Worcester City team 2016-7 season

Introducing the Team

Stephen Mellor took over as captain from Ray Collett. The team competed against four other teams: Halesowen I, Malvern, and Kidderminster A and Olton, promoted from Division 2. Matches were over 6 boards.

Season news

30 Mar. The last team fixture for the season was home to Olton. A tough match was in the balance until Mellor on board 2, ran out of time and Worcester lost 2½ - 3½. Peter Kitson was the team's only winner with Collett, board 4, and Smith, board 5, achieving creditable draws against higher rated opponents. The team finished the season with 4 match points at the bottom of the table resulting from the losses at the end of the season. The team's campaign was much weakened because of the unavailability of key players for those matches.
24 Mar. With the captain unable to get back from working in Manchester because of an M6 closure, the team had to default a board and lost 2-4. Peter Kitson won on board 1 and new cap Robert Smolka acquitted himself well getting a promising position in the middle game against the Worcestershire champion. The game was still in progress at the end of the session, but now two pawns down Rbert resigned without resuming play.
2 Mar. Worcester with two regulars absent lost 2½-3½ to Halesowen.
2 Feb. Worcester City drew 3-3 with Malvern. This was a good result for the home team helped by Malvern being unable to field their strongest team.
18 Jan. In the away fixture against Kidderminster A, the City team did much more creditably than the previous match at home, but not enough to draw.
17 Nov. A disappointing home loss to Kidderminster at home with a nearly full-strength team.
25 & 4 Oct. At the end of the first session Worcester were 3 - 2 up against Olton with Rob Sutton's game adjourned. At the second session Rob drew by purpetual to give the match to the City team.
13 Sep. City draw away at Halesowen. In the first match Worcester did well to draw against a higher graded team and were fortunate that their opponents were unable to play their captain, John Edge.
19 Aug. New opposing team enter Div 1 for 2016-7. At the Executive and fixtures meeting of the county association, Olton, last season's Div 2 champions took promotion to Division 1 with a new captain Mark Cundy. Captains agreed to pla each other team home and away.
26 May. Annual meeting. Stephen Mellor takes over from Rob Sutton as captain of the City team. The award for best performance in the City team during the 2015-6 season was made to Peter Kitson.

Worcester City Captain: Stephen Mellor (07817 455 876) For detailed match results, click on the score in the results column.
Date	Venue	Opponents	Result in 2016-7	Result in 2015-6
Tue 13 Sep	Away	Halesowen I	draw 3 - 3	lost 4 - 2
Thu 4 Oct	Away	Olton	won 3½ - 2½	no match
Thu 17 Nov	Home	Kidderminster A	lost 1½ - 4½	lost 1½ - 4½
Wed 18 Jan	Away	Kidderminster A	lost 2½ - 3½	drew 3 - 3
Thu 2 Feb	Home	Malvern	drew 3 - 3	won 4½ - 1½
Thu 2 Mar	Home	Halesowen I	lost 2½ - 3½	drew 3 - 3
Fri 24 Mar	Away	Malvern	lost 2 - 4	drew 3 - 3
Thu 30 Mar	Home	Olton	lost 2½ - 3½	no match