Last updated 28 April 2013

Worcestershire Open Team

About the team

The Open team competes in the Midland Counties Chess Union (MCCU) lower division for the MCCU Minor Championship. Ray Collett (Worcester) is this season's captain and Jason Cole (Redditch) is Vice Captain.

The county boundary for Worcestershire Chess includes Dudley and you are eligible for selection for a Worcestershire team if:

  • You were born in Worcestershire
  • You have ever lived in Worcestershire for a period of 5 years or more
  • You are a member of a club affiliated to Worcestershire or meets in Worcestershire
  • You currently live in Worcestershire
  • You are a teacher or student at a Worcestershire school, college or university

If you are graded above 140, Ray or Jason would like to hear from you. Ray can be contacted at 01905 454 754 and will do his best to find shared transport for players who do not wish to drive.

Matches are on Saturdays usually starting at 1 or 1:30pm. The scheduled dates for matches are in the table below. The playing session is 5 hours with the first time control at 40 moves in 2 hours followed by an extra 30 minutes for a quickplay finish.

Adult players at home matches contribute £2 to cover some of the costs of the venue and catering for home and away team players. There is an additional charge of £2 to cover the cost of Game fee for players who are not ECF members. There is no charge for juniors at any match.

Fixtures 2012-13

There were three matches this season for two places in the national stages of the County Team Minor Championship.

County Open Team - MCCU Stages
Dates Opponents Venue Result
13 October Lincolnshire 1:30pm start. Sharnford Evergreen Hall, Leicester Road, Sharnford, Leics LE10 3PP lost 3½ - 12½
15 December Greater Manchester 1:00pm start. Neutral, Newcastle-u-Lyme Bridge Club, Staffs. ST5 1EL lost 11½ - 4½
2 February Leicestershire 1pm start, at St Stephen’s Church Hall, St Stephen's Street, Worcester WR3 7HS drew 8 - 8
16 March Derbyshire Home Won Derbys conceded

2012-13 season

10 Mar. The Derbys captain has conceded this match, but it is a shame we were not allowed to demonstrate our superiority over them at the board. No national stage match for us this year so all to play for next year where we should improve with two new highly graded players making themselves available for selection in the second half of this season.
2 Feb. At last we have points on the board. In truth, however, we were a little lucky, but this must be a good portent for the final match.
15 Dec. A second bad reverse. Almost a repeat performance of the first match with Besedin again being the only winner.
13 Oct. A crushing loss on the first outing of the season against a strong Lincolnshire team. Only Pavel Besedin, on board 2, secured a win.

Last season

Read the captain's report on the season for the 2012 annual general meeting and see match results with links to details on 2011-12 team page.