The Editorial Committee apologises for neglecting its reporting duties in recent times. Our focus has been on getting the NLC back to winning ways following its rock-bottom ninth position in the Hamilton-Russell Cup in 2024. We are pleased to report that the team is definitely succeeding. In particular, the recent addition of Messrs Izaan Khan, Simon Randall and John Barton have injected much needed strength to our top boards. If we could add Mister James Corrigan on a regular basis, we’d have a truly formidable front four. In any case, new players have allowed Mister Nigel Giffin KC, Mister Peter Burgoyne and Mister Nicholas Ioannou – all thoroughly solid chessers – to play lower down the order. We then have Captain Richard Saldanha, Doctor Ben Widdicombe and Miss Susan Yu to choose from. All of us are decent scalp takers.
The NLC moved to secure clear fourth place this year, our best result since rejoining the Cup competition in 2016, although we did enjoy a three-way tie for fourth place with the Oxford & Cambridge Club and combined Oriental/East India clubs in 2022. (The addition of Roehampton Club in 2025/26 means that 10 clubs now compete for the Hamilton-Russell Cup.) This followed joint sixth place out of nine (tied with the combined Ori/EIC) in 2025.
Few club members will recall that the NLC were inaugural competition champions in 1924, winning the Hamilton-Russell Cup no less than 13 times since inception; see Britten & Rosenbaum (2023, Appendix 3, pp. 235–239). Interest in chess at the NLC had sadly dwindled for a significant period following the Club’s joint Cup victory with the Royal Automobile Club in 1968. A revived Chess Circle in 2016 heralded the return of both internal competitions and the NLC to the inter-club circuit.
Clubland chess appears to be in rude health. There is interest from the Cavalry & Guards and Army & Navy clubs in the Cup. Both are currently involved in friendly matches. Our sincerest thanks go to Mister Danny Rosenbaum (Cup Secretary, Reform and NLC Member). He is, without question, the engine of the Hamilton-Russell Cup in its modern form. Mister Rosenbaum chairs the AGM, manages the fixtures, maintains the contact list, organises every annual dinner and coordinates the Knights’ Tour competition or is that Knight’s Tour? (The debate still rages.) Without his personal commitment, the competition would almost certainly not have survived Coronovirus in 2020/21 and returned to the form it now enjoys.
The NLC now boasts some 115 chess players, of which nearly 20 can be considered serious cup players eligible for team selection plus over 15 additional regular friendly team players. Our remaining chess enthusiasts can be seen at various internal competitions, inter-club events and form a strong contingent among Ms Anne Abel Smith’s thriving London Clubs Social Chess Network. (Contact anne@abelcommunication.net if you’d like to be included in this very special chess group. It meets on most Tuesday evenings throughout the year at either the Army & Navy, Lansdowne, NLC or Reform Club.)
2025/26 Season
The Selection Committee being pleased with Doctor Saldanha’s team improvement the previous year decided to allow him to continue his captaincy in 2025/26.
Hamilton-Russell Cup
Four wins (Ori/EIC 4-3, Reform 6-0, Roehampton 5.5-0.5 and Hurlingham 4.5-2.5), two draws (Chelsea Arts 3-3 and the mighty Maylebone Cricket Club 4-4) and three losses (an unlucky 2-3 to the Athenaeum/Lansdowne, which might easily have been drawn or even won; 1.5-5.5 to the RAC, who were taking no chances this year; and 1.5-4.5 to the O&C gave the NLC 10 points and clear fourth place behind 2026 champions MCC, runners-up RAC and third-placed O&C.
Friendly matches
A total of 11 friendly matches were played by the NLC this season. We kicked off in style with a visit to Le Cercle de l’Union Interalliée in Paris.
A stunning friendly season saw us bag eight wins (the Rag twice over 4-2 and 4-0, MCC 3.5-2.5, Reform 4-1, Chelsea Arts 3.5-1.5, RAC 4.5-1.5, Cavalry & Guards 5.5-0.5 and the UK Parliamentary Chess Club – although the overall score is lacking for that last one); two draws (Le Cercle 8-8 over two rounds and the Athenaeum/Lansdowne 3-3); and just the one loss to the O&C 4-2.
2024/25 Season
Doctor Saldanha took on the captaincy of the team in 2024. Knowing that an army marches very much on its stomach, he ensured that our match dinners were improved significantly. We now look forward to a delicious two-course affair following our exertions across the board. Complaints about the food from our visiting opponents have also thankfully subsided. (Correlation or causation, we’ll let you the reader decide, the NLC’s kitchens underwent a significant upgrade and extensive refurbishment starting in 2023.)
Hamilton-Russell Cup
The NLC had a challenging campaign in 2024/25 with two wins, one versus a combined Oriental & East India club team and the other versus the Hurlingham Club and four losses. Notable draws were scored against the RAC (eventual joint winners of the competition with the MCC so perhaps the NLC had a hand in being king makers given the RAC won all its other matches) and the Chelsea Arts Club. Joint sixth place, tied with a combined Ori/EIC team, out of nine clubs was a definite improvement over the wooden spoon the previous year.
Mister Izaan Khan was a notable feature of the 2024/25 season, taking on the unenviable job of Board 1. Two draws in four games played on Board 1 is a decent result. Messrs John Barton, Nigel Giffin KC, Nicholas Ioannou; and Captain Richard Saldanha (in board order) enjoyed two wins and some notable draws during the season.
Friendly matches
The NLC performed particualrly well in its friendly games in 2024/25, achieving six wins versus the Army & Navy (wins both home and away), Chelsea Arts, Hurlingham, Reform and Roehampton; drawing 4-4 against the mighty MCC, notable even in a friendly; and suffered three losses against the O&C, RAC and combined Atheneum/Lansdowne clubs.
Our Top Gun for friendly matches in 2024/25 was NLC newcomer Mister Ömer Kaya who, despite playing in only four matches, won three out of his four games. We look forward to seeing more of the capable Mister Kaya in the future, perhaps even in Cup games.
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Britten, N. and Rosenbaum, D. (2023) The Hamilton-Russell Cup. The Biogs Group.
