University chess clubs

[David Blower]

Which unis have them and do they enter leagues? I guess Oxford and Cambridge certainly do, but what about others?

[IM Jack Rudd]

BUCA's list of members. (There will also be university chess clubs that are not affiliated to BUCA.)

[David Blower]

Thanks Jack. There is only 15 universities in that list out of the many hundreds of universitys in the country. Maybe I am being naive but I would have thought it possible that say Wolverhampton University could for instance enter the Wolverhampton Chess League, and the same with other universitys with other local chess leagues up and down the country.

[JustinHorton]

When I was at Northumbria 1999-2001 there was no chess club. I put a notice up inviting anybody who was interested in chess to get in touch. Nobody did.

[John Clarke]

Only fifteen members at the time of writing, and every one of them from the ranks of what some (not me) would still term the "real" universities, i.e. those in existence as such before about 1970.

[benedgell]

From the South West: that I'm aware of Bristol, UWE, Exeter, and Bath Uni have chess clubs, whilst Bath Spa, Plymouth (I'm not 100% on that one), Bournemouth don't. I'm not sure if Falmouth University has a club, but Falmouth Chess Club are currently working in partnership with the Student's Union there to generate some interest. Also Southampton do. Bristol and Bath Uni enter teams in the Bristol League, whilst UWE did a few years ago but don't currently. I don't believe Exeter enter a team in the Devon League, but they are active (including have a match with Bristol University this Sat.).

[Mick Norris]

Manchester has normally had a university club and entered teams in the Manchester League - every few years they become a disorganized shambles and pull out - last time was mid season when they got a game fee bill after ignoring what we told them about the membership scheme

They still haven't paid

[Simon Brown]

When I was at Exeter, admittedly a good number of years ago, there was a thriving club which regularly won the Devon League and provided a fair few players for the county teams. I'm quite disappointed to see it isn't even a BUCA member, but maybe that's more of a reflection on the decline of BUCA.

[Paul Dargan]

Imperial College, London plays in both the Middx and London Leagues. I'm pleased to say they let some alumni like myself turn-out when needed.

Paul

[Alex Holowczak]

The list on the BUCA website is, alas, not quite as up to date as it could be.

The results of 2014 are here: http://www.buca.org.uk/file_download/70/tab14c.htm and http://www.buca.org.uk/file_download/71/tab14p.htm

The quality of the uploading to web could have been better...

Anyway! Here are the Universities that play in Leagues - I will no doubt have forgotten plenty:
Birmingham League: Birmingham University
Bristol League: Bristol University, not sure if Bath University and the University of Western England still do
Cambridge Colleges League: Cambridge University
Coventry League: Warwick University
Manchester League: Manchester University (but they've never even expressed an interest in BUCA, let alone played in it!)
Oxfordshire League: Oxford University
Leeds League: Leeds University (never been to BUCA)
London League: Imperial College, London (Or at least, they did)

Recently, we also had:
Cannock League: Aston University
London University Internal League

[Alex Holowczak]

When I was at Exeter, admittedly a good number of years ago, there was a thriving club which regularly won the Devon League and provided a fair few players for the county teams.

They didn't really have a club at all, I gather, until last year. They've been in touch with me throughout 2014, and look set to become members/enter a team or two in 2015.

I'm quite disappointed to see it isn't even a BUCA member, but maybe that's more of a reflection on the decline of BUCA.

I think your knowledge of BUCA is twenty years out of date. BUCA didn't exist at all between 1992-2010, and has been revived ever since. It has grown from 12 teams in 2010 to 25 teams in 2014. I don't see how this can be considered a "decline of BUCA".

[benedgell]

The list on the BUCA website is, alas, not quite as up to date as it could be.

The results of 2014 are here: http://www.buca.org.uk/file_download/70/tab14c.htm and http://www.buca.org.uk/file_download/71/tab14p.htm

The quality of the uploading to web could have been better...

Anyway! Here are the Universities that play in Leagues - I will no doubt have forgotten plenty:
Birmingham League: Birmingham University
Bristol League: Bristol University, not sure if Bath University and the University of Western England still do
Cambridge Colleges League: Cambridge University
Coventry League: Warwick University
Manchester League: Manchester University (but they've never even expressed an interest in BUCA, let alone played in it!)
Oxfordshire League: Oxford University
Leeds League: Leeds University (never been to BUCA)
London League: Imperial College, London (Or at least, they did)

Recently, we also had:
Cannock League: Aston University
London University Internal League

http://chessit.co.uk/Link%20Buttons/League%20Tables.htm

Bath Uni, yes, UWE, no.

[benedgell]

http://www.sotonchessleague.org.uk/results/Div_1

Southampton Uni

[MartinCarpenter]

York University playing in the York local league (non ECF rated due to Yorkshire being Yorkshire ). Even entirely decent chances of winning it, because they've had James Adair and Martin Brown playing quite a few of the matches, and reasonable strength in depth.

[Jon Mahony]

Leeds Uni enters a team into the first or second division of the Leeds league. They have some uber strong players (200+ on the higher boards) unfortunately organisation has left a little to be desired and I can’t remember a LCA AGM / EGM where there hasn’t been a point on the agenda about them (usually none payment of subs and/or defaulting matches). And no one from their team in sight at the meetings to answer any questions (they take place in Uni holiday time).

I think a lot of it is because the people that have just gotten their feet under the table, and started organising, end up getting their degrees and moving on for the fresher’s to come in, and people then need to take over the admin side all over again.

I’m told there has been a big improvement this year though