Looking to join a club?  Click here for Newcomers section...

24 Nov 2025: Game between Dave Bogle and Gerry Johnstone

Gerry Johnstone has sent in his take on his recent Borders Individual Championship match against Dave Bogle:  very full annotations to a hard-fought draw in 38 moves.  A good read, and well worth looking at.

Game Bogle v Johnstone, annotated by Gerry himself...

18 Nov 2025: Selkirk championship news; next week's league fixtures

There are two League matches next week for us to look forward to:  on Tuesday 25th, Gala visit the County Hotel to take on the Selkirk "A" team; and on Wednesday 26th it is NHS v Kelso at the BGH.  Both will have some very interesting pairings.

League fixtures...

There were three games played this week in the Selkirk Championship: Alan Armstrong and Sam Cornwell drew their game;  Nick Dunne defeated Kevin Poulton;  and John Moore beat Steve Leckie.  The full crosstable is on the Club News page, and the game Armstrong-Cornwell is on the League Fixtures page...

11 Nov 2025: Borders Individual; a result against the gradings

There have been one or two surprises in the BICC, including a victory by Selkirk player Steve Carter over the experienced Gala player.  Sam Cornwell writes:

On Tuesday, 11th November 2025, Selkirk Chess Club hosted a Borders Minor League match that will be remembered for quite some time. Steve Carter, playing White against Keith Robinson, produced what may be one of the biggest upsets of the season.

Steve, a newcomer to the Borders Chess League, has been a regular face at the club, turning up every week, quietly studying, and steadily improving with each game. A thoughtful and patient positional player, he demonstrated composure and depth of understanding throughout the evening. In a back-and-forth encounter...

See the updated tables, plus Sam's full thoughts on this game...

Full results, plus the game Alan Armstrong v Sam Cornwell and other League and BICC games...

28 Oct 2025: Kelso club is revived

Great news!  Following hard work by Laura Steven of Berwick, the newly revived Kelso club had its first meeting on Tuesday 28 Oct in the British Legion.  The evening was a great success, and the club is obviously back with a bang.  Anyone in the Kelso area who would like to join, please contact the editor at , who will forward your query to Laura Steven, the Kelso organiser.

Kelso have always entered a team in the Borders League, but have not actually met as a club there for a few years.  This new venture will bring a weekly club back to Kelso, and will help cater for the undoubted interest in chess there is in the town and the surrounding area.  Welcome back!

Alan Armstrong was there on Tuesday, and has sent us his impressions of the evening. See the Club News page...

Kelso have a Facebook page, which is at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581538897695 

Latest tables from the Borders Individual Championships...

Club news, including the Selkirk Championship...

Full schedule, League results and selected games...

Newcomers and tuition

If you're looking to join a club, this is where to start. We cover the four main Borders clubs, with details of contacts. There is also a tuition section, including: a refresher on the rules of chess; some hints on how to win material;  and other basic tuition articles.

Newcomers section...

General blog 

What's in the blog section? Well, anything that anyone wants to write about.  This month we have a rant measured criticism of post-mortems; an introduction to problems; and games from prominent Borders players. Open to all, so please send in your articles to the editor.

Blog index...

Social media: Kelso and Selkirk

The Selkirk club has both a Facebook account and an X account.  The accounts are https://twitter.com/ClubSelkirk and https://www.facebook.com/selkirkchess.

Kelso's Facebook page can be found here...

Archives

Looking for past records?  Try our Archives section, with news, results and grading information from previous seasons. Data covering the past 15 years plus.

Chess Borders archives...