Becoming a member

Thank you for your interest in our club!

Please fill in this form to apply for membership for the 2025–26 season (whether you are a new, rejoining or renewing member). Our membership year now runs from September 1st to August 31st.

If you’re not yet ready to become a member, but are interested in receiving information about our events by email, please also fill in the form.

Please read our privacy notice for details of how we store and use your personal information when you do so.

Benefits

The benefits of membership are:

Eligibility for selection for our league teams (e.g. Middlesex League)
Eligibility for ECF-rated friendly games at standard or rapid time limits
Eligibility for the summer Club Championship
Discounted entry to our FIDE Blitz tournaments: worth £7 per tournament
Free, discounted or priority entry to other events throughout the season (please check our calendar for what’s on)
Eligibility for member-only prizes (e.g. “best Hendon member” in the monthly Blitz)
Social chess, on home club nights where there is space
Discounted entry to the chessengland.com Golders Green rapid and Muswell Hill rapid and standard tournaments (provided you are an ECF member at Gold level or above, and that you register in advance): worth £5 per event
Eligibility to play for Middlesex in the SCCU County Championship (if you aren’t already eligible: see the MCCA site for detailed eligibility criteria)

If you play in a lot of tournaments, you could easily make savings adding up to more than your membership fee!

See our activities for further details.

Membership fees for 2025–26

Since all memberships run to the end of the season (31st August), the fees depend on when you join (your membership begins on the date of payment):

Payment date	Full fee	Concessions
September 4th Blitz or before (“early bird” discount)	£80	£64
September 5th–30th or October 2025	£90	£72
November or December 2025	£80	£64
January or February 2026	£65	£52
March or April 2026	£50	£40
May or June 2026	£40	£32
July or August 2026 (to include 2026–27)	TBC	TBC

The concessionary rate is available to:

Juniors (people who are under 18 on the date of payment)
Students in full-time education (18+, not retired)
Unemployed people (18+, not retired)

We also offer free membership to any player with the GM, IM, WGM or WIM title.

Additional concessions are available in cases of genuine hardship (please contact our Treasurer for further details).

We strongly prefer payment by bank transfer; the application form contains payment instructions.

ECF membership requirements

Many Hendon events involve playing games under tournament conditions, whose results are sent to the ECF and/or FIDE for rating. In order to be eligible for rated play at standard or rapid time limits, you must be a member of the ECF. ECF membership is separate from club membership: neither one includes the other.

ECF membership gives you various other benefits (depending on the level you choose), including discounted entry to chess tournaments and events around the country. For more background information, see this guide.

Bronze is sufficient for most club activities, with the exception of FIDE-rated non-blitz tournaments. One important change for 2025–26 is that we intend to make the Club Championship FIDE-rated, which means Gold ECF membership will be required for entry (in previous years Bronze would have been sufficient). Here are the ECF and Club membership requirements for each club activity:

Activity	Entry fee	Club membership required	Minimum ECF membership
Middlesex League	No	Yes	Bronze
Club Championship	No	Yes	Gold
Blitz tournaments	Yes (member discount)	No	None
Open rapid tournaments	Yes (member discount)	No	Gold
ECF-rated standard friendlies	No	Yes	Bronze

If you have any questions about how ECF membership affects participation in club activities, please contact us. General questions about ECF membership should be directed to the ECF.