A few spots left in our Blitz tournament on Thursday! Open to all, with great prizes across various rating ranges, and you could be the lucky winner of a board signed by Magnus Carlsen while he's in London! Sign up below: forms.gle/akZ1CRbCNDoj...

Nice positional win tonight, didn't need to do anything special 🐴

Hammersmith 1 vs Wood Green starts in 10 minutes! Only 7 GMs for the visitors 🫣 Go team! Watch live on lichess (top 6 boards): lichess.org/broadcast/ha...

We are delighted to host an Open Blitz Tournament on Thursday 5 February, in collaboration with @chess.com, who are generously providing a substantial prize fund, including a board signed by Magnus Carlsen! hammerchess.co.uk/2026/01/23/t...

And today I drew an IM but I really should have won. And the team needed it but I guess it wasn't meant to be 😔

I beat a FIDE Master at 4NCL but my team lost 7-1 😐

On the train home and I just saw a guy playing checkers on his phone, unheard of!

Our Club Captain Gastón was featured on the Perpetual Chess Podcast, discussing our growth as a club and some of his own personal journey as well. Listen to the interview on the links below!

I was on the Perpetual Chess Podcast speaking about Hammersmith Chess Club and how it's grown to become the biggest club in London! Many thanks to Ben for the invitation! Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5yCX... Or on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Our League season returns tonight with Hammer Hedger facing Yas Queen in the Intermediate division of the London League Currently 9 of our 19 teams stand at the top of their league tables, check out the summary by Club Captain Gaston Franco: hammerchess.co.uk/2026/01/04/h...

Monday puzzle First one of 2026, sharing this mate in 2 by Suyunbek Bolotbekov (1999). White to play. Happy New Year! #chesspunks

Happy New Year to All! 🎉🥳 Chess never stops, so this month we have 22 matches, a new Beginners Course stating on 15 Jan, plus the return of Women's Hour and Junior Hour alongside our regular club nights See more details from David on the link below: hammerchess.co.uk/2026/01/01/t...

Took a few chess-themed pics around my new neighbourhood Sadly the pieces were not set up at the Holland Park board... I'll be back!

Friday Puzzle Last one of the year! A tricky one where the moves you'd expect don't seem to work... White to play and mate in 2, by Wilfried Alliet (1984) #chesspunks

Forgot to do one but happy with my 5 stars

Our big quiz of 2025 is underway! The first round includes strange puzzles like this one. Can you figure it out? @gatofranco90.bsky.social

Monday Puzzle I'm all set for hosting another Quiz at my club @hammerchess.bsky.social tonight! Here's a question I asked last year. Maybe not too hard? But it caught a few people off guard!

What a match! Well played all! And with last night's results, our "Hammersmith 1" teams are in sole or shared first place in all 4 Leagues! (London, Middlesex, Thames Valley and Central London)

Friday puzzle I beat a 2235 ECF last night, who played better than me but I was lucky when he fell for a trick. What tactic did he miss? Black to play! My team did alright too, and left the Galacticos seeing stars!

Shared 1st at a chess 960 tournament last night 🏆 (But I probably deserved to lose every game)

Monday puzzle I found the below position by Alberto Witte (1957). I couldn't quite figure out why there is a pawn on h5, can anyone help? White to play and mate in 2! #chesspunks

Morning tennis 🎾 Almost ready for Wimbledon 😂

Friday Puzzle I drew a quiet game last night, but my team won and qualified to the Eastman Cup semifinals, where we will face a powerful club Below is a mate in two that looks game-like, but is a composition by John Keeble (1911). White to play! #chesspunks

Monday puzzle Busy day so this one should be solved quite quickly! White to play and mate in 2, by Grzegorz Jakubowski (1988) #chesspunks

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🇦🇷 Diego Flores wins 100th Argentine Championship 🏆 Congratulations 👏 GM Diego Flores emerged as the winner of the 2025 Argentine Championship, claiming his eighth national title. The champion scored an impressive 8.5/11 and was the only player to complete the event

First in the world to solve today's Advent of Chess! In a somewhat special day to me 😆

Won a bag of lollipops by guessing how many there were! 😂 And this is only half because I tied with someone else 🍭

Friday "puzzle" Just a question on style today. I won a league game last night, where I kept control even though I messed up the move order a little bit (my first time playing as white against the Tartakower!) I reached a winning endgame and I thought the next move was nice! 🤩

Monday Puzzle I was hoping to maybe play some tournament this month, but it looks like it will have to be some other time At least my birthday is getting close! White to play and mate in 2 by Holger Helledie (1971). Tricky one! #chesspunks

Friday Puzzle I haven't been online that much recently. Back to sharing one of these: A mate in 2 by Arthur Gooderson (1974), white to play! How long did it take you to find the solution? #chesspunks

I finally won a game last night, after a poor streak. I didn't play brilliantly either, but I took my chances and I'm happy I helped my team. I was hoping this position would be reached at one point. Black would be much better anyway, but I thought the tactical finish was cute.

Join us tonight for our guest speaker IM/WGM Jovanka Houska! She will give a lecture and then play a ~20 board simul against some of our members! So excited to have her! 📷: Maria Emelianova

Hammer 1 is currently leading the Middlesex League, but tonight we face the strong West London who might bring some titled players! We will broadcast the games live, keep an eye out for the link to be published here later We also have a Division 3 match, and a CLL match!

Four wins in four matches for our London League teams last night! Well done everybody!

Monday Puzzle Probably quite easy for most, but some funny patters show up on this one by Analotij Kirichenko (1991) White to play and mate in 2 #chesspunks

Meanwhile Alexei Shirov is visiting my country and playing in an Open tournament. In the first round he got paired against a guy called Svidler 😂 lichess.org/broadcast/xx... @polborta.bsky.social

Monday Puzzle I took a few photos of my new neighbourhood during the weekend. More on my instagram! Sharing a position by Fatyh Aitov (1970), where knowing some patterns will definitely help! White to play and mate in 2 #chesspunks

Friday Puzzle I returned to the board this week, not playing very well. Won one and lost one. Sharing a rather clever mate in 2 by Johannes Zukertort! (1869). Don't be fooled, this man knew how to play chess! #chesspunks

Got a bit lucky with a tactic 😊

Monday Puzzle I have a week off, and hope to return to the board and play some league matches for my club. Let's see how rusty I am! Here is a mate in 2 by H R Burkill (1897), with a nice key move. White to play #chesspunks

Friday puzzle I'm taking a week off so I'm racing to finish all my work today Below is a position by Renato di Vincenzi (1998), with a fairly expected but satisfying first move White to play and mate in 2 #chesspunks

Monday Puzzle Not particularly enjoying the weather lately, but the food has been good! Sharing a mate in 2 by Meindert Niemeijer (1963). Black's King is surrounded but how to finish off? #chesspunks

My win against Bodhana last year might already be the best result in my career!

Friday Puzzle No games for me this week, lots to do at work and a visit from my manager seemed to have been productive. Sharing a mate in 2 by D. Lamouroux (1890), which should not be so challenging! #chesspunks

Game analysis lecture last night by yours truly

Monday puzzle Busy day but taking a short break to post this! Plus later tonight I will analyse some internal games played by my clubmates at @hammerchess.bsky.social Below is a tricky mate in 2 by Rudolf Zangger (1902), can you solve it? #chesspunks

Friday Puzzle Very late at posting this, but I realised I never shared the news of my article being published on the ECF newsletter ChessMoves (back in June!). They were so kind to send me a printed copy as well Here's today's mate in 2, by Johann Berger (1886) #chesspunks

Monday puzzle Quite a lot of work to do this week, and probably next too. Unlikely I will play any matches but we'll see how things go Can you solve the below mate in 2? Not too hard once you see what needs to happen. By Emilio Battaglia (1996) #chesspunks

Friday Puzzle I didn't play this week due to a small logistical issue, but in any case I have been quite busy at work so it was probably for the best. Sharing the below position by Goran Forslund (1996), with some nice patterns. White to play and mate in 2 #chesspunks