Iain Bourne

Portishead ChessFest 2025 ChessFest returns to Portishead 2026 A date for your diaries! 11th July 2026! Details are still being worked on but you can be assured that this year will be even more fantastic than last year's inaugural event. Open air chess, blitz chess, simuls, human chess displays, Viper the Robot, Stalls - and such like spread around the marina. Don't miss it!

Oliver Stubbs plays Portishead Juniors For the second time Fide Master Oliver Stubbs came to take on Portishead Juniors in a simultaneous display. It is a great tribute to our players that many managed to hold their own well into the middle game. Last time out our players were dropping pieces and pawns all over the place. As the number of games whittled down, however, Ollie's experience and strength began to shine through to a achieve a perfect 17-0 score. Our thanks go out to Ollie for his...

Almost 120 children (plus their families!) joined us to play in the 6th Portishead Junior Rapidplay on Saturday. Portishead Junior Rapidplay - Tournament Hall There was lots of exciting play plus some really promising talent on show. Junior Chess is Fun! In the under 18s both Sam Jackson and Dillon Rock Cooper scored 5.5/6, with Sam coming out top on tie-break. Prize Winners Benjamin Zhang scored a perfect 6/6 in the under 11s, as did Joseph Lake in the under 9s and Edward Luffin the under...