English Federation for Correspondence Chess

The Clergy Correspondence Chess Club was founded in 1967 by Ivor Davies, a clergyman of the Church in Wales. Membership is open to clergy of all Christian churches, and while Anglicans have historically been the largest in numbers, our Championship has been won by Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed clergy. Indeed in one season our top Division comprised five players of five different denominations. Geographically our membership has stretched from Scotland to Cornwall and from Ireland to Suffolk, with an occasional overseas member.

Many churches have opened their ordained ministry to women as well as men and we are happy to welcome clergy of either gender, who play on equal terms with each other. Sadly, one omission is that we have yet to attract a Bishop to our membership!

Our annual competition runs from October to July with the membership divided into Divisions of up to five players who each play the others in their Division twice, and at the end of the season players are promoted and relegated from each division. The winner has their name inscribed on a Shield which they keep for their championship year.

The Club is affiliated to the English Federation for Correspondence Chess, which allows members to take part individually in their competitions, while we have entered a team in one of their Championships and play occasional friendly matches against other clubs to give our members the chance to play outside our club.

Our internal competition requires a member to play up to 8 games simultaneously, but other opportunities can increase this. Some correspondence chess players have tens of games on the go at once - there is probably a record to break somewhere! We also have a category of non-league members who feel that they cannot take on the commitment of our competition, but wish to remain members and perhaps play occasional friendly games against other members.

Although originally correspondence chess was played by post, we are happy to allow members to transmit moves by telephone, fax or email, all of which are faster and cheaper than post. Because we field a Team in their tournament, many of our members are also members of Scheming Mind and play their games on that organisation’s web server.

Perhaps the feature of correspondence chess that most appeals to clergy with their erratic working hours is that it enables us to keep our hand in while only spending a short time each day, rather than having to find several hours at a time to play a conventional game, though perhaps it is no coincidence that some of our stronger players have tended to be those who have retired from full-time ministry and thus have more time to ponder their moves.

The Club has twice organised a midweek residential congress, which has enabled members to meet face to face and enjoy a few games of chess.

The Club publishes a magazine entitled ‘CHESS minister!’ three times a year to keep members in touch.

For further information including how to join, contact our Secretary , or

visit our web site for more information and some archive material: www.efcchess.org.uk/cccc.html