Upcoming

Words in green are hyperlinks to entry forms or contacts' e-mails.
11 May. Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy UK Chess Challenge tournament at King's School Worcester. Seven rounds quickplay 10am to about 3:30pm.
19 May. Worcestershire Megafinal of UK Chess Challenge for qualifying junior players at University of Worcester 10am till 5:30pm.
20-21 Jul. Worcestershire Open Chess Congress at Worcester Universitty. Open, U160, u135 and u115 tournaments to support Leukaemia CARE
18 May. Worcestershire under-120 team play Kent in the national stages of the county team competition. Contact Richard Collett.
25-27 May. Cotswold Congress at Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. Open, u160 and u120 tournaments; half-point byes in early rounds available.
6 July 2013. Bloxwich Rapidplay Congress 1st Guide Dogs for the Blind On Saturday. Open, Major and Minor Ungraded Tournaments. Venue : Old Hall Special School. Bentley Lane Walsall WS2 7LU.
Throughout the season. Volunteers are required by Chess in Schools & Communities

Recent chess news

10 May. Hagley win Worcestershire League Championship in the last league match of the season beating Worcester City. Halesowen won Division 2. In the Worcester & District League, Worcester Bishops are Champions and Redditch II are Division 2 champions.
1 May Stewart Fishburne reports. Birmingham & District Chess League have awarded Ashwin Kalyana the prestigious Ritson Morry Junior prize for 2012-3. Well done, Ashwin!
22 Apr Mark Hore reports. Death of John Holmberg, Redditch Chess Club. John was stalwart of Redditch and Headless Cross Clubs. He died on 12 April, but had been in bad health for some time. John played and capatained for Redditch teams and has represented Worcestershire. John continued to attend the chess club until very recently and he played in the Worcestershire Open Congress last July. Players The funeral will be held at 11am at Redditch Crematorium on Tuesday 7 May. Further information is available from Mark Hore at 01527 450 116 or by e-mail.
18 Apr. Worcester Chess Association Executive meeting was held at Claines. After 17 years' service, Maurice Bissell confirmed he will be retiring from the hon. secretary's position. Also retiring is Giles Stanton who has captained the u140 county side for several years. If you would like to help the association fill these vacancies, please contact Maurice Bissell. League delegates reported that the Worcester & District League championship was taken by Worcester Bishops and the Division 2 title by Redditch. Warley Quinborne have won Dudley & District Divgision 2 and their Division 3 winners are Brewood.
14 Apr. Redditch players score in Staffs congress. Steve Crockett shared his second place in the Minor (u120) on 4 points. Andrew Wiggins played in the Major (u160) and scored 3 points, but was out of the prize list.
16 Mar. Worcestershire u-120 team in national stages. Despite an end-of-season loss to Staffs, Richard Collett has taken Worcestershire under120 team into the national stages of the competition where their opponents in the Quarter-finals are Kent probably to be played 18 May.
11 Feb reported by Andrew Farthing. Stephen Crockett (Redditch) first in the Minor tournament at Torquay, sharing with three others on 4 points out of 5. Three Worcestershire players travelled to Devonfor this congress. In the Major, Jason Cole scored 2 points and Andrew Farthing was half a point shy of a share of first place, finishing on 3 points following a loss from a level position in the final round.
3 Feb. Tom Robinson (Redditch) came second in the Major tournament of the Stockport Rapidplay.
10 Jan. We have received sad news that John Clark of Worcester City club passed away. There is a short tribute to him from Andrew Farthing and information about the funeral on the Worcester City website.
12 Jan. Halesowen's 4NCL team win against BCM Hippos in the 3rd round. See Halesowen Club's website for a report.
6 Jan. County players at Shrops Congress. All the county players at this congress in Telford scored 3 points. Jeremy Fallowfield (Stourbridge) and Pavel Besedin (Worcester) were in the Open while Nigel Towers, Alex Holowczak (Warley), Jon Asbury (Redditch) and Andrew Farthing (Worcester) were in the Major.

For older news items, use the "Worcs Chess News" menu button on the left.

Worcestershire chess leagues

The leagues associated with Worcestershire are below:

  • Worcestershire Chess League. The league is an integral part of the association and has two divisions. Use the "League" menu button on the left for more.
  • Worcester & District Chess League. The district league was founded in 1932. Although it is independant of the county association, honorary secretary and treasurers are shared with the county association.
  • Dudley & District League. This league operates in the north of the old county within Dudley and south Birmingham.
  • Birmingham & District League. One of the oldest and largest chess leagues in England straddling Staffordshire and Warwickshire as well as Worcestershire.

Worcester Open Chess Congress. This event has grown in popularity since it was first run in 2009. It has been held at the University of Worcester in the weekend preceding the Britsh Championship and the Open section winner receives the Worcestershire Open trophy. Use the "Open Congress" menu button on the left for more.

Juniors. The Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy is sponsored by King's School Worcester and meets Saturday mornings at the school. The county also organises the Worcestershire Megafinal of the UK Chess Challenge. Use the "Juniors" menu button on the left for more information.

Worcestershire Teams. Worcestershire have three teams in the Midlands Counties Championships and one correspondence team. You can play for Worcestershire if you: were born in the county; are currently resident in the county; you are attending full-time education in the county; you are a member of a chess club affiliated to the county. Use the Open, under-140 or under-120 Team menu buttons on the left for more information about over-the-board county play and the "Corres Chess" button for correspondence chess.

The Woodcock Prize. This is awarded at the annual meeting to the winner of the most enterprising game.

About Worcestershire Chess Association. The General Secretary is Maurice Bissell (Kidderminster) and President is Peter Kitson (Worcester). Use the "About" button on the left hand side menu for more.

Chess Clubs. Use the menu button on the left for more Information about Worcestershire Clubs.

Links. For links to details of upcoming chess congresses, websites of local, regional and national chess organisations.

Contacts and more information about Worcestershire Chess Association. Use the "About" menu button on the left for more information.