Hello, my name is Alan Ruffle and I am a very keen chess player. In 1957 as an eleven-year-old schoolboy I learned to play chess. I played in the school team in matches with other local schools. I have played and loved the game of chess ever since.

I tell people that it takes seven and a half minutes for me to teach a person how to play chess, and then if they are like me they will spend the next sixty years of playing and studying the game to become a reasonably competent player.

I now prefer to put more effort into organising junior chess and arbiting. I am a regular arbiter with the Four Nations Chess League, probably the best chess league in the world.

I am a qualified ECF Arbiter, former director of Junior chess and education, sitting on the Board of the English Chess Federation and I hold an Enhanced DBS certificate.

Welcome to Stafford Library Junior Chess Club.

Alan Ruffle
English Chess Federation Arbiter / Coach.