Worcestershire County Teams 2009-10
Page last updated 13 July 2010
2008-9 Results         U-120 Team         U-140 Team         First Team         Worcs Chess

Introduction

The county has entered three teams for Midlands Championship titles organised by the Midland Counties Chess Union: and there are Worcestershire teams in the U-140 and U-120 tournaments. In these competitions, the best two counties from the MCCU progress to the national stages. Progress and results of MCCU teams is shown on links from the MCCU homepage.

Ray Collett (Worcester City) was Open team captain replacing Maurice Bissell who had run the team for 11 years. Giles Stanton (Redditch) continues as captain of the successful U-140 (former U-125) team, and Richard Turner (Redditch) for the U-120 (former U-100) team. The upper grade limits are different from last season because of the upward adjustments to players' grades. The Open and U-140 sides play 16 boards and the U-120 team plays 12 boards. The Controller for the 2009-10 MCCU stages was Julie Johnson (Leicestershire).

If you wish to represent Worcestershire in any of these matches, please contact the captain for the appropriate team for your grade.

Minor Counties Competition Open team

The Open team competed in the lower division for the MCCU Minor Championship. Captain was Ray Collett (01905 454754). The playing session was 5 hours with the first time control at 40 moves in 2 hours followed by an extra 30 minutes for a quickplay finish. There were at three matches this season with Worcestershire failing to qualify for the national stages, which was predictable after losing to a much improved Lincolnshire side early in the season and in effect playing three away matches. Nevertheless there were bright spots especially the better result in the last match of the season. Newcomers to the team were young players Ashley Davis and Alex Holowczak, both of whom scored better than the average team performance. At the May County AGM, Andy Moore, took over the captaincy of the Open team. If you would like to play for Worcestershire next season, please contact him at 07789 904835.

Under-140 Counties Competition

Lincolnshire withdrew at the end of November leaving five matches. The 140 grading limit corresponds to the U-125 in the 2008-9 season. The team captain of the under-140 side is Giles Stanton (telephone 01527 402436). These matches are played over 16 boards. The playing session is normally 4 hours with time control at 36 moves in 1½ hours followed by a further ½ hour for each player to complete the game. Giles again captained the side to the national stages. In the preliminary round Worcestershire met the pwerful Sussex team. The score was even on 8 - 8, but Sussex got the win on board count.

Under-120 Counties Competition

The team captain was Richard Turner (tel. 01527 853873). These matches were played on Saturday afternoons over 12 boards. There were 5 matches this season. The playing sessions were 4 hours with time control at 36 moves in 1½ hours followed by a further ½ hour for each player to complete the game. The team improved on performance last season.