Club nights Thursday evenings

Worcester beat Hereford but bow out of the u1650 Summer Cup

6 Aug 2025. Alex Nicholls’s team lost heavily to an evenly matched Longbridge team in the Summer Cup semi-final. Only Viktor Gorbunov escaped with a draw. See full result.
5 Aug 2025. Non-playing captain Paul Serafini saw his team go to a 4½-3½ victory in this away fixture after Hereford’s board 2 gifted Ray Collett a draw on board 2. The last game to finish was Tony Shaw’s. It was an exciting draw with both players having to avoid sudden death with only a few minutes left and heavy pieces roaming against poorly defended kings. The match saw a welcome return to over-the-board play for Robin Hayles and Phil Austin. James Nicholl played his first game for Worcester. Phil Austin, Scott Maclean, and Arnold Kirkland won their games. see full result.

Worcester lose Wheatley Cup final

23 Jul 2025. Worcester travelled to Broughton Hackett to play Redditch in the final. There was only a slight difference in the teams’ players’ ratings and there was no handicap. Redditch won 3-1 and only Aiden Grifiths came away with a win. See full results.
16 Jul 2025. Worcester beat Kidderminster 2½-1½. This win takes Worcester to the final to be played against Redditch on Wednesday 23 July at Redditch. Chris Lee’s team faced a similarly rated team against Kidderminster and there was no handicap. Scott Oxtoby and Aiden Griffiths won their games. See full details.

Joe Rastall wins Summer Fun Blitz tournament 13 Jun 2025. On the final night of chess at the church hall in the 2024-5 season, Joe Rastall recaptured his form to win. The time control was 1 min + 5 sec increment. Twenty three players took part and the tournament was run in three preliminary sections followed by a KO final stage. Joe achieved a clean sweep in Pool A and qualified for the final stage with Aiden Grfiffiths and Chris Lee. The current club blitz champion was out of form and finished below Scott Maclean and a former county junior champion Alaric Stephens. In Pool C, Dorin Luca and Rob Sutton shared first place and qualified for the finals with Sai Rentachintala. The quarter final saw Jo, Scott, Rob and Dorin progress. In the semi-finals Joe beat Scott Maclean and Rob beat Dorin. The showdown saw Rob with the white colours and led to a dramatic denoument. Rob’s rook swooped to take an undefended piece only to find that his master was back-rank mated! See full results.

Picture: Sean Conway

No increase in members’ subscription rates next season and half price for new members

5 Jun 2025. The club’s 189th annual meeting was well attended. President Rob Sutton reported there had been more rated games played at the club than at any time in the club’s history. Joe Rastall won the All-Play-All Rapidplay tournament, Ray Collett the Blitz Championship. Ed Osbourn plays Joe Rastall in the standardplay championship which has not yet completed. Four league teams and three friendly matches were played during the season and the club participated in last year’s Summer Cup. Team results were 'middling'. Joe Rastall, treasurer, said the club had made a surplus and members decided not to increase subscription rates and offer half-price introductory subscriptions for new members. The treasurer also said with reluctance that he had to step down from his post because of a change in circumstances. There was an election for Joe's replacement and Alex Nicholls will be the new treasurer. Aiden Griffiths also stepped down from the assistant secretary post which was filled by Paul Serafini. The club decided to enter an additional team into the standardplay District league next season and to again enter teams in the Summer Cup competitions this summer.

Members at Cotswold Congress

26 May 2025 Three Worcester members travelled to Gloucester for the six round Cotwold Congress. Colin Vernon and Alex nicholls played in the Minor tournament scoring 2½ points and Alex Nicholls 1½ points. Andrew Farthing (Worcester) did not play. Instead he ran a chess bookstall raising over £800 for St Richard’s Hospice Worcester

Worcester draw with Cheltenham

15 May 2025. Worcester drew 2½-2½ in a friendly match with Cheltenham who normally play in the North Gloucestershire League. Doug Nicholls and new member Sean Conway won their games. The match was organised by Paul Serafini and the club hopes to play Cheltenham away during the summer. See match card.

Worcester draw with Hereford in friendly match

24 Apr 2025. Paul Serafini organised a seven board friendly match. The home fixture saw Hereford score on the top boards and Worcester were rescued by veteran Arnold and junior Samuel to force a 3½-3½ draw. Scott Maclean also won his game. See full result.

Knights and Pawns teams at Redditch

23 Apr 2025. The Pawns team in the Rapidplay League 2 match lost the first leg of the fixture and drew the second. The teams agreed to play two additional friendly boards and Redditch won all four of those games.Team captain paul Serafini won both his games. See full result.
16 Apr 2025. Sai stepped in to make up the team in this Rapidplay League 1 match at an hour’s notice because of a late withdrawal. The team lost both legs of the fixture heavily and only Dorin and Sai were able to salvage half a point from their two games. See full result.

City team complete 2024-5 campaign

10 Apr 2025. The City team travelled to Longbridge for their last Championship fixture this season, but came off worse. Only captain Rob Sutton could hold his own. See full result.

Club Championship finalists decided 20 Mar 2025. In the championship semi-finals 2024 champion Joe Rastall beat new member Keith Sorrell and Ed Osbourn beat Ed Higgs. Although Ed Osbourn was the losing finalist in 2011, he has not prviously held the title.

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