Chess in Worcestershire

26 Aug: John Edge has retained the Halesowen Summer Knock-out Tournament. Visit Halesowen's website.

Are you up for Gold or Bronze?

23 Aug: ECF publishes latest proposals to fund English Chess. Three categories of memberrship are proposed starting in September 2012 with "Bronze" membership covering club, league and county chess games at £12 annually. To see the proposals in full, visit the funding paper posted on the ECF website. Please make sure that your ECF delegate, is aware of your opinions before the September ECF meeting when decisions will be made.

Redditch promoted, Paul Sharratt is new Competitions Secretary

23 Aug: At the Executive and Fixtures meeting Redditch accepted promotion to Division I of the county league and Kidderminster I were allowed to remain in Division I. In both divisions, teams play home and away. As information reaches me about fixtures, I'll post them to the web by the end of the month..

Worcestershire Open donates £650 to Age Concern

19 Aug. See picture of organiser Andrew Farthing presenting the cheque to Age Concern Sandwell.

Worcs players at the British Championships, Sheffield

See picture of Tom Robinson playing for his prize in the under-160 at Sheffield from the Redditch Advertiser.

6 August: Steve Mellor (Worcester) finished on 3 points from 11 games. Tom Robinson (Redditch) with 4points from 5 games was placed 3-5th in the under-160 tournament and was followed by Robert Mitchell (also Redditch) on 3 points. Alex Holowczak (Warley) was 7-11th with 3½ points from 5 in the under-140. In the under-150 Soanes tournament, Andrew Wiggins (Greenlands) and Alan Ruffle (formerly West Mercia Police now Derbys) were placed 7-21st with 3 points from 5 games. Leo Tsoi was the best juniors who played in the Worcestershire Megafinal with 5 points from 7 games and placed 2-4th in the under-13s tournament. Visit the MCCU website for scores by leading Midlands players and for full results, the Darwin Strategic British Championship website.

Worcestershire Open Congress results

24 July: Pavel Besedin (Daugavpils, Latvia) is the 2011 Worcestershire Open Champion. Both he and Tomasz Sygnowski (West Bromwich) shared first place on 4½ points in standard play games, but Pavel won out in the Armageddon play-off. There was a three-way tie for the Major tournament (under-160): Bredan O'Gorman, Richard Desmedt (Wombwell) and Dean Hartley ((Amber Valley). Brothers James and Joseph Friar (both Hagley) shared first prize in the Intermediate (Under-135). Matthew Trigg (Solihull) was in sole first place for the Minor (under-115). Further results and pictures are on the 2011 congress page.

Adrian Priest and Paul Evans move fast in Halesowen

19 July: Winners of the club's first blitz tournament were Adrian and Paul. Visit Halesowen website to see more news from Halesowen.

Joseph Friar wins Ultimo title at Derby

16, 17 July: At the Northern Gigafinal of UK Chess Challenge at Derby, Joseph Friar was placed first in the under-12 boys' section. This win gives him an ultimo title, and an invitation to play in the national terafinal where first prize is £2000. Older brother James, just missed out in the under-14 section. Playing for a first place, he had a winning position, but lost on time and so ended with 4 points. Both players attend Hagley High School and Worcester Junior Chess Academy. The most successful girls were Fay Commander (Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary, Redditch) and Kaiyah-Ellise Dove (St Columba's Primary, Redanl, Birmingham) both of whom scored 3 points from 5. Over 30 qualifiers from the Worcester Megafinal played at Derby. For all Worcestershire players' results, click Worcestershire's Gigafinalists.

Annual Meeting Saturday 21 May

The next meeting of the Association is at Claines Church Institute on the morning of Saturday 21 May. All members of affiliated clubs are entitled to attend and vote. If you would like to help the association we are likely to be needing officers to fill the roles of treasurer, first team captain, and president so please contact Secretary Maurice Bissell (use "About" menu button above for contact details) if you are interested in any of these roles. It is likely that the number of boards for division 1 league teams will be discussed as well as whether to enter the MCCU Minor Counties or the u180 team competition. Presentation of League Trophies.

Worcester City won their last league match whereas Hagley lost to give Worcester the title. Redditch ran away with the Division 2 title. league trophies will be presented at the AGM. Use "County League" button above for details.

Worcestershire team matches

The next u120 match is on the weekend of 21/22 May in the National Quarter Finals. The u140 team beat Lancashire in the quarter finals and the semi final is scheduled for 11 June. Contact Giles Stanton (u140) or Richard Turner (u120) if you can play.

John Williams, Droitwich Chess Club

Tues 15 Mar: The death is announced of John Williams. John was taken ill during a Worcester & District League Division 2 fixture Droitwich against Redditch 2. A paramedic team attended and John was taken to hospital, but he died during the night. John has represented Droitwich on board 3 and in his younger days I understand he represented Stourbridge. In addition to chess, John was also a member of the Droitwich Spa Bridge Club. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family. The funeral is at Redditch Crematorium on Tuesday 29 March at 11:30am.

News in the Leagues

Worcestershire County League (Updated 15 May) In Division 1, Hagley lost their final match and Worcester beat Kidderminster to win the title for the first time in 22 years. In Division 2, Redditch are champions by a mile.
Wheatley Cup (Reported 15 May) Greenlands go through to the final by the narrowest of margins in their match against Hagley.
Worcester & District Chess League (Updated 15 May) In Division 1, Malvern are champions yet again. In Division 2, Headless Cross are champions ahead of Worcester Pawns.
Worcester & District Individual Cup Champions. (reported 6 December) Brian Turner (Malvern) retained the Bennett Cup (Open) and junior Ashley Davis (Headless Cross) won the Ball Cup (under-150). In both cases the losing finalist was Rob Mitchell (Redditch).

Steve Mellor qualifies for the British Championship

At the York Open congress held 9-10 Jan, Steve was first.

Steve Mellor fastest mover at Worcester City

Worcester City's annual five-minute tournament was won by Steve Mellor. Steve romped home with a clean 9 from 9 games. Ray Collett was second on 7½ and Ed Osbourn on 7.

Andrew Farthing new Chief Exec of English Chess

At the Annual Finance Council Meeting of the ECF Andrew Farthing, organiser of Worcester & District's revitalised Bennett and Ball Cup competitions, was elected unopposed to this volunteer position. He follows Chris Majer who has had to step down because his 'day job' is increasingly demanding. You can read Andrew's Blog, ChEx to see his comments on national chess news including the widely predicted loss of all Government support confirmed in the Government Expenditure Review.