Player Profiles

Name: Callum Abbott
Years: 2021-Present
Callum made a big impression when he joined our club with some good wins for the Cadets team and making it onto the Bombers team within a few months. Callum is also very popular in the club, always fun to play against and his relaxed attitude to the game helps to create a good atmosphere on our club nights. Callum is also known as the most tattooed player in chess and he runs "Holy Goat Tattoo" in Middlesbrough!

Name: Karam Alwakeel
Years: 2023-Present
Karam is Wasim's older brother and very modest. He always says that Wasim is the better player when asked who is the best! Karam will be playing in the league this season and he and Wasim will likely be the first brothers to play on the same team for us.

Name: Wasim Alwakeel
Years: 2023-Present
Wasim is another of our excellent young players. He's originally from Turkey and looking forward to his first season playing in the league.

Name: Andy Austen
Years: 2018-Present
Andy is a latecomer to chess having started playing in the local libraries. He is pretty much ever present on our club nights and always happy to play anyone. He is getting better all the time and plays regularly for our C division teams.

Name: Daniel Ayre
Years: 2022-Present
Daniel met us at Thornaby Show and has been almost ever present at the club since. He is very new to chess, but keen to learn and full of enthusiasm!

Name: Francis Batchelor
Years: 2017-Present
Francis is our Aces team captain and regular board 1 player for the team. He arrived at Thornaby via Scotland and the Birmingham chess league. He has won our club championship the last 4 times it has been held. Francis is always very helpful when he wins games at the club and happy to show the rest of us where we went wrong!

Name: Tom Brough
Years: 2023-Present
Tom is a promising 17 year old who is a member of Great Ayton chess club. To give him a bit of extra competitive practice, he's going to be playing a few games for Thornaby Juniors in the CCA D Division which allows players to play "on loan" for another club.

Name: Vardhan Bunga
Years: 2022-Present
Vardhan joined our club towards the end of 2022 and has already made a good impression. He was playing for our teams only a month after joining the club and he won on his debut for the Thornaby Challengers.

Name: George Butterworth
Years: 2023-Present
"Jiu Jitsu George" as he is known at the library had been coming to our library sessions for 2 years before he joined the club. George always joins the sessions halfway through in his Jiu Jitsu uniform! George had medalled in age group competitions before joining and he has impressed some of our older members (including Francis) with his concentration and knowledge. He recently made his debut for the club and got his first win.

Name: Mike Creaney
Years: 2007-Present
Mike is the longest serving member at Thornaby Chess Club. He has been a member since the club's formation and holds a lot of club records for appearances and points scored for our teams. Mike is still one of our strongest players and always a contender for our club championship. He has joint won it twice (in 2015 and 2020) and been runner up on a further 4 occassions.

Name: Gary Dixon
Years: 2023-Present
Gary used to play for Darlington and more recently Redcar. He's decided to play for us this season as Redcar have transport problems with their A team and Gary can't fit a team of 4 on his motorbike! He's a high rated and experienced player who will make a big difference to the Aces on the middle boards this season.

Name: Brian Ellis
Years: 2008-Present
Brian is one of our top Aces team players and is a former winner of the individual Cleveland Minor Trophy. He was also the Thornaby club champion in 2011. Brian is a brilliant tactical player and has a distinctive bird-like style of looking around the board to find the weaknesses in your position that he can exploit!

Name: Saad Elnagger
Years: 2023-Present
Saad is a recent new addition to our ranks. He likes to chat and have fun while he plays and is a likeable new member of our club!

Name: Jonathan Feasby
Years: 2023-Present
Jonathan played a lot online before coming to the club and won all his games except one on his first night! We were soon convinced enough to put him on board 1 for the Destroyers and also into the Challengers squad. Jonathan has made a great start to league chess winning 3 of his first 5 games.

Name: Malcolm Goldspink
Years: 2022-Present
Malcolm has the longest gap in his chess career of any of our members. He first played at school and then decided to take it up again after he retired 40 years later! Malcolm initially came to the club as a fun only player, but decided to try competitive chess towards the end of last season after a few months at the club and he will be captaining our Comets team this season.

Name: Tristan Green
Years: 2022-Present
Tristan has just started Secondary School and he's one of our most promising young players. He is already starting to beat adults in the club and twice finished in the medals in the 11 and under section of the Teesside Individual Championship. Tristan was his Primary school champion with 5 wins from 5 games.

Name: Sam Greig
Years: 2022-Present
Sam is emerging as one of our top players. He has played a lot of online chess, but only played his first ever live games at the Durham Congress in May 2022. He joined our club soon after and started playing for our teams towards the end of the 21/22 season. He had a fantastic 22/23 season for the club rising up the rankings and playing as high as board 2 for the Aces as well as becoming the Durham County Under 1600 rating Champion. Sam has incredible concentration and is almost trance like while he is playing, you wouldn't want to play poker with him!

Name: Charles Hind
Years: 2023-Present
Charles is a rapidly improving player from the library sessions. He is Tim's son and Freya's brother and was initially a little but in their shadows. He has emerged as a very good player in his own right and regularly wins the 2nd group at the library. He won on his debut for our Junior team in November to continue his excellent progress this year.

Name: Freya Hind
Years: 2023-Present
Freya is a very promising junior girl player from our library sessions. Within 3 months of starting she placed 3rd in the Teesside Megafinal for Under 10 girls! She has recently joined the club and already holds several club records! She is the youngest girl to both play and win for the club in the league. She was also the first female player of any age to win a league game for the club.

Name: Tim Hind
Years: 2023-Present
Tim is a teacher, a recent addition to Thornaby chess and a very welcome one! He helps out at the library every Saturday morning where he particularly focuses on the beginners and younger children. He is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer. Tim will also be captaining our Destroyers team this season.

Name: Laura Holdforth
Years: 2022-Present
Laura started at the club after playing a bit online and she wanted to challenge herself in a club environment. She is getting better all the time and has recently started playing for our teams.

Name: Geoff Howsden
Years: 2014-Present
Geoff is the current Thornaby Chess club treasurer and has played for us since 2014. Geoff works away on rigs, so doesn't get as many games for the teams as he would like, but he's always fun to play against when he is around.

Name: Rosie Irwin
Years: 2022-Present
Rosie is a quirky Cockney lady, who took up chess having watched the Netflix's show "Queens Gambit" during the COVID19 pandemic national lockdown. A fast study, Rosie rapidly got her playing strength to club level and has participated in some weekend tournaments already. Within a year of learning the game, she was participating within match play for a local Sheffield team. Fascinated by her remarkable progress, Steel City Press owner, Jonathan Arnott, collaborated with Rosie to write her story. The Queen's Gambit - accepted" which can be purchased here. Rosie will be playing in some matches for Thornaby this season.

Name: Mehmet Isci
Years: 2023-Present
Mehmet is a vet and also a good chess player. He joined the club soon after moving to this country from Turkey and he said it helped him to make new friends and he felt very welcome at our club.

Name: Matt Jackman
Years: 2023-Present
Matt joined us from the Buffs chess club after their Thursday home nights became a bad night for him to play. He's one of the top players in the CCA and the current joint CCA Individual Champion. Last season he won 10 games out of 10 in the B division and he'll be one of our nominated players for the Aces this season.

Name: Charlie Johnston
Years: 2022-Present
Charlie started coming to our library sessions in January 2022 and was winning the top group of players soon after. He quickly made the transition to our club and played well in is first competitive season.

Name: Tashil Lankapura
Years: 2023-Present
Tashil started playing chess at school in Sri Lanka and came to Thornaby after moving to this country. A very talented player for his age, he held our club record as the youngest player to play in a match and win a match for Thornaby, both when he was just 8 years old!

Name: Toefl Lankapura
Years: 2023-Present
Toefl is Tashil's father and a good chess player himself. He soon joined our club after his first visit and was playing for our C division teams within a month.

Name: Jake Lopez
Years: 2023-Present
Jake is Manuel's son and looks like a good player himself as well. In his first rapidplay competition at the club he finished on a very respectable 2 out of 3.

Name: Manuel Lopez
Years: 2022-Present
Manuel is a college Maths teacher who is originally from Spain. He has been coming to the club for a while now and had some good results in our quick events. He's going to play for our teams this season and is expected to do some damage!

Name: Isaac Machin
Years: 2023-Present
Isaac is Joseph's younger brother and one of our most promising primary school age players. He's being coming to our library sessions for over 3 years now and in the last year he's won both the Teesside Junior Championship and Darlington Junior Event for his age group. He's joined the club to help him improve even more!

Name: Joseph Machin
Years: 2019-Present
Joseph is our original young superstar and a very bright prospect for the future. He'd been in our club for a couple of years before starting to play for the teams last season. He usually plays on the top 2 boards for the Cadets team and shows he's there on merit with some solid wins and draws against very experienced players. His experience and enthusiasm make him a great role model for our excellent crop of young players and we made him our Junior Captain in 2023.

Name: Geoff Mann
Years: 2023-Present
Geoff first came to our club in the first week of 2023. He joined on his first night and played his first game for the team within a month! Geoff will be captaining our new family based Thornaby Dynasties team this season which will feature Fathers and Sons.

Name: James Mann
Years: 2023-Present
James is Geoff's son and is a regular in our D division teams. There's a definite family rivalry and James was very pleased to be ahead of his dad on the ladder after their first week of games! Geoff and James are only the second father and son ever to play on the same team at Thornaby, they both played for the Destroyers a few months after joining.

Name: Bill March
Years: 2009-Present
Bill has been a member of Thornaby Chess club for a long time and is one of our longest serving members. He is a rare member of the club in that chess is not is favourite game! Bill's primary love is bridge and he plays competitively at a very high level.

Name: Tom Marwood
Years: 2023-Present
Tom must have set some kind of club record when he made his team debut for Thornaby 1 day after his first visit to the club! Tom has played a lot online and seems to have transferred that skill to over the board chess straight away. He's had 2 wins in his first 2 league games including one against the very experienced Peter McKay from Darlington.

Name: Joe McGinnis
Years: 2019-Present
Joe joined Thornaby in 2019 and he is the current Bombers team captain. He played in Scotland many years ago and decided to start playing again after retiring from his job as a university lecturer. Joe is also interested in helping children learn to play the game and he runs the Ingleby Barwick library session on Friday beween 4pm and 6pm. He is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer.

Name: Janos Mehes
Years: 2020-Present
Janos is 82 years old, originally from Hungary and a real character! He has already established himself as a club stalwart attending almost all of our club nights and he is a regular in our C division teams. Janos is a popular member of the club, partly because he always brings snacks for everyone!

Name: Iain Mellis
Years: 2021-Present
Iain is well known in Thornaby as a local optician. He used to play in school and he decided to join our club after chatting to one of our members about chess during an eye test. Iain is a very good speed chess player and has an aggressive attacking style. He made an instant impact at the club winning 4 of his first 5 competitive games and is already a very solid B division player. Iain is also interested in helping children learn to play the game and he helps out at our library sessions in both Thornaby and Ingleby Barwick. He is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer.

Name: Stephen Ollis
Years: 2023-Present
Stephen had 2 years of experience playing for the Buffs club before joining Thornaby and he is already a good club level player. He's looking forward to playing for our teams this season.

Name: Rhys Orton
Years: 2023-Present
Rhys is another of our excellent library juniors who finished as the runner in the 14-16 age category at the 2023 Darlington Junior Chess Championship. Rhys also loves playing rugby, but he is looking forward to playing chess in the league this season as well!

Name: Wes Park
Years: 2022-Present
Wes is another of our excellent junior players. Harris might be getting commission soon as he is another player to come from the same school club! Wes is very competitive in the top group of library players and won it within a few weeks of his first visit. He first came to prominence at the club in our 2022 Xmas rapidplay by making the semi finals and went on to have an excellent season for both our B52s team and Cadets team.

Name: Bhima Patil
Years: 2022-Present
Bhima is Sagar's father and originally taught him how to play! He is a doctor at James Cook hospital with a speciality in Neurophysiology. Always fun to chat to on club nights, Bhima is a fair player himself and often joins in our internal competitions as well as playing for our teams as a reserve when needed.

Name: Sagar Patil
Years: 2022-Present
Sagar emerged from our library sessions as our most exicting young prospect. He made a name for himself at the club in our April 2022 rapid play tournament by making the final and only losing out to Francis. He followed that up shortly after by winning 2 pretigious junior titles. He won the Under 12 section of the Teesside Megafinal with 6/6 and the Over 11 Teesside Individual Junior Championship with 5/5. Sagar excels at chess puzzles and often finds the solutions to complex problems first at the library. He's made excellent progress in his first competitive season and he's already one of our top 8 players on rating.

Name: David Pizzi
Years: 2022-Present
David is originally from France and very much a social chess player! He enjoys the atmosphere at Thornaby and says, "If you want to play chess quietly, why not stay at home and play on your laptop!" Despite his relaxed attitide, David is still a solid player and he had some good results in the C division and Durham league as well as winning the Club Championship B division in his first competitive season.

Name: Steve Rodgers
Years: 2023-Present
Steve used to play with Mike Creaney 30 years ago! He decided to get back into chess to keep hi smind active and challenge himself. Mike told us that Steve used to be a very good player and we quickly found this out ourselves! Steve has already forced his way into the Bombers team this season.

Name: Chris Ross
Years: 2019-Present
Chris Ross is one of the top blind players in the country and has represented England internationally many times. He is also one of the top players (including sighted) in the whole Cleveland area and he plays on the top board for the Thornaby Aces team when available.

Name: Matt Rowett
Years: 2023-Present
Matt originally joined the club because he was bringing Will, but quickly showed himself to be a more than competent player after he pushed several of our B team players close in friendly games. Matt has decided to play competitively for the first time and he has registered with the ECF os that he can play for our C and D division teams this season.

Name: Will Rowett
Years: 2023-Present
Will joined the club early in 2023 and shortly afterwards tried his hand at the Club Championship B division. He showed himself to be another of our very good junior players and he's going to give our teams a go this season.

Name: Ajay Selvan
Years: 2023-Present
Ajay started coming to our library sessions after 8 years of experience and success in local junior competitions. He won his first junior title when he was just 7 years old. This experience has shown and he has impressed at the library and club since joining us. He was the only library player to defeat Francis in a simul a few months ago and he's looking forward to his first competitive season in the league.

Name: Richard Stevenson
Years: 2023-Present
Richard is the father of Sam and a reasonable player himself. He dipped his toe into competitve chess himself last season by having a go at the Club Championship B division and he's going to play for our new family based Dynasties team this season along with Sam.

Name: Sam Stevenson
Years: 2023-Present
Sam is a recent addition to our club. He already had some good junior results before joining us and he looks like another great prospect for the future! He recently finished runner up to Sagar in the Teesside Megafinal Under 12 section despite being at the younger end of the age bracket.

Name: Alan Stockley
Years: 2023-Present
Alan joins us as a very experienced player with over 30 years playing in the local league! He's Thornaby's oldest member at 91 years old and he's still a very solid club player who is looking forward to playing for our teams this season.

Name: Chris Swales
Years: 2019-Present
Chris is a former York University Captain and a former Redcar Club Quickplay Champion. He stopped playing chess after moving away from the area for work in 1999, but started playing again in 2019 for Thornaby. Chris is also interested in helping children learn to play the game and he runs the Thornaby library Saturday morning sessions. He is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities tutor.

Name: Nick Tadd
Years: 2014-Present
Nick is a former player for the now defunct Guisborough team and a legendary character within local chess circles! Nick is also interested in helping children learn to play the game and he is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer. Nick has endless energy and enthusiasm for the game and he is using those qualities to help drive the club forward as our club chairman.

Name: Pete Townson
Years: 2022-Present
Pete had played a lot online before joining our club and was immediately very competitive against some of our B division players. Pete spends part of the year in Spain, but when he is in the country he plays for Thornaby.

Name: James Urwin
Years: 2021-Present
James joined the club after playing a lot of online chess during lockdown. A great addition to Thornaby, his infectious enthusiasm helps to create a good atmosphere on our club nights. James has made incredible progress at the club after a slow start for the Cadets losing 4 of his first 5 games. He's now established himself as a respected B division player, a definite threat for the club championship and he has won a section in an external congress!

Name: Ollie Walton
Years: 2022-Present
Ollie has been coming to our library sessions since 2018. Despite being an occassional visitor since then, he only joined our club in 2022. Ollie has a lot of other interests including being an army cadet and playing rubgy. He has decided to try to take his chess up a level by joining the club and is playing regularly in the C division for us. Ollie is always full of fun and he is a very aggressive player who often wins quickly against weaker players.

Name: Jayden Wang
Years: 2024-Present
Jayden had been a regular visitor at Ingleby Library for a while before starting to come to Thornaby as well. A brilliant player for his age, Jayden was the Teesside Under 8 Champion in 2023. He has recently moved to the club and he has already broken our club record as our youngest player in a league match at just 7 years old!

Name: Harris Wilson
Years: 2022-Present
Harris is one of the best of an exicting group of youngsters to come through from our library sessions. He was a regular winner of the top group of players at the library before coming through quickly to beat some of our experienced team players on our club nights and in our rapid events.