For a season by season history and club records, go here.
Thornaby Chess Club was formed in May 2007 and has competed in the Cleveland Chess League ever since. The club was the idea of Brian Whitaker and Mike Creaney who saw a gap for a CCA club in Thornaby. The club played in the lounge at the Griffin pub at first and this proved to be an excellent venue for us and we stayed there for 7 years. The team for our first season was:
1. Mike Closs
2. Paul Douglass
3. Mike Creaney
4. Brian Whitaker
5. Chris Carabine
with Mike Closs's son, Elliot in reserve. With the standard of players available, Thornaby quickly achieved promotion from the C division in our first year and the B division the following year and we started playing in the top division for the 2009/10 season finishing a creditable 3rd.
By the end of the 2013/14 season our run at the Griffin came to an end when the pub expanded the restaurant side of their business into the function room. After searching around, we found that Thornaby Cricket Club was quite receptive to the idea of having a chess club on the premises, so we upped sticks and moved to our new home. Unfortunately this only lasted for three quarters of the season before we had to move again. This caused a bit of a panic as we had fixtures to complete, but we managed to find a temporary venue at the snooker club to see us through the rest of that season. In 2015 we moved into the Indoor Bowls Arena at The Pavilion and we stayed there until 2020 when we were hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. As restrictions were eased in 2021, the Pavilion management changed their policy on opening hours and their new hours meant that we could not host league matches, so once again a new venue was sought. We now play at the Veterans Hub and Bar in The Don War Memorial Museum on Cranworth Street and this has so far proved to be an excellent venue for chess.
Since first getting promoted to the A division, Thornaby have stayed in the top flight for 9 of the last 11 years, finishing 3rd 5 times. Over the years, Thornaby have won the Jeremy Burnett Plate in 2009, the B division in 2008/9 and 2013/14 and the C Division in 2007/8. Our B Team has won the C division twice in 2012/13 and 2014/15.
Some of our players have also achieved notable individual success in this time. Mike Closs was the overall Cleveland Individual Winner in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Brian Whitaker was the joint winner of the Cleveland Minor Trophy in 2017 and Brian Ellis also won this title in 2014. Our internal individual Club Championship history is here.
The Aces are our main A team for our elite players!
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2007/08 | C | 1st |
| 2008/09 | B | 1st |
| 2009/10 | A | 3rd |
| 2010/11 | A | 8th |
| 2011/12 | B | 2nd |
| 2012/13 | A | 3rd |
| 2013/14 | B | 1st |
| 2014/15 | A | 3rd |
| 2015/16 | A | 4th |
| 2016/17 | A | 3rd |
| 2017/18 | A | 4th |
| 2018/19 | A | 3rd |
| 2019/20 | A | 6th |
| 2021/22 | A | 5th |
| 2022/23 | A | 5th |
| 2023/24 | A | 2nd |
| 2024/25 | A | 4th |
The Bombers are our main B team.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2008/09 | C | 7th |
| 2009/10 | C | 5th |
| 2012/13 | C | 1st |
| 2014/15 | C | 1st |
| 2015/16 | C | 2nd |
| 2016/17 | B | 4th |
| 2017/18 | B | 7th |
| 2018/19 | B | 5th |
| 2019/20 | B | 5th |
| 2021/22 | B | 6th |
| 2022/23 | B | 7th |
| 2023/24 | B | 2nd |
| 2024/25 | A | 9th |
The Challengers are our main C team.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2022/23 | C | 6th |
| 2023/24 | C | 2nd |
| 2024/25 | B | 4th |
The B52s are primarily a B division development team for us that we use to give players experience at the higher level. As the biggest club in the leaguem, we sometimes enter them to help the league make the numbers up, for example when the B division has an odd number of teams.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2022/23 | B | 8th |
| 2023/24 | B | 6th |
| 2024/25 | B | 7th |
The Cadets started life as our main C team, but since 2022/23 they have been the team for our best under 18 players.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2016/17 | C | 3rd |
| 2018/19 | C | 6th |
| 2021/22 | C | 7th |
| 2022/23 | C | 7th |
| 2023/24 | C | 7th |
| 2024/25 | C | 4th |
New in 2023/24, the Comets are a C division level team that is primaily a development team for adults in the club.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2023/24 | C | 8th |
| 2024/25 | C | 2nd |
New in 2023/24, the Dynasties are primarily one of our Under 18 development teams. They're so named because the squad is based on fathers and sons/daughters playing for the same team!
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2023/24 | D | 2nd |
| 2024/25 | C | 7th |
The Destroyers are a D division team with the primary aim of developing new adult players and also to give all adults in the club league games.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2022/23 | D | 4th |
| 2023/24 | D | 4th |
| 2024/25 | D | 5th |
A D division team devoted entirely to the development of our under 18 players.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2022/23 | D | 5th |
| 2023/24 | D | 8th |
| 2024/25 | D | 3rd |
New in 2024/25, the Dragoons are a new D division team with the primary aim of developing new adult and junior players.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2024/25 | D | 4th |
New in 2024/25, the Hurricanes were created following the Dynasties promotion and are similarly mostly made up of fathers and sons/daughters.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2024/25 | D | 7th |
From 2022-2024 we entered 1 team in the Durham League.
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2022/23 | B | 4th |
| 2023/24 | B | 6th |
| Season | Round |
| 2007/08 | L16 |
| 2008/09 | L16 |
| 2009/10 | SF |
| 2010/11 | QF |
| 2011/12 | L32 |
| 2012/13 | L16 |
| 2013/14 | SF |
| 2014/15 | L16 |
| 2015/16 | QF |
| 2016/17 | QF |
| 2017/18 | L16 |
| 2018/19 | SF |
| 2019/20 | QF |
| 2021/22 | SF |
| 2022/23 | SF |
| 2023/24 | RU |
| 2024/25 | SF |
| Season | Round |
| 2007/08 | RU |
| 2008/09 | Won |
| 2012/13 | L16 |
| 2014/15 | RU |
| 2018/19 | QF |
| 2019/20 | SF (DNF) |
| 2021/22 | QF |
| 2022/23 | QF |
| 2023/24 | RU |
| 2024/25 | Won |
| Season | Round |
| 2024/25 | Won |