2025-6 season, older news

New member at Birmingham rapidplay 14 Jun 2026. Stephen Allen was fifth in the Minor tournament, just outside the medals at Biringham with 5 points from his seven games.in a field of 36 players. Ed Higgs undefeated in June Fun Blitz 11 Jun 2026. Only one player was able to get a draw against winner Ed Higgs in the eight rounds of the 1 min + 5 sec tournament. Ed was placed first on 7½ points a point clear of Rob Sutton and two points clear of new member Ben Fellows.Ed’s successfollows his win the the club Bliz championship in February. Other notable performances were from new member Stephen Allen on 5 points and new visitor Jack Jenkinson who has graduated from the County junior club on 4 points scoring as many points as his coach. Twenty six players competed and the tournament controller was Scott Oxtoby who was sure fingered in using the club’s new pairing software.See detailed results. Picture from new secretary, Paul Serafini, shows players at the tournament.

Club awards at annual meeting
	4 Jun 2026. Members decided to reduce the cost of club membership at the club’s 190th annual general meeting and the president announced plans for chess coaching earlier on some evenings. Secretary, Ray Collett, said the club had an exceptionally successful season. Club membership has increased to fifty, six teams had competed in league chess and more games were played in internal competitions than for at least fifty years. Ray announced that he wished to step down from the role of secretary and members later elected Paul Serafini to that post. Worcester White Bishops finished champions of the Worcester & District League under team captain Aiden Griffiths. At the awards ceremony, Rob Sutton received the trophy for the best league perfomance from Paul - picture on the left - and President Rob Sutton presented the tropy for the best new player to George Sharpe - picture on the right. Alaric Stephen won the rapidplay championship and Scott Oxtoby received the award for the most interesting game. Plans for the summer include two teams in the Worcestershire Summer Cup competitions and Thursday evening play at Spin The Black Circle from 18 June to the end of August.

Final positions in Worcestershire Leagues

15 May 2026. The White Bishops team captained by Aiden Griffiths were champions fo the Worcester & District League. The City team finished near the bottom of the Championship League and In the rapid[play leagues The Rooks team were off the pace in the Challengers League and finished bottom. Worcester Knights were runners up in Rapidplay League 1 and Worcester Pawns were third in Rapidplay League 2.

Teams lose end of season matches

30 Apr. 2026. Worcester Knights lost both legs of the home fixture in the Rapidplay League 1 against Kidderminster and were overtaken by league winners Longbridge. See match card.
28 Apr 2026. The team travelled to Longbridge for their final match this season, but lost narrowly. New player Stephen Allen won his game. See details.

Double victory in home fixtures : White Bishops win Worcester & District League

23 Apr. Worcester Knights played in Rapidplay League 1 and Worcester White Bishops played in the Worcester & District League and both matches were agianst Longbridge. All the matches were won 2½-1½. The Knights’ victory takes them to the top of the rapidplay table. See match card. If the Knights win their final fixture against Kidderminster next week they will win Rapidplay League 1. The White Bishops made sure of winning the Worcester & District League in their match. David Cleak and Craig Arnold won their games. See match card.

Two home wins at the club

16 Apr 2026. The City team beat Kidderminster in the Championship League. This match completes Worcester’s campaign and they finish mid-table. Ed Higgs and Rob Sutton won their games. See details. Sai Rentachintala took the helm of the Black Bishops as non-playing captain for the first time and was rewarded with a win against Kidderminster in the Worcester & District League. New players Bilal Butt and Ethan Greenhalgh claimed their first league scalps.

Club players help county online teams to wins

14 Apr 2026. In the last round of the Four Nations Chess League Phil Austin and Alaric Stephen won their games to take Worcestershire Wolfpack C team to the semi-finals of Division 4 and possiible promotion to Division 3. In other teams Ed Higgs, Ray Collett and Chris Lee won their games.

 

Club championship semi-finalists announced

10 Apr 2026, Rob Sutton reports. The succesful players going through to the semi-finals are: new member John Peters who has the white pieces and plays Joe Rastall. In the second semi-final, Ed Osborne (white) plays Scott Oxtoby. These games are scheduled for Thursday 7 May at the club,

Rapidplay teams win three matches in home fixtures

9 Apr 2026. In Worcestershire rapidplay League 1, the Knights team beat Redditch 3-1 in both legs of the fixture. This takes the Knights to the top of the table. Rob Sutton and Alaric Stephen won both their games. See details. The Pawns team also played Redditch in Rapidplay League 2. Worcester won the first leg of the fixture, but lost the second. New player Ethan Greenhalgh won both his games. See details.

Alaric Stephen leads Rapidplay tournament

29 Mar 2026, Rob Sutton reports that already over a hundred games have been payed in this year's tournament by thirty different players. Rob reminds members that the last daye for playing in the Rapidplay championship is Thu 28 May.

Latest League results

19 Mar 2026. City team lose at home to Longbridge A. Only captain Rob Sutton escaped with a draw in the match against Redditch, but all the games went the full distance. See complete results.

12 Mar 2026. Pawns draw with Longbridge. The Pawns team fought two hard draws in the Rapidplay League 2 home fixture against Longbridge. This result means that even in the most favourable circumstances, the Pawns could only equal leader Kidderminster’s match points score and Kidderminster have a further three fixtures to play which could net up to 6 match points. Sean Conway won both his games. See match card.

11 Mar 2026. White Bishops Beat Reddttch. The White Bishops won their away match with Redditch in the Worcester & Ditrict League 2½-1½ and lead the league by 1 match point. Arnold and david Cleak won their games. See full result.

Worcester players help county sink Lincolnshire u1650 team

7 Mar 2026. Club members Arnold Kirkland, Aiden Griffiths, Paul Serafini and team captain Aiden Griffiths all won their games to give Worcestershire u1650 team a convincing win over Lincolnshire at East Goscott on Saturday. Worcestershire won the match 7½-4½. See full results

One win, one loss on double fixture night

26 Feb 2026. The club hosted two league fixtures. The Black Bishops team beat Reddicth in the Worcester & District league, but the Rooks lost 1-3 to Longbridge in the Challengers League. George Sharpe and Ric Griffiths-Read won their games in the Black Bishops’ match. See details for Black Bishops and Rooks teams.

Latest positions in club Rapidplay Championship

20 Feb 2026. Over 200 games gave now been played in this competition. Alaric Stephen leads with a score of 13½ followed by Ray Collett on 10 and Joe Rastall 9½ points. See cross-table.
20 Feb 2026. In the Challengers League, the Rooks team were mauled by a Malvern team headed by a former county champion. See details.

Worcester draw friendly match with Gloucester

19 Feb 2026. One hundred and twenty years ago on 5 of February, a Worcester team travelled to Gloucester, but lost 3-7. This year’s match had a happier end for Worcester: a 2½-2½ draw. Worcester’s new blitz champion won his game on board 1 and new member Maciej Bodniak won his game on board 5. See details.

City team lose away to Redditch

18 Feb 2026. Only team captain Rob Sutton was able to score in the away match at Redditch. Redditch have won all their matches so far and look strong favourites to become league champions. See full result.

Alaric wins at Coventry

15 Feb 2026. Alaric Stephen won the Intermediate tournament at the Coventry Chess Congress with 4½ points from five games in a field of 47 players. See full results and Alaric’s blog.

City team win at Longbridge

11 Feb 2016. Although slightly outgraded the City team had their second match win in the Worcestershire Championship league. City beat Longbridge B 3-2. This places the team mid-table behind Redditch, John Peters and Scott Oxtoby won their games. See match card.

Ed Higgs 2026 Blitz Champion 5 Feb 2026. Controller Rob Sutton organised players into four all-play-all groups to determine the eight quarter-finalists. The succesful eight players were Phil Austin, Bilal Butt, Ben Fellows, Ed Higgs, Scott Oxtoby, Joe Rastall, Alaric Stephen, and Rob Sutton. They played two knock-out rounds from which Alaric, a former Worcester junior champion, and Ed emerged as finalists. Ed looked the most assured player at the start of the game and the present club champion, Ed, soon benefited from an uncharacteristic error by Alaric and was able to clean up in fine style. See full results. The two finalists in the opening of their game for the championship. Picture: Ray Collett

Worcester Knights draw with runaway leaders in Rapidplay League 1

29 Jan 2026. Neither club was able to field its highest ranking players for this fixture and the result was a draw in both legs of the fixture. Boards 1 and 2 exchanged wins and Scott Oxtoby won both his games. See match cards.

Bishops do battle while City lose to Malvern

15 Jan 2026. John Peters was the only member of the City team to win in the match against Malvern. Both his game and Scott Oxtoby’s were hard fought and ended in rook and minor piece endings. See match card. In the local Derby White Bishops versus Black Bishops, the higher rated White Bishops won 3-1. Simon Berry was the first to finish pocketing a win for the Black Bishops, but scores were equalised when David Cleak won a hard fought Bishop and pawn ending. Arnold Kirkland took the white team into the lead when he ground out a win in a minor piece ending with and extra pawn. The final game to finish looked good for the white team, but in a time scramble the skipper of the black team won back a piece, but eventually lost. See match card.

City players give county big win against Derbyshire

10 Jan 2026. Skipper of Worcestershire u1650 team, Aiden Griffiths, used a new venue for Worcestershire county chess used by new club Kinver founded by county secreary Paul Sharratt meets. Seven Worcester players were in the team. Seamus Flynn, Alex Nicholls, Chris Lee, David Cleak, and Paul Serafini won their games to make Worcestershire victors over Derbyshire by 7½-2½.

Snow postpones first match of 2026

8 Jan 2026. A heavy flurry of snow just before the club was due to open for the first night of 2026 caused many players to stay at home. The Club did open, but the scheduled home match in the District League was postponed.

Worcester beat Heimbach-Weis/Neuwied in online team battle

28 Dec 2025. After the visit of Johannes Utsch, German club player in December, he Ray Collet arranged an informal team battle on lichess. The time control was 7 minutes plus an increment of 3 seconds from move 1. Worcester players came out on top by 32 points to 30. Top scorer for the Worcester team was Dorin Luca (dorinix) with 8 points and top scorer for the German team was IM Yuri Boidman (ChainsOfFantasia) with 7 points. Altogether there were 35 games played in the battle. To play through the games visit lichess.org.

Four-player chess most popular at Christmas variants night 18 Dec 2025. President Rob Sutton led the club’s Christmas variants night and secretary Ray Collett looked after the catering. The most popular variant was four-player chess. Latest League results 11 Dec 2025. A poor night for the club’s teams. In the Challengers League, the Rooks lost 1 - 3 to Redditch. Captain Scott Oxtoby and Scott Maclean came away with draws. See match card. Worcester Pawns in the Rapidplay League 2. Worcester lost the first leg 1-3 and the second 0-4. Only Simon Berry was able to win a game. See details. 3 Dec 2025. Worcester White Bishops beat Kidderminster 2½ - 1½ in their last fixture before Christmas to take them top of the table. Team captain Aiden Griffiths and David Cleak won their games. See match card.

Second round of club Championship

27 Nov 2025. Scott Oxtoby, Ray Collett, Ed Osbourn, Joe Rastall, John Peters, Viktor Gorbunov, and Bilal Butt booked their places in round three of this knock-out tournament. George Sharpe and new member James Nicholl have to replay because they drew, while a further 10 players have still to play their round 2 games.

League results

26 Nov 2025. City team travelled to Kidderminster and drew their match in the Championship League. New member Alaric Stephen and captain Rob Sutton won their games. See match card.
21 Nov 2025. City beat Malvern 3-2 in an away match. Dorin Luca, and Rob Sutton won their games. With a win under their belt, the team have lifted themselves from the bottom of the table and should go into their match next Wednesday feeling more confident. See details.
20 Nov 2025. Worcester’s Bishops Team played against each other and drew. Seamus Flynn, George Sharpe, Aiden Griffiths and Colin Vernon won their games. See details.
13 Nov 2025. The City team failed to open their account in the Championship League losing to a strong Longbridge B team 2-3. Phil Ausin was the only City player to win.. See details.
11 Nov 2025. Scott Oxtoby’s team won their away fixture in the Challengers League 3-1. Dorin Luca on board 1 and new member Alaric Stephen on board 4 won their games. See details.

White Bishops lose to Redditch 6 Nov 2025. If players’s ratings are to be believed, this should have been a close match in the Worcester & District League. Things started to go badly for Worcester White Bishops when Toni Reed got a quick win on board 1. In the end Redditch players went home with a 4-0 victory to their credit. See full details. Club president wins September Fun Blitz 23 Oct 2025. So many players took part in the opening September Fun Blitz on 4 September, that the event had to be extended into October to complete the finalists’ play-offs. In the semi-finals Rob Sutton beat Joe Rastall and Scott Maclean beat Scott Oxtoby. The tournament concluded with the final on 23 October when Rob Sutton opened with a King’s Gambit. Scott accepted the gambit pawn and players castled on opposite sides. Rob lured Scott’s queen up the board and trapped her to force Scott’s resignation. See full results.

President wins Sep Fun Blitz

Latest League results

23 Oct 2025. Worcester Rooks drew with Malvern. New member John Peters won his game as did Stephen Mellor. See details.

16 Oct 2025. Another night with two fixtures. In the home Worcester & District League fixture, the Black Bishops drew with Longbridge. New member George Sharpe and Viktor Gorbunov won their games. See details. Worcester Knights had the away fixture at Redditch in the Rapidplay League 1. The Knights drew the first leg of the fixture but lost the second. John Peters won both his games. See details.

9 Oct 2025. Two fixtures, one away and one at home. In the Rapidplay League 2, Worcester Pawns won both legs of their away fixture against Redditch. Tony Shaw, new player George Sharpe and returner John Hesketh won both of their games. See match card. The City team, playing at home against Redditch lost 1-4 with only Ed Higgs and Dorin Luca escaping with draws. See details.

Awards ceremony 2 Oct 2025. Before the first round of the club championship, secretary Ray Collett presented prizes for 2024-5 tournament winners to Ed Osbourn, club champion, JoeRastall, All-Play-All Rapididplay champion, and Alex Nicholls for the most improved player. President Rob Sutton presented the cup for the best performance in the Campionship team to Ray Collett. Also in the picture is Paul Serafini with the Ball Cup previously awarded by Worcestershire Chess Association. Ed Osbourn said he had been a member for many years - longer than the president - and was delighted to have won the championship- for the first time. Club Championship results in round 1 2 Oct 2025. First round winners were Alaric Stephen, Sai Rentachintala, John Peters, Ray Collett, Seamus Flynn, Ed Osbourn, Scott Oxtoby and Rob Sutton. Chris Lee and Alex Nicholls have to replay, Joe Rastall, Stephen Mellor, Ed Higgs, Colin Vernon, James Nicholl, Scott Maclean and Chris Archbold received byes and go directly into round 2.

Black Bishops earn their first league win

24 Sep 2025. Skipper Alex Nicholls selected two new players, George Sharpe and Rick Griffiths-Reed for the Worcester & District fixture at Redditch and they both won. Simon Berry on board 2 had a good win over a higher rated opponent and the team went home with a 3-0 victory to their credit. See match card.

Early League results

18 Sep 2025. White Bishops beat Kidderminster. In a Worcester & District league home match, the White Bishops won 2½-1½. Terry Pountney defended a poor position stoically to deprive David Cleak a win. See details.

17 Sep 2025. City team lose to Longbridge A. Facing a full-strength Longbridge team away was never easy. Only team captain Rob Sutton and Phil Austin were able to escape with draws. See details.

16 Sep 2025. Worcester Pawns have uup and down night at Longbridge. Worcester Pawns played Longbridge in the first Rapidplay League fixture of the season. The first leg of the fixture was lost, but the team rallied and reversed the score in the second leg. New members George Sharpe and Christopher Archbold played their first league games for the club. See full match scores.

10 Sep 2025. Bruising start for Black Bishops. The Black Bishops playing in the Worcester & District League lost their first league fixture 0-4 to Kidderminster. See details.

Worcester beat Cheltenham

9 Sep 2025. Paul Serafini led a Worcester team to victory in an early season friendly away match.Worcester won 4½ - 2½. Phil Austin, Paul Serafini and new players Todd Reeves and Bilal Butt won their games. See match card.