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: 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's played regualrly for our lower division teams for some time now, but 2025/26 was a breakout season for him with 7 wins from 7 games in the E division for Thornaby Veterans making him the division's top scorer!

Name: Grace Auty
Years: 2025-Present
Grace is studying a T level at college. She started coming to our Ingleby library sessions in August 2025 and was playing in the club less than a week later! She’s a regular on the social side of our club nights who is already an established and popular member of the club.

Name: Daniel Ayre
Years: 2022-Present
Daniel met us at Thornaby Show and has been almost ever present at the club since. He was completely new to chess when he joined, but keen to learn and full of enthusiasm! Daniel is also a big part of the social side of the club and often one of the last to leave on club nights.

Name: Allan Bayne
Years: 2025-Present
Allan joined the club over the Summer of 2025 and did well in our internal events. In 25/26 he was an integral part of the Veterans team that won the E division and he'll continue his progress with them in the D division this season.

Name: Henry Bishop
Years: 2025-Present
Henry has been going to our Ingleby library sessions for 3 years and is one of the top junior players in the area for his age. He won his age group in the Thornaby junior chess open in 2024 despite being at the younger end and joint won the Teesside Megafinal in 2025. Henry scored 4/7 in the northern gigafinal in 2025, which was one of our best scores and he's continued to develop by playing in the club in 25/26. After playing 10 standard games, he was rated in the top 10 in the country for his age and he remains one of our brightest prospects for the future. My favourite thing about Henry though is that when he wins anything, Sean Marsh introduces him with, "So good they named a chess piece after him!"

Name: Sarah Bishop
Years: 2025-Present
Another burgeoning dynasty for the club, Sarah is Henry's Mum and has played quite a bit at Ingleby library herself. She was part of the Ingleby library team that joint won the inter-library event in February 2025. In 2026, she was our joint ladies club champion.

Name: Connor Broadbent
Years: 2026-Present
Connor is an excellent young player who won the Under 9 section of the Thornaby Junior Chess Open in 2025. He's playing in the league for the first time this season and it will be interesting to see how he does.

Name: Jordan Broadbent
Years: 2025-Present
Jordan works away some weeks, but when he is available he plays for us. Like Sarah, he was part of the Ingleby library team that joint won the inter-library event in February 2025.

Name: Nate Broadbent
Years: 2025-Present
Nate is Jordan's son and a promising player for the club. He made a bit of a name for himself by topping a tough group in the Summer Rapidplay in 2025, but really came to club wide attention by winning our Easter Rapidplay in 2026. Big things are expected in the league this season!

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 already medalled in age group competitions before joining the club and he has impressed some of our older members (including Francis) with his concentration and knowledge. He's now had 3 solid seasons in the D division for the club, first in the Juniors team and the last 2 seasons in the Dragoons team. In 2026 he will be captaining the Dragoons team and he remains one of our most promising players.

Name: Amit Chauhan
Years: 2024-Present
Amit is Shanaya's Dad and was initially reluctant to play for the teams himself. It was obvious from friendlies in the club that he knew what he was doing and we eventually persuaded him to have a go. He played a few games for the Hurricanes team in the 24/25 season and was a useful reserve again in the 25/26 season. His finest moment was joint winnning the CLub Championship B division in 2026 along with Shanaya. Amit said it was probably the last time she wouldn't beat him at chess!

Name: Shanaya Chauhan
Years: 2024-Present
Shanaya is one of our youngest members, but still has a very adult approach to the game. She takes her time compared to most junior players and records the moves of some of her friendly games in the club, so she can look though them later. She's already a multiple age group champion in junior events, but her best achievement so far was undoubtedly winning the CCA Ladies Quickplay in February 2025 despite being the youngest and lowest rated player in the event. In 25/26 she had a break out year winning the club's most improved player trophy after an incredible climb of 390 rating points. That included helping the Thornaby Queens to a cup final and a lot of wins over higher rated opponents.

Name: Yash Chauhan
Years: 2026-Present
Yash is Shanaya's younger brother who initially showed more interest in football than chess! Seeing Shanaya's success seems to have inspired him and in 2026 he qualified for the Manchester Gigafinal from the York Megafinal. He's taking his chess further now and looking forward to playing in the league for the first time this season.

Name: Simone Chisena
Years: 2026-Present
Simone is originally from Italy and an enthusiastic new addition to the club! We almost missed out on him. He went to the Don Bar on the first Tuesday in January when it was closed for cleaning etc and we were in Bar Loco. Fortunately Tim went to the wrong venue and was able to bring him along to meet us all!

Name: Josh Clements
Years: 2023-Present
Josh is on of our most talented young players. Almost entirely taught himself from internet videos. He first came to our library sessions in September 2023 having never even played in a school club! Despite this, he was playing in group 1 and beating some of our top library players within weeks of his first visit! He really signalled his talent in 24/25 when he won the Teesside Megafinal for Under 18's against a string of older and higehr rated opponents. In 25/26 he had a break out season, winning our Club Championship, the Cleveland Minor section and featuring on our final winning teams in the Cup, the Plate and the Shield! All these 5 wins came in 2 months, probably more than many players will win in a whole career!

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: Robbie Deans
Years: 2026-Present
Robbie joined the club towards the end of the 25/26 season and has had some excellent results in our internal events since. He's looking forward to his first full league season and will be playing for the Comets team in the C division.

Name: Gary Dixon
Years: 2023-Present
Gary used to play for Darlington and then more recently Redcar. He decided to play for us in the 23/24 season as Redcar had transport problems with their A team and Gary couldn't fit a team of 4 on his motorbike! He's a high rated and experienced player who makes a big difference to our A and B division teams when he can play.

Name: Paul Douglass
Years: 2007-Present
Paul was an original member of Thornaby chess club and played for the team for several years helping the team to get promoted to the A division in our first 2 seasons. Paul was also joint club champion in 2015. He took some time out from chess, but returned to the club after a 6 year break in 25/26. Great news for us, as he is a high standard player! In his first season back he helped our team to win the Durham League C division and was a solid presence on the high boards for the Aces and Challengers.

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 and he made a great start to league chess winning 3 of his first 5 games. He is always a contender in our internal rapid events, but is starting to become the nearly man of Thornaby Chess with 3 defeats in finals now! A first win is surely just around the corner!

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 the 22/23 season after a few months at the club. He is now the captain of our Comets team (consistently leading the team to outperform their ratings) and a solid C and D division player.

Name: Sam Greig
Years: 2022-Present
Sam emerged as one of our top players during the 22/23 season. He had played a lot of online chess before he joined, 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: Peter Harker
Years: 2026-Present
Peter is a well known nanme in CCA chess who originally learnt with Sean Marsh in school years ago. He's the current chairman of the league and a key figure in Hartlepool Chess Club. He's also a former captain of the Cleveland County team. Peter decided to join Thornaby so that he could play in our new North East League team and enter some of our internal quick events. He won our 2026 Summer Rapidplay and Summer Series and will also be playing for us in the Durham league in 26/27.

Name: Eva Harris
Years: 2024-Present
Eva arrived at our library sessions in November 2024 and made an immediate impact by winning the 2nd group of players. She transitioned stright to the club and finished as the Hurricanes top scorer in her first league season. Eva had played a bit at home, at school and online before deciding she wanted to take chess further and try a club. In 25/26, she captained our Thornaby Queens team to the Knights Shield final and a solid 3rd in the E division. She also won the CCA Ladies Rapidplay and appeared on TV, being interviewed on look North for the final.

Name: Clair Hartill
Years: 2024-Present
Clair originally started chess by bringing her sons to our Ingleby Barwick library sessions. She soon decided to have a go herself and is now a regular at both Ingleby and Thornaby libraries. The Hartill's are emerging as one of our newest family dynasties, Clair's twin sons Joseph and Matthew are the only twins ever to joint win a Teesside Junior Championship having shared the Under 7 title in 2024. Clair has made big strides herself over the last 12 months and has recorded a string of victories over higher rated players recently. She was also the joint ladies Club Champion in 2026.

Name: Joseph Hartill
Years: 2025-Present
Joseph is a regular at both of our library sessions and an excellent player for his age. He has been a contender in every age group competition he has entered in the area over the last 3 years. In 2024 he was the joint (with his brother) Teesside Junior Champion for Under 7. In 2025 he was runner up in the Under 9 to Jayden, despite being at the younger end of the age category. Then in 2026, he was again Teesside Champion, this time for Under 9.

Name: Matthew Hartill
Years: 2025-Present
Matthew is Joseph's twin brother and an excellent player as well. He was joint Teesside Junior Champion in 2024 and is always up near the top of the standings in any age group competitions he enters.

Name: Charles Hind
Years: 2023-Present
Charles is a rapidly improving player who started at our library sessions. He is Tim's son and Freya's brother and was initially a little bit 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 2023 and was amongst the leading scorers in the D division for a while at the start of the 24/25 season.

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! After joining the club, she soon set several club records! She was 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. In 25/26 she played for our Queens team in their first full league season.

Name: Tim Hind
Years: 2023-Present
Tim is a teacher and a very welcome addition to Thornaby! He helped out at the library every Saturday morning for more than 2 years where he particularly focused on the beginners and younger children. He is a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer. Tim puts a lot into the club and he is also the captain of our Destroyers team.

Name: Geoff Howsden
Years: 2014-Present
Geoff was the Thornaby Chess club treasurer for many years 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 lives with Chris Ross in Sheffield, but like Chris, always plays a few matches for Thornaby each season.

Name: Kris Iyer
Years: 2026-Present
Kris started coming to the Thornaby library sessions in December 2025 and progressed to the club in April 2026. He played 3 rounds of the Club Championship B division at the end of the season and took to competitive chess straight away, finishing with an impressive 2.5/3.

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 a former joint CCA Individual Champion. In his first season at the club, Matt helped our Aces team to their highest ever finish in the A division when they finished in 2nd place.

Name: Alex Jamieson
Years: 2024-Present
Alex joined the club in June 2024 after playing a full season at York University. Alex is already a solid club player and will be playing for our teams when he is home from uni. A measure of the growth of the club over the Summer of 2024, by September Alex said to me that he already felt like a veteran with so many new players coming through the door after him!

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 his first competitive season.

Name: Alex Kalyviotis
Years: 2026-Present
Alex joins us as an experienced league player with several seasons in the CCA at both Darlington and Hartlepool behind him. Alex has an attacking style and is solid in all parts of the game. He's capable of getting good results in the A and B division and is a valuable new addition for us. In 2026, he will be taking over the captaincy our Challengers team.

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! He's become a big danger in our club speed events, first making the final of our Easter blitz event in 2024 and then winning our Spring Rapidplay in 2025 and our Summer Blitz in 2026.

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 with Tashil and was playing for our C division teams within a month. Toefl also helps out with our Saturday library sessions and he's a registered Chess in Schools and Communities volunteer. He's a good speed chess player and oftern reaches the latter stages of our blitz events. Toefl is also the only player in the club who is a qualified ECF arbiter.

Name: Dominic Leigh
Years: 2025-Present
Dominic is an A division standard player who has joined us for the 25/26 season. He's won the league with Darlington in the past and was already known in our club as Chris Swales' "nemesis" after many battles between the 2 of them over the last few seasons! In a great first season for the club, he was the CCA B division top scorer and helped our team to win the Durham league C division. In 2026 he became the captain of our elite Aces team.

Name: Zhuoyi Lin
Years: 2024-Present
Zhuoyi first started attending our library sessions in the Summer of 2023, but then took a bit a break before coming back in January 2024. Zhuoyi improved rapidly and after some good league results at the end of 23/24 he was a joint winner of the Under 12 boys at the Teesside Megafinal in May. He regularly plays in the top group at the library now and has recently broken the 1400 rating barrier.

Name: Isabelle Little
Years: 2025-Present
Isabelle is an excellent prospect for the club. She has played at Throston school in Hartlepool for several years and entered many junior events. She had a 100% record on board 1 when her school joint won the Stockton and Hartlepool area CSC team Tournament in 2025 and she was joint runner up to Tashil in the Teesside Junior Championships in June 2025. In 2026 she became the captain of our Queens team.

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 gets some good results in our quick events. He plays for our teams when he's not too busy and is always a dangerous and unorthodox player!

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 5 years now and he's won both the Teesside Junior Championship and Darlington Junior Event for his age group. He joined the club to help him improve even more and is already a solid player for us in the D and E division.

Name: Joseph Machin
Years: 2019-Present
Joseph is our original young superstar and still one of our top under 18's. He'd been in our club for a couple of years before starting to play for the teams in the 21/22 season. He played on the Cadets team for several years before graduating to the Chipmunks team (which he named!) in 25/26. A great first full season in the B division saw him get 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: Ik Madueke
Years: 2024-Present
Ik played for our Destroyers team in the 24/25 season and got some good results on board 1. His work means he's not available all the time, but he's a very useful player for the club to call on when he's around.

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 is the captain of our family based Thornaby Dynasties team which features Fathers and Sons. In his first season as captain, Geoff led the team to 2nd place in the D division and promotion. In 25/25 he was the top scorer in the D division with an impressive 7/7.

Name: James Mann
Years: 2023-Present
James is Geoff's son and started as 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. James had a good first full season in 23/24 and HAS continued that progress since to be one of the stars of the Dynasties team.

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: 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 quickly established himself as a club stalwart attending almost all of our club nights and he is a regular in our D and E division teams. Janos is a popular member of the club, partly because he always brings snacks for everyone!

Name: Bertie Mellis
Years: 2024-Present
Bertie is Iain's son and has been an on-off visitor to both our library sessions over the last few years. A talented player who has always been able to give our group one players a hard game, he decided to challenge himself by playing some games in the league in 24/25 and got some good results for the Hurricanes team.

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: Noah Mulloy
Years: 2025-Present
Noah initially learnt to play chess at Billingham South school with Chris. A fast learner, he qualified for the regional gigafinal in 2025 with 4.5/6 despite being at the younger end of his age category. In 25/26 he continued his rapid progress, including scoring 3/4 playing for the Fledglings team in the E division.

Name: Wayne Mulloy
Years: 2025-Present
Wayne started playing when his son Noah was learning at school so that he could play against him. The 2 of them have joined the club for the 25/26 season and competed in several of our internal events over the Summer.

Name: Aryan Nalawade
Years: 2024-Present
When Aryan joined, he was new to club chess, but a prolific winner of local school and junior events. Some of our top juniors including Sagar, Joseph and Ajay had all mentioned how good he was to Chris. As a result, Chris decided to try to recruit Aryan by chatting to his parents at the Teesside Megafinal in 2024. Aryan made an almost instant impact at the club by scoring 10.5 out of 11 in his group and then crusing through the knockout stages to eventually lose to Francis in the final of our Summer blitz event. He had a meteoric rise in his first league season, playing in all 4 divisions and eventually finishing in 5th place on our rating list and making his Aces debut. In 25/26 he played board 1 for the Aces (the youngest player ever to do so) and only lost 1 game out of 9 in his first full season playing in the A division.

Name: Kaira Nalawade
Years: 2024-Present
Kaira is Aryan's younger sister and a good player in her own right. Kaira was the overall runner up in the Under 11 section of the Teesside Junior Championships in 2024 which made her the girls champion and she has many other good junior results as well. Kaira is confident for her age, always smiling and clearly enjoys the social side of the club as well as the chess.

Name: Shivaee Nalawade
Years: 2026-Present
Shivaee first came to our attention at the Thornaby Junior Chess Open in November 2025 when she finished on 4/5 in the Under 9 section, despite being only 6 years old! She started coming to the Thornaby library sessions soon after and joined the club in April 2026. Within weeks she won 2 prestigious titles. She won the Durham County Championships for Under 9 and then a couple of weeks later the Cleveland County Championship for Under 8. In both competitions, she finished ahead of all the boys despite being in the same age categories next year as well!

Name: Stephen Ollis
Years: 2023-Present
Stephen had 2 years of experience playing for the Buffs club before joining Thornaby and he was already a good club level player. He had some good results in the B and C division in his first season for Thornaby and since then has continued to rapidly climbing up our rating list. In 2026 he won our most improved adult award!

Name: Maurice Olum
Years: 2024-Present
Maurice came to the club in 2024 via our Ingleby Barwick library sessions. He wasn't sure if he was good enough to play in the league, but we were more sure. After winning 9 games out of 9 on board 1 in the D division in his first season, I think we were probably right!

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. He qualified for the Giga final in 2024 and 2025 and has had 2 good seasons on the Cadets team. Rhys also loves playing rugby and was a member of the "tea club" at school! In 26/27 he will be captaining one of our teams for the first time, taking over the Cadets team.

Name: Santiago Palencia
Years: 2024-Present
Santiago joined our club in September 2024 and made an instant impact by finishing on 4.5/5 in our September Quickplay. He followed that result up by finishing as the Runner Up in a Billingham Rapid event in the same week. Santiago played for our B52s team in the B division in his first season and is undoubtedly an exciting prospect for us. In 25/26 he finished on 8.5/9 in the C division to finish as top scorer and help the Cavaliers team to win the division.

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 made excellent progress in his first competitive season to finish in our top 8 players on rating. Over the last 3 seasons, he has played regularly for our top teams, easily holding his own in the A and B division.

Name: Steve Place
Years: 2026-Present
Steve used to play with Chris at Redcar club in the 90's. After around 20 years out, he's decided to start playing again and has ended up at the same club as Chris again! Steve was a solid B and C division player for Redcar and even played for their A team sometimes, so he should be a great asset to us this season.

Name: Oakley Richmond
Years: 2025-Present
Oakley originally learnt chess with Chris as Billingham South school. She picked things up very quickly, helping her school win the CSC team tournament and then being joint Teesside Junior champion for Under 9 girls (with Shanaya) in 2025. She's played 1 season at the club now and is expected to make big strides forward in the 26/27 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 his mind active and challenge himself. Mike told us that Steve used to be a very good player and we quickly found this out ourselves! Steve quickly forced his way into the Bombers team and made his Aces debut in the 2024 Cup final where he was our only player to win his board. In 2026 he was runner up in the Cleveland Individual competition.

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: Paulina Roychoudhury
Years: 2025-Present
Paulina has been playing in our library sessions for several years now. She doesn't enter that many competitions, but when she does she's always been a threat for medals in the girl's sections. In the 2025 Thornaby Junior Chess Open, she finished 3rd in her section to also win the girl's championship!

Name: Kevin Runham
Years: 2025-Present
Kevin originally joined the club as a social player towards the end of 2025. He'd played a bit online and soon decided to have a go playing more serious games in the league and internal competitions. He's getting better all the time and is starting to give much higher rated players tough games.

Name: Sachin Saggar
Years: 2024-Present
Sachin lives some distance away, but is still a regular visitor to our club. He liked the look of our photos! Sachin plays a complicated atatcking style and always causes problems for his opponent. He first made a name for himself by reaching the Quarter Finals of our 2024 Summer Rapidplay event and often reachers the latter stages of our quick internal events. After a shaky start, he got some good results for the Destroyers towards the end of the 24/25 season and then was the team's most consistent player helping our Falcons team achieve promotion from the E Division in the 25/26 season.

Name: Andrew Salter
Years: 2024-Present
Andrew is also a member of Middlesbrough club, but he comes to Thornaby for extra practice. He plays in our internal events when he can and he often makes it to the latter stages of our quick events.

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. In Summer 2023 he was the only library player to defeat Francis in a simul. His first competitive season in the league went well and he only lost 2 games out of 12 in the C division. This performance earnt him the prestigious club "Young Player of the Year" award for 23-24. He continued to progress in 24-25 playing board 1 for the Cadets team and he has earnt a reputation in the club for being a tough player to beat.

Name: Faruk Serin
Years: 2025-Present
Faruk joined the club in the middle of the 2024-25 season and made an instant impact. He won several league games and our juniors team started to win more matches with him on board 1 and 2 and they almost got promoted from the D division. In 25/26 he was one of the highest percentage players in the club and he was part of 2 winning cup teams (Knights Shield and JB Plate) and the main board 1 player for the promoted Juniors team.

Name: Omi Sibanda
Years: 2024-Present
Omi has been part of the club since 2018 as one of our original library attendees. She moved to Durham to attend secondary school and that made it difficult to play league matches. She played on board 1 in the first ever Thornaby Queens match, a fitting position as she has been the trail blazer for girls in the library for many years. Since the Queens became a league team in 25-26, Omi has attended the club more regularly and is still a key part of the success of the ladies and girls at the club. In the 25/26 seasson, she appeared on TV, being interviewed on look North before the Knights Shield final and her bubbly personality shone through the screen!

Name: Neil Sotheby
Years: 2024-Present
Neil was originally accompanying George's Dad in the bar on our club nights, but gradually got hooked watching the games and decided to give it a go himself! He quickly got into it and captained our Dragoons team to a respectable 4th in the D division in 24-25 and then followed that up by captaining our Durham League team to the C division title in the 25-26 season.

Name: Richard Stevenson
Years: 2023-Present
Richard is the father of Sam and a reasonable player himself. He initially dipped his toe into competitve chess in the 22-23 season by having a go at the Club Championship B division. In 23-24 he was part of our promotion winning family based Dynasties team along with Sam. Richard is always a positive and enthusiastic personality at the club and he ran our 100 club in the 23-24 season.

Name: Sam Stevenson
Years: 2023-Present
Sam joined the club in 2023 having first played at Fairfield Primary School. He already had some good junior results before joining us including helping Fairfield win the CSC school team championship. In 2023 he finished runner up to Sagar in the Teesside Megafinal Under 12 section despite being at the younger end of the age bracket and in 2024 he followed this up by winning the section. Sam regularly plays in group 1 in the library and is well capable of beating some of the older boys. He's certainly one of our brightest prospects for the future! In 2025 we named him as our Junior captain.

Name: Alan Stockley
Years: 2023-Present
Alan joined us as a very experienced player with over 30 years playing in the local league! He's Thornaby's oldest member at 93 years old and he's still a very solid club player. He had one of our club's highest percentages in the 23-24 season scoring well for both the Destroyers in the D division and the Challengers in the C division and has continued that form since.

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. After initially playing for the Bombers for 3 seasons, including finishing as the B division top scorer in 21-22, Chris climbed up our rating list into our top 5. As a result, in the 23-24 season Chris was a regular on the Aces team which finished as Runners Up in the league. Chris is also interested in helping children learn to play the game and he runs the Thornaby library Saturday morning sessions. He is also one of the 5 registered Chess in Schools and Communities tutors for the Teesside area and runs chess sessions in several local schools.

Name: Ian Swales
Years: 2025-Present
Ian is Chris' father who taught him how to play and like Chris also used to play at Redcar in the 1990's. He joined Thornaby in 2025 to help out the Veterans team in the E division and ended up helping them to achieve the division title. He played in the B and C division at Redcar, so is a useful addition for the squad!

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 since 2021 he has used those qualities to help drive the club forward as our club chairman.

Name: Jake Taylor
Years: 2025-Present
Jake joined the club in September 2025 and often stayed until the very end of our club night sessions. Towards the end of the season he started winning a lot more games and will be moving up to the D division this season.

Name: James Tones
Years: 2025-Present
James joined the club towards the end of the 2024/25 season and is already an established league player for us. He took part in our Summer Series event in 2025, finishing in the top 10 and followed that up with a solid first league season in the C and D divisions in 25/26.

Name: Holly Tweddle
Years: 2026-Present
Holly learnt to play with Chris at the Village school in the Summer of 2025. A natural talent, she is already the best player in her school despite only being in Y4. She also made her league debut for Thornaby Queens and ended up winning the Cleveland Championships for her age in 2026, all less than a year after first learning how the pawns move!

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 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: Joe Vera-Sanso
Years: 2024-Present
Joe joined the club in the Summer of 2024 along with his father in law Phil Wales. He's new to club chess, but getting better quickly. Joe enjoys the social side of the club and in our September Rapidplay he said, "I may have lost most of my games, but I had a good time. Chess players should have a fun rating instead of just having a rating based on results!" An excellent attitude to have!

Name: Phil Wales
Years: 2024-Present
Phil joined the club in the Summer of 2024 after recently retiring from work. He previously played for Middlesbrough club for a season or 2 about 20 years ago. Phil showed his experience by giving some of our best players tough games and finishing in the top 4 of his first 3 internal quick events. In 24/25 he had an excellent season helping us to win 2 cup finals and being the highest scoring player in the league across all teams. As a result, we named him as our newcomer of the year in our 2025 awards ceremony!

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 Junior Under 7 Champion in 2023, the Teesside Under 8 Megafinal Champion in 2024 and the Teesside Junior Under 9 Champion in 2025. He moved to the club towards the end of the 23-24 season and he holds our club record as our youngest player in a league match at just 7 years old!

Name: Osman Yari
Years: 2025-Present
Osman joined the club during the 2025-2026 season. He immediately impressed with his level of play, but was reluctant to play ECF matches. We eventually persuaded him though and after a great start to league chess, he was playing in the B division by the end of the season.

Name: Evelyn Yorke
Years: 2026-Present
Evelyn is a talented young player who is very enthusiastic about chess. She initially played at school and qualified for the Manchester Gigafinal through the York Megafinal in April 2026. That persauded her family to find a chess club and she joined us shortly afterwards. She's looking forward to her first season playing for our league teams.