2011-12 season news

Most recent news at top

Pavel Besedin and Rob Sutton win prizes at Worcester Congress

21 & 22 Jul 2012. Eight members played at the congress. Pavel was unable to repeat last year's triumph placed second and scoring 4 points in the Open behind Richard Jones. Rob Sutton claimed a shared second place in the Minor with 4 points. For more news about Worcester City players at the congress visit the latest news page. For more pictures and full results visit the congress website.

Revamp of club tournaments agreed at annual meeting

31 May. Discussion at the 177th annual general meeting of the club focused on how the season-long internal tournaments should be organised. The free-form all-play-all format, which offers the greatest flexibility, will be retained for the Championship and the Rapidplay for the first stage of the tournament. In the second, knock-out stage, 4 players with highest scores in the will play for the championship. Players not included in the championship knock out stage can play for the Challengers' title also in a knock-out format. Members decided to enter one team in the County League and two teams in the District League next season. There were no changes in officers.

Steve Mellor retains KO Cup ... just

17 May. In the final of this season's Knock Out tournament, Steve Mellor won on time. See the report and picture.

Worcester players pick up prizes at Warks Congress

3, 4 Mar. Ray Collett was joint first in the Under-145 tournament and Rob Sutton won a grading prize in the Under-120 tournament. For a brief report and pics visit the news page.

Leaders in club tournaments

23 Feb. In the All-play-all turnament, Nick Harris lengthened his lead with another win and is on 5 points and his nearest challenger Rob Sutton is on 2½. In the Rapidplay tournament, Rob Sutton, on 4, has overtaken Ray Collett. The Knock Out tournament is now at the quarter final stage.

Steve Mellor retains lightning trophy

2 Feb. Fourteeen players took part in the annual 10 second lightning tournament. Pool A saw a tie between Nick Harris and Steve Mellor. The play-off, however, saw Steve victorious. In pool B, Jim Keene was clear first with 5/6 and runner-up was Phil Smith on 4 points. In the final, Steve beat Jim to retain the trophy. For other leading scores, see the 2012 lightning report.

New grading list shows Peter Kitson now highest graded Worcester player

28 Jan 2012. The first January grading list has been published by the English Chess Federation. Peter Kitson leapfrogs over Steve Mellor to become Worcester City's highest. View Worcester players' grades from the January 2012 list.

Christmas variants 2011

22 Dec. At the variant chess night held on the longest night, members played four chess variants: Pocket Knight, Knight Relay, Avalanche, and Progressive Chess. An interesting mix of cuisine snacks saw sushi jostle with mince pies and christmas slices. See report.

Paul Turberfield dies

15 Dec. Funeral of Paul Turberfield. The funeral was held at Worcester Crematorium. Read a short appreciation of Paul's contributions to Worcester Chess.

Peter Kitson wins City 5-minute tournament

27 Oct. Peter Kitson won the annual 5-minute tournament with 9 points from 10 games.

League team and club results

25 Oct. Worcester City lead Kidderminster 3 - 2 in the Worcestershire League away fixture. In the adjourned game, Steve Mellor has the advantage in his game with Frank Pickett.
21 Oct. Without their normal board 1, Worcester Bishops lost against Kidderminster Knights and Malvern. See W&D Div 1 page for more.
22 Sep. With first matches played in the All-play-all, Nick Harris takes an early lead. In the Rapidplay, Steve Mellor has caught up with Ray Collett to share the lead on 2 points. Roger Yates and Andrew Farthing are next on 1 point each.
22 Sep. The draw for the club Knock Out Tournament was made. Visit the Knock Out page for details.
21 Sep. Worcester Pawns fail away to Redditch II. A bad start to the season against a team the Pawns beat 3-1 last year.
13 & 20 Sep. In their first District League matches, the Bishops beat Headless Cross 4-0, the first time the Bishops have scored a 4-nil victtory over-the-board since they were promoted to Division 1 in 2006. Away, the Pawns lost 1½-2½ to Redditch 2, a disappointing start to the season against a team that struggled to find a win last season.
15 Sep. Worcester Bishops score their first over-the-board 4-0 win since returning to Division 1 of the District League. The victims of this coshing were newly promoted Headless Cross.
1 Sep. The first internal tournament games were completed on the first night back at St Stephen's. Although graded higher, Collett was lucky to come away with 2 points from his games with Roger Yates.

Visit earlier news in the 2010-11 season page