Latest MCCU News

Senith Is Midlands choice for British Championships

27 May 2025. Senith Gunarathne (Notts) was the highest on tie-break on 4 points having come second to GM Mark Hebden in the Nottingham Congress. He is still a junior player and we wish him success at the British.

GM Mark Hebden wins Nottingham Congress

Mark Hebden (Leics) won the Open section with 4½ points from his five games. Matthew Inglis (Surrey) won the Major (u1900) also on 4½ points. The Major (u1700) was shared by Nicolas Rojas (Cheshire) and Tom Adams (Yorks) who scored 4 points. Four players shared first place in the Minor (u1500) tournament: Stephenie Gelder (Leics), Terry Bennett (Lincs), Adam Sisson (Notts) and Dhamindra Gunarathne (Notts) each scored 4 points. The Improvers tournament (u1300) was won outright by Samyuktha Vijayendra (Notts) on 5 points. The event made neary £200 for the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. The event was organised by Stuart Humphreys, Simon Scott, and John Swain and the tournaments controlled by Phill Beckett and Hambel Willow.

Midland teams knocked out in counties quarter finals

17 May 2025. Worcestershire u1650 team payed Kent at Reading, but lost 6-10. See match card.

11 May 2025. Worcestershire played Devon in the minor Counties competition at Banwell, North Somerset and lost 6½-9½. See match card.

10 May 2025. Lincolnshire played Cambridgeshire in the Minor Counties championship at Dogsthorpe, Peterborough and lost on board count. See match card.

10 May 2025. Derbyshire lost to Cambridgeshire at Peterborough in the under-1850 competition. See match card.

4 May 2025. Lincolnshire lost to Suffolk at Peterborough in the under-1850 championship. See match card.

Two MCCU players honoured at ECF meeting

26 Apr 2025. Congratulations to Nigel Towers (Worcs) and Dave Thomas (Warks). Nigel was made an honorary Life Vice-President and Dave an honorary Life Member. Nigel has recently stepped down from the voluntary post of ECF Director of Home Chess having organised online competitions during Covid, and several Seniors congresses for the ECF. Dave is current President of Warwickshire CA, registration officer for the Four Nations Chess League and has previously served as an ECF voluntary Director for Membership and for Marketing. The same meeting also approved an increase in ECF subscriptions in line with inflation. A detailed report is available from Chris Lewis on the Shropshire CA website.

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Text in blue-green links to entry form, website or email contact

Next in the Midlands

Sun 10 Aug, Lincoln Rapidplay at Southside, Colegrave Street, Lincoln LN5 8DW. Six rounds starting at 10am. Open, Major (u1800) and Minor (u1500) tournaments. Time control 20 min + 10 sec.

Next Junior tournament

Sat 28 Jun. Delancey UK Chess Challenge Worcestershire Megafinal at St John’s Campus, University of Worcester. Megafinal begins at 10am, six round rapidplay, time control 15 min + 10 sec, Prizes for highest boy and girl scorers in each year group.

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national events

Mon 10 Mar, on BBC2. Chessmasters: The Endgame. Starts at 8pm.

The "chess counties" forming the MCCU

Ten "Chess Counties" form the Midland Counties Chess Union and cover the areas shown in the map on the right. A small Board of volunteer directors currently led by Chief Executive Ray Dolan (Staffs) is elected annually by delegates from member chess counties. The Board organises regional competitions based on policies agreed annually by delegates from member chess counties.

By playing in the competitions hosted on this website you agree that your name, chess rating and your membership status with the English Chess Federation (ECF) may be published on this website for the purposes of recording the results of the competitions. You also agree that such information will be passed to the ECF, the governing body, for rating purposes, and published on their website.

The MCCU

The current webmaster is Ray Collett (Worcs). The website's policy is to report results of the MCCU competitions, principally the MCCU county team tournaments and congresses. Brief results of other chess congresses held in the MCCU area and and links to organisers' websites are on the "News" pages. A calendar of upcoming chess congresses is on the "Congresses" pages. Some important national and international chess events will also be reported if there is a "Midlands" interest. In the menu bar above: "About" gives more information about the MCCU and has links to rules and administrative papers; "Guide" explains the site's organisation and provides links to most of the site's key pages.

Please send news of Midlands chess events, corrections, notifications of broken links, and suggestions to improve the website to Ray Collett.