Richard Haddrell, a long serving member of the KJCA committee and a dedicated ambassador of chess in Kent and across the country, sadly passed away on 30 September 2016.  

Richard was actively involved with chess over many years at club (Tunbridge Wells), county (Kent), junior (KJCA), southern chess union (SCCU) and national levels.  He was also involved with the English Chess Federations (ECF) and held important roles such as national grading administrator, controller of the national schools’ championship and as a member of the governance committee.  He received the ECF President’s award for Services to Chess in 1994: his appointment as an Honorary Life Vice President was on the agenda for the forthcoming AGM.

Richard was a keen chess player and dedicated his life to chess both in Kent and nationally. His early support in setting up junior chess in Kent and organising tournaments led to what is now the KJCA.  Richard was a very kind hearted and funny man, he will be missed by everyone who got to know his through KJCA and other local chess clubs.  We are all thankful for all his work and support. 

Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and those who knew him well.

Richard’s funeral will be held at Tunbridge Wells crematorium in the afternoon of Thursday 3^rd November, followed by a wake at the Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells.

Thanks to all the young chess players and accompanying parents and carers for coming along to our first GP tournament of the 2016-17 season.

Just a quick reminder that Coaching Day two is this Sunday, 6th November, at Sevenoaks Primary School.

We hope everyone is ready for learning lots of chess techniques and having some fun. 

If you would like to know more about the Institute of chess coaching that we offer, please look at the details on our training page and the FAQ's that have been answered by our chief coach, GM Chris Ward:  http://www.kjca.org/site/page?view=training

There is still time if you would like to register for this or our future training days this season. 

Please go to: http://www.kjca.org/event/143  or contact us on webmaster@kjca.org to confirm that you would like to come along.

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Welcome to or welcome back to(!) the chess coaching days at the KJCA that I can tell you are the envy all the other counties around the country and are clearly a contributing factor to our national success. To start, please be sure to carefully read the training FAQs that you will find under the ‘training’ tab at the top of this page.

The date for this season are as follows:

IMPORTANT is that when enrolling your child (via the ‘events’ page), you ensure that you are registering for the correct sessions. For the 4 day courses (Levels 3-5) your fee will cover you for all of those days (plus the exam at the end) and we recommend you attend preferably all, but at least 3 of the 4 in order to maximise your understanding and give yourself the best chance to get a good result.

Provided you (i.e. your son or daughter) achieved a merit or distinction at the previous level you sat, we are happy for you to move up and hence register for the next level. If you obtained a ‘pass’ at any level, then clearly there are good things that have been taken on board but we recommend that you re-take that course to help you get to grips with all of the topics involved. Moving up ‘too soon’ only leads to further problems down the line and it really isn’t fun when too much material is going over a child’s head. Please note it is not a race to see who can get through all the exams as quickly as possible and rather all about discovering and understanding different aspects of the game that can be applied when they sit down and play their matches.

We really want our coaching days to be fun but by the same token we don’t want anyone spending a day listening to things that they already totally understand. Specifically, with regards to levels 1 and 2 and new arrivals to the coaching days, boys and girls will be assessed on the first morning of attendance to check they are in an appropriate group. When registering you will see that as levels 1 and 2 are only two day courses (with exams sat at the end of CD2 and CD4), you have a choice of permutations to attend. If your child is a beginner but you feel may be a quick learner and were hoping to join level 3 next season, then for example level 1 in CDs 1 and 2 with the intention of doing level 2 in CDs 3 and 4 makes sense.

Young children will have adult assistance when taking tests and although there will be an alternative exam date or two laid on for those unable to attend CD4, whatever the level there is absolutely no compulsion to take an exam should a child feel unprepared or anxious.

If I could just kindly ask that you don’t leave it too late to enrol as that makes my life easier when obtaining the other coaches. That aside hope to see you all soon!

Grandmaster Chris Ward