Worcestershire Chess Association

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Old news 2017-8 season

Last updated 14 October 2018

29 Aug, Paul Sharratt reports. Three teams in Midlands inter-counties competitions. Worcestershire have entered teams into the Midlands Championship, the under-140 and under 120 Midlands' counties team championships. All teams are under new management. Father and son Stephen and Monty (Greenlands) skipper the First and u120 teams respectively. Tony Shaw (Worcester) is the new u140 captain and his vice-captain is Sam Bradley (Stourbridge). 25 Aug. Worcesterhire Chess League fixtures published. Click "League" on menu above.
23 Aug. League fixtures and Executive Meeting. The Worcestershire Chess League set-up is very similar to last year with the exception that Halesowen 1B was demoted to Division 2 and Halesowen 2 promoted to Duivision 1. In other respects teams are the same as last season. At the start of the meeting Teresa Friar presented Ray Collett with the Jim Friar award for services to Worcestershire Chess.

22 Aug, Steve Alcock reports. Hossam Aboushady winner at Stourbridge's Lightning tournament. In a seven-round event with 14 players, Hossam escaped on time in his game against Jeremy Humphries. The top finishers were: Hossam Aboushady 6½ points, Nic Followfield 5 points with Martin Berridge and Richard Wilkinson sharing 3-4th places on 4½ points. The Highest ungraded player was Ethan Chan Smith on 4 points.

19 Aug. Lee Davis new Worcestershire champion. Two former British Championship Contenders Steve Mellor (Worcester) and Lee Davis (Malvern) were the front-runners throughout the competition held at The King's School Worcester. Mellor and Davis were leading the tournament and paired in the 3rd round. In that game, Mellor won pawns in the ending, but was so short of time he had to settle for a draw. In the final round, Davis beat Kitson with a powerful queenside attack and Mellor beat Joseph Friar (Kidderminster). At the end, with both leaders on 4 points, Davis won on tie-break by half a point. Other winners at the tournament were: Julie Wilson (Stourbridge, Women's champion), Peter Kitson (Worcester, Senior champion), Brian Turner (Malvern, Veteran champion), Arnold Kirkland (Droitwich, Minor champion), Finlay Bowcott-Terry (Junior champion, Halesowen) and Phillip Austin (Worcester), playing his first tournament for 20 years, won the prize for the highest scoring ungraded player. The tournament was controlled by Andrew Farthing and his chess bookstall in aid of St Richard's Hospice made nearly £150.

Davis-Kitson, final round

Lee in play against Peter in the final round
John Wrench, ten times champion 15 Aug, John Wrench reports. John Wrench Kidderminster Champion. John beat Joe Watson in the final of the club's championship to win the Kidderminster title for the 10th time. Players have competed for the trophy since 1901 and this beats Maurice Bissell's nine championship successes to make John the most successful club player in Kidderminster's history.

12 Aug. Bewdley Quickplay raises over £600 for Prostate Cancer Appeal. Thirty nine players, including eleven juniors competed at the fifth Bewdley Quickplay. The Overall winner of the 6-round event was Michael Ashworth (Wotton Hall Sch) on tie-break from James Friar (Kidderminster) who won the Bewdley Mayor's Shield. Four players ended on 5 points. Runners-up were Ian Clarke (Malvern) and John Varilone (Kidderminster). The best ungraded players’ prizes went to Remi Harris (Kidderminster) and Mark Wrench (Stratford-on-Avon). Best junior was 11-year old Jamie Ashworth (Wotton Hall Sch) on 4 points who won the Jim Friar Trophy. The event raised over £90 for St Anne’s Church as well as over £600 - for Rory the Robot Prostate Cancer Appeal.

.Bewdley Mayor receives cheque from chess players

10 Aug, Brian Turner reports. Lee Davis wins Bennett Cup in Worcester & District League.

7 Aug, John Wrench reports. Remi Harris new star at Kidderminster. Local musician Remi was the first ungraded player to win the Kidderminster Shuttle Shield. Remi upset the old order with wins against tough opposition to reach the final. The a "wildcard" won against five-times-winner John Wrench taking advantage of his opponent's miscalculation in the middle game. Thereafter Harris took full advantage and bagged the game and shield. Entry for the shield competition was 32 ranging from an 8-year old to an 84-year old.

26 Jul. Worcestershire players at the British Championships. GM Keith Arkell (Halesowen) is the only Worcestershire player in the championship. Nigel Towers (Redditch) plays in the Over-50 tournament, Nick Fallowfield (Stourbridge) in the u2050 and Atkins, Colin Vernon (Worcester) in the u100. Live games are in the championship are broadcast by chess24.com and results are on Chess-Results.com

26 Jun, Halesowen CC reports. Manvith Sandhu, Worcestershire’s junior champion shared grading and junior prizes in the North Wales Major tournament at Llandudno

19 Jun, Halesowen CC reports. GM Keith Arkell won all 14 simulaneous games at Halesowen Chess Club. Keith said his toughest opponent was Worcestershire’s junior champion Manvith Sandhu.

15 Jun, John Southcote reports. Windsor Peck. Windsor passed away peacefully on 15 June aged 80 years. Windsor was a member of Halesowen CC and for many years captained their 4NCL Division 3 team. He represented Worcestershire before moving to Madeley, Shrops. In 2006 he captained Shropshire’s Open team to their second Midland Counties Team Championship win. He competed in many weekend tournaments and some of his most recent wins included Birmingham Rapid Minor tournament in 2017 and an under-120 grading prize at the 2018 Shropshire Congress. You can see a fine 2006 win of Windsor's on the Halesowen CC website. John Southcote wrote Windsor was "A true gentleman, he was a well known figure in Midlands chess and will be missed by all who knew him".

9 Jun. Worcestershire under-140 team lost 6½ - 9½ to Yorkshire in the national semi final match at Selston, Notts.

27 May, Halesowen CC reports. Nick Arkell won the Wolverhampton League Rock Cup.

21 May. Alistair Macnaughton is 2018 Worcester City Champion.

19 May. Worcestershire beat Hampshire. Worcestershire won 11½-4½ in a national quarter final under 140 match at Watchfield, Wilts. Winning Worcestershire players were Eric Horwill (Stourbridge), David Spowart (Halesowen), Giles Stanton (Redditch), Paul Furniss (Greenlands), Kevin Day (Kidderminster), Harry Evans (Kidderminster), Joe Bombardini (Stourbridge), David Cleak (Droitwich), and Arnold Kirkland (Droitwich).

15 May, John Wrench reports. Kidderminster win Pittaway Cup. In the Wolverhampton & District league final Kidderminster beat Wolverhampton 6¼-4. In the Wolverhampton League, Kidderminster A gained promotion back into Division 1, and Kidderminster B avoided relegation by winning their last match of the season.

14 May, Halesowen CC reports. Halesowen juniors score in Warwickshire. Finlay Bowcott-Terry won the under-13 section of the Warwickshire Megafinal of the UK Schools Chess Challenge. Manvith Sandhu won the under-10 tournament at the same event.