Honours Board and
Player Achievements
Junior Blitz Champion, February 2026
Congratulations to Prakul Mahajan, who won Junior Blitz Night. The familiar format of a single 5+0 game per round returned, but with the Swiss-style league table split into four brackets. Prakul topped Bracket 1 with a dominant 7 points, pursued by Harry LeRoy and Aryan Maurya each on 5. Dylan Harrison won Bracket 2, also with 5 points. Nidharth Petchiappan won Bracket 3 with 3.5 points and Sidhin Prabhuananth won Bracket 4 with 3 points. Please don't ask the humble webmaster to explain exactly how the mysterious bracketing system worked, but it certainly introduced an element of jeopardy and excitement into the proceedings. The tournament was lively, with the juniors given permission to be a little bit louder than usual. Good-natured cries of"Bro's cooked!" were heard repeatedly throughout the evening, usually when an unfortunate player was checkmated or was drawn against the in-form Prakul. The smattering of adults who turned out for social chess knew what we were letting themselves in for. Blocking out the excited noise actually made for excellent concentration training.
A big thank you to Jason LeRoy for organising, and for all of our junior players who participated in a super-fun tournament. Junior Blitz Night will return someday once we've all had a chance to calm down.
Blitz Champion, January 2026
Congratulations to Nathaniel Wu, who won a closely contested Blitz Night, which made a welcome return on the first club night of the calendar year. A new look Blitz Night saw us play a knockout competition rather than our traditional Swiss format, with players playing two 5+0 games, with a brutal 1+0 bullet Armageddon game in the event of a drawn match.
Nathaniel was a deserved winner, defeating some strong players on his way to the title, culminating in a semi-final victory over James Cruikshank and a 1½-½ win over James Bingham in the final. James worked a big advantage in the first game but ran critically low on time and Nathaniel sportingly offered the draw which was gratefully accepted with the flag seconds from falling. Nathaniel had the edge in the second game, James unwisely going pawn-grabbing on the queenside and leaving his king in a shaky position. Major pieces flew around the board in a time scramble, but Nathaniel got the win.
A big shout out also goes to Dylan Harrison who played exceptionally well to defeat A-Teamer Gareth Hughes in the last 16, before finally falling victim to Patrick Bourne in the quarter-final.
2025 Club Championships
Congratulations to Patrick Bourne, Felicity Sharratt and Irill Ishak, who won the club's three internal 2025 championships.
Patrick won the classical tournament with a score of 5/5, defeating James Bingham in the deciding final round in a sharp game where momentum swung back and forth, and both players had winning chances. With both players in time trouble, Patrick managed to land the decisive blow with a brilliant bishop sacrifice. Whilst the engines didn't approve of every move, the players and spectators certainly enjoyed it!
Felicity won a well-attended and fiercely contested junior championship, fighting off some very strong competition.
Irill won the blitz championship with a score of 7 points, narrowly ahead of Patrick Bourne and James Bingham, who each finished on 6. The 5+0 time control led to some frenetic games and unforeseen upsets. Matthew Bingham was the night's surprise package, scoring 4 points that included two victories over established league players (one of whom was his proud Dad!).
Thanks and congratulations to everyone who played in the tournaments. There were some exciting games, fantastic performances, and good fun was had by all. Special thanks to Jason LeRoy and Pete Saunders for organising.
2024-25 Player of the Season
Once again, Richard Millener showed his class in the league, finishing as the A-Team's highest scorer with 7½/12 and deservedly scooping the club's player of the season award for 2025. Congratulations Richard!
Advik Goyal top-scored for the B-Team with a score of 7/8. Another player to make a huge impact was Patrick Bourne, who joined the club early in the season and went on to score 6/11 for the A-Team and 6½/7 for the B-Team, making him the club's top-scorer spread across our two teams.
Jason LeRoy will tell you his 100% win record and division-topping 2,174 performance rating for the B-Team trumps all the above achievements. We won't say how many games those superb stats were based upon :-)
Thank you to everyone who represented the club in the league during 2024-25. You all did yourselves and the club proud.
Alan Ashby Salver Winner and 2023-24 Player of the Season!
The player of the 2023-24 season was Richard Millener. Richard remained undefeated against all comers in the league, posting a massive 12½ points from a possible 14 (Played 14, Won 11, Drew 3, Lost 0). Almost all of Richard’s games were played on the lofty heights of Board 1, often against more highly rated players. Richard’s excellent performance across the season secured him the Alan Ashby Salver, awarded annually to the highest scoring player across the league’s divisions, plus the club's coveted Player of the Season trophy.
Very well done to Richard!
Club Captain Jason LeRoy awards Richard Millener the 2023-2024 North Bristol Player of the Season Trophy
2024 Club Classical Champion!
The 2024 North Bristol Club Championship used the Swiss format. Five rounds of classical chess, spread over the summer during the break in league play. Competition was fierce, with many of our junior players and adult improvers threatening to cause upsets against the established club players. After a hard fought tournament, three players – Will Mullaney, Jonny Penn and James Bingham – finished tied on 4/5 points. James had led from week one, but was pegged back at the last, defeated by Will in an intense game where both players had winning chances.
The championship was decided by a three-way blitz playoff, with the each player facing off against one another, watched by an enthusiastic audience. Will and Jonny kicked off with an honourable 1½-1½ draw, before James defeated Jonny 2-1 to edge into the lead. Will re-entered the fray to win the first game against James, who fought back to equalise. It all came down to the last game. Will took advantage of a tactical opportunity to force home a devastating attack on James’ king.
Congratulations Will Mullaney, North Bristol Chess Club Champion 2024.
Congratulations also go to our beaten finalists James Bingham and Jonny Penn, and to the rest of our clubmates who took part in what was an excellent tournament, played in a competitive but Corinthian spirit.
2024 Club Blitz Champion!
Congratulations to James Bingham, who won the inaugural club blitz championship, posting an impressive 6/7 which included wins over strong players Richard Millener and Advik Goyal on the road to victory. The tournament was fiercely contested, with a cluster of players finishing close behind James on 5 points. The 5+0 time control resulted in some fantastic games, many of the wins being achieved with literally seconds to spare. We all had great fun, and Blitz Night will certainly be returning next year.