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Website sponsored by ... ANNIE'S TEA ROOM, Lodge Mill, Townley Street, Middleton, M24 1AT  Further information via clicking this link ...

Welcome to 3Cs Chess Club ...

Founded 1978

As seen on BBC1's "The One Show"

3Cs Chess Club

St.Edward's RC Parish Hall

Spring Lane, Lees, Oldham,  OL4 5AJ

Thursdays 7pm - 9pm

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Click these links for 3Cs contact details ....
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The next 3Cs club night is this Thursday, 17 July 2025 (7pm) 
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                         MAYORAL VISIT TO 3Cs  -  Thursday 26 June 2025

3Cs were not only very honoured to welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham to one of their weekly club nights but also delighted that chess - and especially the success of the game in Oldham - was recognised by such a visit.

 

In an address the Mayor gave to over 60 members in attendance on the night, he said that 3Cs was one of Oldham's hidden gems and its continued success over many years should be something the whole town needs to be aware of.

 

The Mayor continued by praising all those who voluntarily give up their time to organise the club, especially Steve Rigby who founded 3Cs in 1978 and was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2025 King's New Year's Honours list.

 

As a remembrance of their visit to 3Cs, the Mayor and Mayoress were presented with a salt and pepper set in the style of King and Queen chess pieces.

The photographs show the Mayor and Mayoress with Steve Rigby; the Mayor addressing 3Cs club members; the Mayor with the chess National Cup which is currently held by 3Cs; the Mayor and Mayoress with a souvenir of their visit.

Click these links for various media reports of the Mayor's visit to3Cs  ...

2025 King's New Year's Honours   -    Stephen Rigby    -    British Empire Medal

Steve Rigby has now been presented with the British Empire Medal which he was awarded in the 2025 King's New Years Honours.

Although still regularly attending 3Cs, Steve now lives in Powys, Wales and the presentation was made by the Lord Lieutenant of Powys, Mrs.Tia Catherine Jones in her role as the King's representative.

Click this link for more details of Steve's award ...  
Last update    11.00am     Sun 13 July 2025

Thank you all for your support of the club.

Recent updates:
Welcome  (Sponsors)
Who We Are  (ECF Membership)
News  (3Cs On Tour)
News  (Club Competitions)
News  (S-E Lancashire Summer League)
News  (Around The World)
Fixtures  (Match Diary)
Fixtures  (Summer League)
Future Events  (Main page)
Coaching  (Main Page)
Coaching  (Quotes 1)
Puzzle Board  (Daily Puzzle 1-6)

Welcome to 3Cs' website

Click on the relevant heading at the top of this website to view the main page of your required section. Alternatively just place your cursor over the heading to reveal a drop-down box giving further options and then click on the one you want.

3Cs, or to use its official name "The Children's Chess Club of Oldham", is dedicated to providing the opportunity for local youngsters to learn and play the game of chess.

The club is recognised as one of the most successful production lines of young talent throughout the country, with both the club itself and many of its individual members having gained major honours at local, regional, national and international level.

            3Cs' Forthcoming Matches

South-East Lancashire Summer League

           Thursday 17 July (7.30pm)

                       B Division
                 3Cs 1  v  Eccles 1

 
     ECF NATIONAL CLUB CHAMPIONS

In 2023 3Cs officially became the top chess club in the country after winning the ECF National Club Championship.

Click on this link for further details ....
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BREAKING NEWS  :

3Cs 1 went down 4.5 - 1.5 in their A Division match away to the reigning South-East Lancashire Summer League champions Chorlton 1 with a win from Edward Jackson and a Tim Hilton draw providing the 3Cs game points.

Our first team in the u-1300 Development League gained an excellent 3-1 away success against previously unbeaten Eccles 1. Kamila Shanazarova, Sofia Daysh and Jayden Cheung all won their individial games for 3Cs.

Mixed fortunes for our teams in their latest South-East Lancashire Summer League matches. Our third team defeated Blue Club 4 at home 3-1 in E Division while our Development second team went down 1-3 to Swinton & Worsley.  It was a good night for the Kocak brothers with Beyazid winning his game for 3Cs 3 and Yavuz doing the same for our development side. The other points for our third team came via wins from Noah Hicks and Karl Moorcroft.

Selected details from Phil Adams's latest 3Cs' Newsletter (17 June) can be seen on our main "Coaching" page.  The full content of the newsletter (available only to 3Cs' members) includes several training puzzles as well as up-to-date news of events both local and afar.  If any current or former 3Cs' members do not receive the Newsletter but would wish to do so, please e-mail Phil at "phil1948a@hotmail.com"

3Cs 1 gained an emphatic 5-1 home success against Atherton 1 in A Division of the Summer League Atherton defaulted one board while the other points for 3Cs came via wins for Rob McLean, Hunain Malik and Tim Hilton while Andy Lewis and Kyle Pelling drew.

The 3Cs' Development second team won 4-0 away to Eccles Development 2 in the Summer League with the individual wins coming from Jayden Cheung, Yavuz Kocak, Tom Kearns and Kingston Au.

Mohammed Rohman finished as runner-up in the Minor section (u-1600) of the Ilkley Congress with a score of 4 / 5 and with his only efeat being to the eventual undefeated winner of the event. Mother and daughter Crystal and Alannah Ashton competed in the Open section, both scoring 2.5 / 5.

Our second team began their quest for the Summer League B Division title with an excellent 5-1 home win against Stockport 1.  Tim Hilton, Ben Newton, James Marshall, Ved Boganadham and Nana Frimpong all won their individual games for 3Cs.

The opening match of the South-East Lancashire Summer League saw our two u-1300 Development teams face each other with the first team gaining a 4-0 win.. The individual winners were Kamila Shanazarova, Aaron Lewis, Sofia Daysh and Yavuz Kocak.

Photograph courtesy of Brendan O'Gorman
We are the Champions3Cs
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Following on from 18 year old Gukesh Dommaraju become the youngest chess World Champion, another young Indian player, Aarit Kapil - aged 9 - has hit the headlines by holding Magnus Carlsen to a draw.  Further details can be seen by clicking this link ... 
       2024  ECF "Club of the Year" 
2024 saw 3Cs win the English Chess Federation's "Club of the Year" award for the third time - having also received the honour in 2006 and 2014 - while no other club throughout the country has won it more than once since it was first presented in 1984.

Click this link for details of all the 3Cs awards ...
Aaron Lewis and Ved Boganadham (pictured middle and right) jointly won the latest 3Cs internal blitz competition while Ibrahim Riaz took the primary school award.

Download the full results via this link  ...
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26 June 2025

As always it's good when a 3Cs player from the past makes a visit to the club, as it was when Tom Clements - a former England junior international as shown on the 3Cs Board of Honour - arrived and donated several of his chess books to the club as he is no longer living in the area.

Tom (right) is pictured with 3Cs' founder Steve Rigby.
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 ENGLISH CHESS FEDERATION MEMBERSHIPS

A relevant level of membership of the national governing body for chess in this country (ECF) is often required before being able to compete in events both locally and nationally, with such memberships covering a 12 month period.

Click this link for more details and also for when current memberships of 3Cs players expire ...
29 June 2025

"Playing as a team" seems to have been given a new meaning by some of the 3Cs players at the recent Crewe congress.

The five players pictured (l to r - Claire Kerton, Noah Hicks, Mohammed Rohman, Ved Boganadham and Sean Hicks) are actually shown analysing their moves during a break in play.
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                        NATIONAL AWARD FOR 3Cs' FOUNDER

In 2023 3Cs' founder Steve Rigby was personally honoured by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who recommended him to receive a "Points of Light" award which is a National Honour bestowed upon individual volunteers whose efforts have made a difference to their community.

The Prime Minister's personal award is in recognition of the 45 years Steve has spent encouraging youngsters to play chess since forming the 3Cs chess club in 1978 and with Steve becoming the first person to receive the award for services to chess.

For more information, click on this link ...
3Cs Chess Club featured on the BBC1 primetime television programme "The One Show" on Friday 13 October 2023.

Photographs of the BBC filming at 3Cs HQ can be seen by clicking on this link  ...                            

The BBC have kindly given permission for 3Cs to reproduce the broadcast on this website - the section involving 3Cs is therefore available for viewing by clicking the box below.
3Cs were very prominent in the December 2023 issue of the English Chess Federation's monthly newsletter "Chess Moves", including articles about the formation and history of the club; Steve Rigby's "Points of Light" award and our International Master Andy Horton becoming the British blitz champion.

Click this link for further information ...
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ALANNAH ASHTON  -  WOMEN'S CANDIDATE MASTER
In 2024 Alannah Ashton became the latest 3Cs player to gain a title when she qualified as a Women's Candidate Master.
Other 3Cs players who have received Masters titles or gained International recognition can be seen via the following links ..

If you are new to chess then click on the links below for some useful information.

3Cs won the 2023 British Chess Educational Trust award for their outstanding achievement and encouragement of chess at junior level and is the most prestigious national honour specifically for the promotion of junior chess.

The club received an engraved chess board, boxed pieces and clock (shown below) while more details of the award can be seen by clicking this link ...   
The main "Future Events" section of this website includes details of several forthcoming chess tournaments at various levels and which may be of interest for any 3Cs' members wishing to enter.

Click here for more details ...  

6 chess puzzles - updated every day - plus 3 "Play the Computer" options are available via the drop-down box of our main "Puzzles" page.

Chess.com have issued a list of  chess-related phone apps available to download.  Click this link for more details ....
Clicking this link takes you to our "Who Else ?" section to see which celebrities also play chess.
Photographs of all the chess world champions, both male and female, adorn the walls of our main coaching room at the 3Cs' headquarters.  Therefore, while youngsters at 3Cs are coached how to play chess, the photographs assist in also teaching the history of the game..

The room also houses the club library as well as a projection screen, trophy cabinet and the 3Cs' Honours Boards. 
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Images from 3Cs' club nights showing some of our junior members (above) and those with more experience (below).

3Cs' very own Grandmaster STEPHEN GORDON who joined the club while still at primary school and has since progressed to become one of the World's elite group of players.

The photographs above show Stephen in action (left) during the 2019 British Championships and also in conversation with Victor Korchnoi, one of the greatest players of all time.

Despite his talent often being sought by various teams both home and abroad, including regular appearances in the lucrative German national chess Bundersliga, Stephen continues to play for 3Cs.

He has twice won the English Championship, in 2007 and 2012, as well as the 2019 British Rapidplay title while in 2005 he triumphed over more than 1,500 other competitors to win the UK Chess Challenge title.

Away from the board Stephen has also excelled with his ability in promoting the game of chess and for several years hosted "The Full English Breakfast", a chess podcast often highlighting the lighter side of the game. He is also regularly in demand to provide expert analysis of games played at the very top level.

3Cs' founder Steve Rigby alongside one of the club's coaches, Crystal Ashton.

Although now living near the Welsh border, Steve regularly attends the club and is still actively involved in much of the behind the scenes organisation for 3Cs.

As well as her coaching duties, Crystal also organises the 3Cs' Junior 4NCL team and has also recently passed an arbiters' exam.
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Just a typical night at a local chess club ???

 

However, the photograph (left) is from a 3Cs' weekly club night and the "typical kind of members" include Grandmaster Stephen Gordon (seated) as well as International Master Andy Horton (second left) and Women's International Master and six times French women's champion Sophie Milliet (third left).

 

Also in the picture are Helal Ahmed (extreme left); Michael Tebelev (third right) and head coach Phil Adams (extreme right).

19 Sep 2019 (4)
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Much of the 3Cs' success for several years is due to many of its juniors continuing to play with the club in their later years ... with this photo providing such an example.

From left to right, Dale James, Andy Lewis and Adam Ashton, all began playing chess for 3Cs while at junior school and are all still involved with the club.
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Founded in 1978 to promote and develop chess in Oldham Primary Schools and the surrounding districts, 3Cs has grown since then into one of the largest and strongest junior chess club in the country.  Any child is given a welcome, although most are recruited from the Oldham Primary Schools and join by invitation, while they are then encouraged to continue attending once they reach secondary-school age.

 

The club also has adult members of course who usually fall into one of three categories: ex-juniors who have since grown up; parents of juniors; player-coaches. However, any adults are also made welcome on condition that they actively support the aims and ethos of the club, whose main focus is the development and welfare of the children.

 

The overall achievements of the club have resulted in it receiving the English Chess Federation's "Club of the Year" award on three occasions - and being the only club throughout the country to gain the honour more than once - whilst in 2017 the club gained a place among the very best by qualifying to play in the European Club Cup, a feat they repeated twelve months later.

 

However, despite these successes locally, nationally and Internationally, both as a club and for many of its members individually, 3Cs' greatest satisfaction - and forever the main focus of the club - is still seeing local youngsters coming through the door on their weekly club nights (Thursdays 7pm - 9pm) to just enjoy learning and playing the game.

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