Worcestershire Chess Association

County players at Birmingham Congress

23 Nov 2023. Six county players entered the lists in this five round weekend congress held at King Edward VI Five Ways School, Bartley Green. Current county senior champion Darren Whatmore (Shirley & Wythall) scored 2½ points in the Open: Nigel Towers (Redditch) scored 3 points in the Major: Seamus Flynn (Worcester) scored 2 points in the Intermediate: Muhammed Mehmood (Mercia) scored 3½, Peter Hughes (Mutual Circle) scored 3 and Elias Angel (Longbridge) scored 2 points in the Minor tournament. The event attracted over 150 players and was organised by Alex Holowczak.

Online team results

21 Nov 2023. Team A won, Team B drew and the Cadets team had their first defeat this season. At the end of the evening Worcestershire Wolfpack A are fourth in Group A and Team B are third in group B of Division 4. The Cadets team are second out of 32 teams in Division 5. To get into the semi-finals, Team A will need to win their round 7 match and Cozy Tomatoes will have to lose against Lenzie Basilisks. Team B cannot now make the semi-finals. See full score sheets and links to games.

7 Nov 2023. Worcestershire Wolfpack teams lost two matches and won one with the Cadets team winning against War & Piece Nimrod in Round 5 of 4NCL Main Online. The Cadets now stand top of Division 5. Worcestershire Wolfpack A are fourth in Group A of Division 4 and the B team are third in Group B. In spite of the less succesful night, the Cadets are good position for promotion and both Division 4 teams could still get promotion. See full score sheets and links to games.

Kata Toma appointed as new ECF Director

1 Nov 2023. WGM Kata Toma (Worcester) has been appointed to a voluntary Non-Executive Director post. Stephen Woodhouse (Redditch) writes: "Kata will bring her playing and wider international experience to bear when advising the [ECF] Board and working with the other Directors."

League leaders

27 Oct 2023. After the first two months of the season, Longbridge are top of the Championship League and Kidderminster top of the District League.

Worcestershire online teams successful again

24 Oct 2023. In 4NCL division 4, Worcestershire Wolfpack A beat Shropshire & Friends 5 in group A and Worcestershire Wolfpack B beat a team from Bishops Aukland, Bishop Trojans in group B and the teams are 3rd and fourth in their groups. Worcestershire Wolfpack Cadets drew against Witney in Division 5 and stand second out of 32 teams. Robin Hayles and Tony Shaw (both Worcester City) made welcome returns to the squad. See full score cards and links to games.

Bennett and Ball Cup competition entries up

23 Oct 2023. The Bennett Cup attracted nine players who play in two groups in the preliminary stage, which concludes before Easter. Pool A includes Edward Higgs (Worcester), Lee Davis, the current holder of the trophy (Malvern), Ray Collett (Worcester), and David Waud (Kidderminster). Pool B players are: Joe Friar (Kidderminster), Chris Lee (Worcester), Aiden Griffiths (Worcester), and John Varilone (Kidderminster). Finals and semi finals between the top two players from each pool should be completed by the end of June.

22 Oct 2023. In the Ball Cup seven players compete and play a six round all-play-all round robin tournament throughout the season and the top two placed players will face each other in a final. Entrants are: Peter Hughes (Longbridge), Chris lee (Worcester), Colin Vernon (Worcester), Giles Stanton (Redditch), John Varilone, last year’s winner (Kidderminster), Edward Higgs (Worcester), and Aiden Griffiths (Worcester).

Redditch third at Hull

22 Oct 2023. Redditch players Dan Lambourn, Harry Evans, David Smith , Nigel Towers and Giles Stanton travelled to Hull for the national club championships. They entered the u2000 competition and were placed 3rd on tie-break. The u2000 tournament was won by Hulll Chess Club.

Worcestershire players at Birmingham Rapidplay

22 Oct 2023. WGM Katarzyna Toma (Worcester) was placed third and scored 5 points from 7 games in the Open. In the Major (u2000), Joseph Friar (Kidderminster) was 3rd with 5 points and club mate John Wrench scored 3½ points in the same section. Worcester club mates Tony Shaw scored 3 points in the Intermediate and Simon Berry scored 4½ points in the Minor.

Worcestershire u1450 suffer big defeat by Staffordshire

21 Oct 2023. New captain Aiden Griffiths (Worcester City) had a baptism of fire when the team travelled to Newcastle-u-Lyme for the Midlands u1450 team final with Staffordshire. Captains agreed to play over eight boards and Staffordshire won 7-1. The only Worcestershire player to score was Aiden. See details.

ECF re-elects Home Director and combines membership categories

15 Oct 2023. There were two contested elections for ECF directorships. Nigel Towers (Worcs), the incumbent Director for Home Chess, won an overwhelmingly. The vote for a vacant Non-Executive Directorship was much closer with WGM Katarzyna (Worcs) losing with 99 votes to WIM Sarah Longson (Greater Manchester) gaining 125 votes. A proposal from the ECF Board to merge silver and gold membership categories starting in September 2024 was narrowly accepted by 136 to 122 votes.

Worcestershire 4NCL online teams

10 Oct 2023, Round 3. The 4NCL online, there were two match wins and a draw. Paul Evans (Halesowen) played his first game for the squad. In Division 4, Worcestershire Wolfpack A won their match against Dundee City F in Division 4 and are fourth in group A: the B team drew their match against The Hemel’s Gambit and are fourth in Group B. The Cadets team in Division 5 beat Irish Jazz and stand second out of 31 teams.

Kidderminster chess champions

5 Oct 2023. President John Wrench won the 2023 club championship, his twefth time of winning after a tough final with Joe Friar. For Joe it was a rare defeat because he won five other trophies: the President’s Cup, The Shuttle Shield KO, Quickplay and Lightning championships, and the Graham Bunn trophy for the highest number of points scored playing for Kidderminster’s league teams. Dave Spowart won the club’s Handicap tournament and 14-year-old Henry Cameron (RGS Worcester) won the Minor Club Championship for the second time.