County clubs lead West Midlands League into 2021

20 Dec. In Division 1, Worcester 1 lead with Redditch and Longbridge 1 not far behind. In Division 2 currently led by Mutual Circle, Kidderminster are fourth, Stourbridge fifth, and Worcester 2 is in bottom position.

chess.com crash stops West Midlands Area league

19 Nov. About thirty minutes after start of play in WMA round 2, the chess.com server crashed stopping play. WMA organisers are considering options and it seems likely that the abandoned matches will be re-scheduled after the last fixtures. Any completed games are likely to be submitted for grading but will not count for the WMA competition.

Worcestershire beat Shropshire

14 Nov. In the Midlands County team championship competition, Worcestershire beat Shropshire 8 - 4. Stephen Mellor (Worcester), John Wrench (ex-Kidderminster), Julie Wilson, Paul Sharrattt (both Stourbridge), Scott Russell (Redditch) and matthew Holmes (Worcester) won their games. You can play through winning games using links from the ECF League Management System.

Nigel Towers in English Blitz team

7 Nov. Nigel played for English Players Team in the 9th Americas vs Europe season team Blitz team competition scoring 6 out of 19 games against much higher rated opponents. The English team was in fifth place behind Russia, Serbia,Argentina, and Italy.

Worcestershire fall to Greater Manchester in Open competition

31 Oct. Worcestershire were again spooked by Mancunians losing 2½-12½. Matthew Holmes (Worcester) playing on board 13O was the only winner with Marcus Walsh (South Birmingham, Bd 1), Paul Sharratt (Stourbridge, Bd 10) and Ian Ellis (Longbridge, Bd 14) achieving draws. Full result with links to game scores.

Worcestershire players leading English chess

17 Oct. At the online English Chess Federation AGM, Nigel Towers (Redditch) was elected to the vacant home chess directorship. Nigel Alex Holowczak (Oldbury) remains Director of Junior Chess & Education and Stephen Woodhouse (Longbridge) reamains a Non-executive director.All ECF directorships are unpaid.

U-1825 Worcestershire lose to Greater Manchester

10 Oct. In the first ever MCCU competition online match, Worcesterhire lost 3½-8½. Captain Paul Sharratt (Stourbridge), Phil Maybury (Warley Quinbourn) and Dillan Duke (Worcs Jun Chess Acad) won their games. I was watching online and was impressed with Dillan’s mature patient play in an awkward middlegame and then quick to seize on his opponent’s error in the endgame. The team also thanks our other young player Jack for stepping in to play board 12 after a very late cancellation thus allowing the county to avoid a default. See full result.

End of West Midland Area’s Summer season

8 Oct. League champions were Sutton Coldfield first team who convincingly demonstrated their superiority in the last match against runners-up Solihull first team. Two Worcestershire teams improved on their positions in the Spring season: Greenlands first team and Redditch were both third sharing the same number of match and games points. Worcester first team just avoided relegation finishing above bottom markers Warwick Univ Alumni. Division 2 champions were Coventry Chess, just three game points ahead of John Wrench’s Isle of Wight team. Kidderminster were fifth, Greenlands second team sixth. Worcester second team were last but one. See detailed league tables and links to match score cards.

Greenlands becomes Longbridge

6 Oct. Greenlands chess club will play its last ever match on Thursday. The West Midlands Area Online League will host this historic event on 8th October. Members are moving across the road to the Austin Sports & Social Club as soon as current Covid restrictions allow. The club is mchanging its name to reflect the new venue and will be called Longbridge Chess Club with a new email address.

Nigel Towers candidate for ECF Home Chess Directorship

30 Sep. Nigel of Redditch Chess Club who has already volunteered three years of his time to act as Secretary to the ECF Board is standing in a by-election for the unpaid post of Director of Home Chess. Nigel has been a prime mover in establishing English online chess and is ECF Manager for online chess. He has organised competitions locally, nationally and internationally and has helped develop the ECF rating and grading systems. He was an organiser for over-the-board events such as the ECF Blitz, and ECF Seniors as well as Senior team events in Croatia and Hungary. You can read his plans to develop home chess in his election address. Worcestershire players who wish to support Nigel’s candidacy should contact Worcestershire Secreatry Paul Sharratt and their direct members representatives to express their preferences before 17 October. Voting will be at a Zoom meeting of Council members - union, county, direct members representatives and officers - to be held on 17 October.

Worcestershire teams in West Midlands Area

1 Oct. Redditch was the only team to win one of their two matches in fixtures this night. Redditch won one and drew one, but lost on aggregate. Greenlands and Worcester drew one match and lost one match each against Sutton and 1 SB1 respectively. In Division 2, Kidderminster beat Solihull 2, but Stourbridge lost to Isle of Wight and were nearly annhilated by Coventry.

24 Sep. Greenlands and Redditch drew in Division 1 so that Greenlands are now second in Division 1 to Sutton Coldfield. Worcester lost in a three-board encounter with Solihull and may face a relegation battle. In Division 2, Stourbridge beat Greenlands and Kidderminster lost to Lichfield. Stourbridge and Greenlands are mid-table but still have a chance of finishing as champions. Worcester lost a bottom-of-table fight with Solihull and are now firmly at the bottom of the table.

17 Sep. Two Worcestershire clubs gained places in the sixth round for Division 1. Greenlands 1 beat Warwick University Alumni and Worcester 1 had ist best night in the league beating Redditch. Greenlands 1 is placed second in Division 1 behind a very strong Sutton Coldfield team, but Sutton have amtch in hand. Worcester 1 are mid-table and Redditch shares the bottom spot with South Birmingham 1. In Division 2, Stourbridge beat Coventry Chess, Kidderminster 2 beat Worcester 2, and Greenlands drew with Mutual Circle. Sutton Coldfield lead Division 2 with Greenlands placed third, Stourbridge fifth, and Worcester just ahead of bottom placed Solihull 2. See full results.

Worcestershire field open and u1825 team in the Midlands online championships

20 Sep. Worcestershire have entered two teams in the first MCCU online team champoionships. These matches will be played on Saturdays starting at 6:30pm using the lichess platform and a time control of 1 hour with 15 second increments.

Worcestershire lose to Mancunians in friendly match to trial lichess.org

12 Sep. In the first county match of the 2020-1 season, Worcestershire lost narrowly to Greater Manchester in a thirteen board friendly to trial the lichess.org platform for MCCU county matches this season. See full results.

County players help North to a victory over Southerners

5 Sep. Five county players helped the North win. Kevin Hurney (Greenlands) and Matthew Holmes (Worcester) won their games and Tony Shaw (Worcester) drew his.

 

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