MUSHROOMS CHESS CLUB
Mushrooms is a club founded in the early sixties by a group of strong, young players who found they were not getting the recognition they deserved from existing, stick-in-the-mud clubs.
Originally based in the Croydon area, the club has never had a clubnight – and still hasn’t – and only some of the time a home venue. Consequently non-Croydon players could be recruited, and the club now has members all over the London area.
The lack of a clubnight has meant that recruitment has been a perennial problem, but the loyalty of the existing members – including several of the originals, almost as strong but no longer so young! – has kept the club going, and it continues to thrive.
We play 2 teams in the London League. In the aborted 2019-20 this season they were in the 1st division and the 3rd. We also play in the Eastman Cup (the London League’s knockout competition), though it has lost popularity generally, and are interested in rapidplay and team tournaments when they happen.
This season the London League is running a completely new, temporary setup, unconnected with how things used to be, with teams of 8 in some divisions, 4 in others, and divided between ‘East’ (based at its usual Citadines venue) and ‘West’ based at the brand new (and much admired – but relatively remote) Mind Sports Centre. We have a team of 8 in East and one of 4 in West.
The name? Something to do with springing up all over, and being kept in the dark and fed on b*llsh*t.
We are always happy to find new players, as we are trying to run 2 teams in the London League. We have enough, but one or two more would ease the captains’ task. Click here to email the club secretary, Bill Linton, or phone 020 3105 1892. Before you do so, however, please note our lack of a clubroom – if you are looking for lots of friendly games we are, alas, not the club for you.