the match schedule.) The play‑by date for Semifinal matches is 2 November.

Once your match has been played, please notify the result to the club at manager@ycbc.co.uk, stating the names of the players in both teams as well as the outcome. Team captains will be notified of their opponents for their next match as soon as the team to be played is known.

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The Young Chelsea Knockout (YCKO) is the club’s annual teams event that runs on “double elimination” lines—every team has to lose two matches before it is knocked out. Teams may consist of up to six players, all of whom must be paid‑up club members before taking part in a match. (Anyone who needs to may subscribe via the payments page.)

For 2025, the event will be played as a face‑to‑face competition with matches held at the club. Matches will be charged at the standard price. A team may choose whether it wants half‑time refreshments. For matches of up to 32 deals, this is currently either £12.50 per player (with refreshments) or £10.00 per player (without). Should the club exceptionally allow you to play a match online, the charge per match (debited from the captain’s/organizer’s YC account) will be the same as if played face to face. No other entry fee will be charged. Prize money will be £800 for the winning team, £300 for the runners‑up.

The winning team will hold the YCKO Trophy for the following year and will be eligible for a play‑off match against the team winning the LMBA London Championship Teams‑of‑four to decide which team will represent London in the 2024 Lederer invitation tournament.

Please enter by the end of February on the registration page of the website. or by emailing the club manager at manager@ycbc.co.uk. (Entries are now closed.)

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Team Rosters

The organizer/captain’s name appears first in each team’s player list.

[See more…]

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Page last updated 18 October 2025

We are delighted to announce that we have raised the grand total of £5,521.21 for the Help Ukraine Emergency Appeal. The club organised a special fundraising duplicate on 6 March and our Ukrainian staff rallied round baking cakes and donating Ukrainian goods for sale. The event attracted a great mix of club members and others, all of whom gave very generously and the funds rolled in. We are very grateful to all, and every penny will go to the Ukrainian people. [See more…]

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Item posted 9 March, updated 19 March 2022