English Chess Forum

Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club will be holding their first meeting at their new venue, The Adelaide, Park Road, Teddington, on Tuesday 4 January, from 7:30 to 10:30.

The Adelaide was the venue of Thames Valley Chess Club (formerly Twickenham Chess Club, but later amalgamated with Kingston Chess Club) for several years from 1901.

We look forward to welcoming our members and opponents in the Thames Valley and Surrey Leagues shortly.

Richard James wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:25 pm

We look forward to welcoming our members and opponents in the Thames Valley and Surrey Leagues shortly.

Very convenient for public transport, right next to Teddington station. I'm looking forward to my first visit.

As the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club is no longer located in either Richmond or Twickenham perhaps the members should consider changing the name to the Teddington Chess Club.

Ken Norman wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:55 am

As the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club is no longer located in either Richmond or Twickenham perhaps the members should consider changing the name to the Teddington Chess Club.

Lewisham chess club has always been in Catford as long as I can remember but I can never recall anyone wanting to rename it. So there is precedent.

Catford Cricket & Sports Club 7 September 2021.

Ken Norman wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:55 am

As the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club is no longer located in either Richmond or Twickenham perhaps the members should consider changing the name to the Teddington Chess Club.

This is unlikely to be sustainable given the history of chess clubs in South West London. Richmond and Kingston are transport hubs which act as mainstems into which the tributaries of the temporary local clubs flow. Depending upon how you read the history over the last 150 years or so, Kingston has absorbed Twickenham and Teddington via a period as Thames Valley. Richmond has absorbed a later manifestation of Twickenham CC. Meanwhile, Wimbledon, Surbiton, Epsom and Battersea have retained name continuity even if the clubs occasionally went into abeyance.

The diagram is part of the Kingston CC sequicentennial history project.

The key in the chart appears to be incorrect, shouldn't the terms Operational and In abeyance be swapped?

Ken Norman wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:55 am

As the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club is no longer located in either Richmond or Twickenham ...

It's in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. On that basis it has at least as much right its name as Chelsea Football Club has given that it's in Hammersmith and Fulham rather than Kensington and Chelsea.

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:37 pm

Lewisham chess club has always been in Catford as long as I can remember ...

Similarly Catford is part of the borough of Lewisham so the name is perfectly fair.

King's Head Chess Club obtained its name from its one time (possibly first) venue but hasn't been there as long as I can remember (more than twenty years).

Ken Norman wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:55 am

As the Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club is no longer located in either Richmond or Twickenham perhaps the members should consider changing the name to the Teddington Chess Club.

Like St Domingo FC, which became Anfield FC because that was where they played, and Walton FC when they moved to their current premises in 1892. Except that it didn't. They called themselves Everton because that's where St Domingo Methodist Chapel was. Everton FC have never played in Everton.