Ladder

We’re running a ladder designed to provide competitive play, particularly for those relatively new to competitive chess.

If you haven’t played competitively before and would like to see what it’s like before playing in club matches this would be a great place to start.

If you’d like to take part contact Mike and he’ll add you to the ladder.

Overview

Ladder games are played at Cambridge Park Bowls Club on Thursday evenings.

Participants arrange their own matches – usually via the group WhatsApp chat – either before-hand or on the night.

Any two players in the Ladder can play each other.

It is not compulsory to play a Ladder game at every opportunity – you can play as often or as little as you like.

ECF membership is not a requirement to participate in the Ladder but if both players have ECF Memberships (Bronze or higher), their match result will be submitted to the rating system to contribute towards their official rating.

Details of ECF Memberships are available here: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-membership-rates-and-joining-details

Match Rules

First encounter between two players: coin toss determines colours

Rematch: reversed colours from the first encounter

Time control: 65 minutes with 10 second increments per player

Ladder points: Between 2 and 20 points are awarded to each player for each match they play (see full calculation below).

Standings: The points scored within a rolling 12-month period count towards the standings below. Players can play each other up to twice in these 12 months, once with each colour, with the most games counting.

Finals: The top 8 players in the standings at the end of August every year qualify for a knockout tournament to determine the overall Ladder champion.

Latest results (24th July 2026)

WhitePosPtsResultPtsPosBlack
Anthon Fynn-Williams14th8½-½44thMike Robinson-Chui
Julian Bedale16th20-11625thDanilo D’Auria
Michael Larby17th181-021stKarl Stand
Alex Lapidus30th6½-½630thNick Von Schlippe

Standings (as at 31st July 2026)

PosNamePldPts
1Karl Stand21115
2Oscar Rounding15112
3Mike Robinson-Chui1290
4Michael Speer989
5Abhay Patil1586
6Genc Tasbasi978
7Peter Kasprowicz1374
8Aditya Patil1372
9David Heaton871
10Anthon Fynn-Williams658
11George Milligan756
12Alex Corlett554
13Viorel Scobioala753
14Husnu Babayigit551
15Peter Marler745
16Michael Larby940
17Julian Bedale1036
18Danilo D’Auria524
19Arash Sanaiha222
20Ted Fraser420
=Mark Jessett220
22Tom Brand118
=Peter Farmakis118
24Tom Lloyd114
25Michael Sweeney112
26Charlie Weeks38
27Alex Lapidus16
=Harry Mithun16
=Nick von Schlippe16
30Jordan Baker12
=Katy Cooke12

Scoring

Between 2 and 20 Ladder Points are awarded to each player in a single match. The exact allocation is calculated as follows:

Win points: 2 + 20(1 – ER) points.

Draw points: Half the number of points that would have been awarded for a victory.

Loss points: 2 points.

Expected Result (ER) =

(Rounded to 1 decimal point)

Po is the starting Ladder position of defeated player.

Pw is the starting Ladder position of the match winner.

Pt is the total number of active participants currently in the Ladder.