Latest MCCU News

David Welch seminars at Syston

10 May. Cyril Johnson reports. David Welch, Chief Arbiter, will be providing Arbiter Training on the weekend of 14, 15 July at Syston, Leics.

Opening of Gelfand-Anand World Championship Match today in Moscow

10 May. The opening ceremony is today and play will continue until the end of May unless the match is very one-sided. Information and results are on the match website. As part of the build up to the event the RT.com television broadcast an interview with 14th champion Vladimir Kramnik this morning.

Junior stars in Romania

7 May. In the World Schools Championship in Iasi Under-15 Open, Joseph Friar (Hagley, Worcs) was placed 27-31st on 4 points from 9 games. After an unrewarding start, he showed true grit to win two games in succession and finished mid-table. Jennifer Neil (Chorley, Gtr Manchester) in the Under-15 Girls tournament also finished mid-table in her tournament with 4 points and was placed 18-25th. Phoebe Price (Three Cs, Oldham, Gtr Manchester) scored 2½ points in the girls' under-17 tournament. The England coaches included Midlands players Loz Cooper (Staffs) and Jim Friar (Worcs).

Midlands Counties AGM

6 May. Julie Johnson CEO of the MCCU has notified county secretaries and MCCU delegates that the annual meeting will be on Saturday 23 June at Syston. If you want an issue discussed, please forward it to your county secretary and ask for it to be sent from your county to Julie by Friday 25 May.

Warwickshire u-120 team first Midlands semi-finalists

6 May. Warwickshire u120 are the first side to get to the county team semi-finals winning 6½-5½ against Norfolk.

Joseph Friar 5-8th in Under-15 Blitz in World Schools Championships

1 May. In Iasi, Romania, Worcs ace junior Joseph Friar was placed 5-8th with 4½ points.

Midlands Grand Prix

30 Apr. All the congresses have now been played and the final scores are in.

Nottingham Congress: Mark Hebden first

22 Apr. Neil Graham reports each section had an outright winner with 4½/5: Open, Mark Hebden (Leicester); Major Steve Hunter (Nottm Gambit); Intermediate, Mick Harper (Nottm Gambit); Minor, Paul Broderick (Priorslee, Telford) Jim Burnett (Doncaster/Mansfield) took the British Championship Qualifying place with 4/5 on tiebreak. With a field of over 160, entries were up on last year. For full details visit Notts CA website.

	Pictures from Brendan O'Gorman. See more at Brendan's Google+photos Top left: The playing hall Top centre: Open winner Mark Hebden Top right: Chief Arbiter, Neil Graham Left: Nottingham High School

 

Oldies win at Bloxwich

21 Apr. Ray Dolan reports Bloxwich Junior Chess Club generation Game. The Oldies swept to victory over the junior club by 13½: - 1½. The event was overseen by Arbiter Matt Carr. The sole junior winner was Jay Sanga and Aaron Cowley drew his game. Rev Roger Williams presented certificates to players.

Mark Hebden wins Staffordshire Open, Mike Townsend Staffs Champion.

15 Apr. David Anderton writes: The Open was won by Grandmaster Mark Hebden with 4½/5 ahead of Ameet Ghasi (Birmingham), Oliver Jackson (Cheshire) and Mike Townsend (Wolverhampton) who tied for second place with 4 points. The Open included the Staffordshire Closed Championship for which 10 players were qualified and Mike Townsend (Wolverhampton) won this while the Staffordshire Under-21 title was retained by Craig Whitfield (Cheddleton & Leek) with 3 points. The Major was won by Wiott Ropp (Stratford, Warks) with 4½ and the Minor by David Hull (St Helens) also on 4½. A total of nearly ninety players competed at Bloxwich Leisure Centre, Walsall in this event controlled by David Thomas and Matthew Carr.

Midlands juniors selected to play in Romania

14 Apr. Phoebe Price (3Cs, Oldham, GMC), Jennifer Neil (Chorley, Bolton, GMC), and Joseph Friar (Hagley, Worcs), represent England in the World Schools Individual Chess Championship at Lasi, Romania 28 April to 6 May in the girls' under-17, girls' under15 and open under-15 tournaments. See their biographies on English Chess Parents' Guild web site.

Anthony Hynes leads Midlands Grand Prix

10 Apr. With just one event to go - Nottinghamshire's congress on 21-22 April - Anthony Hynes (Warks) leads with 7 points, but he could be overtaken by any one of 40 other players if he does not compete in the last event.Second placed is previous winner Mike Surtees (Bolton, GMC) and third is Hope Mkhumba (Chorlton, GMC).

Nigel Davies wins Bolton Easter Congress

8 Apr, Roderick Middleton reports. Nigel Davis (GM) ended in sole first place in the Open with 4½ from 5 games drawing with 14-year-old Joseph McPhillips (Bolton) who was second on 4 points. For one of Nigel's winning games see his blog, second item down. Mitchell Burke, Greater Manchester's Open team captain, was 4th and gained the British Championship place. In the Major, Richard Desmedt (Wombwell, Leeds) beat Peter Mulleady (Atherton, GMC) in the last round to win, scoring 4½ pts. Peter finished 2nd on 4pts. Alan Riddoch (Maidstone) scored 4½ pts to win the U135 Knights section from second placed Josh Pendlebury (Worsley, GMC).

Left: Richard Desmedt (nearest camera) and Andrew Barber in Rd 5 of the Major Right: Controllers Julian Clissold, Rod Middleton and Harry Lamb. (Pictures, Ray Collett)

Ninety players competed in this congress held 6-8th April in the Ukrainian Social Club. The congress was ably controlled by Roderick Middleton, Julian Clissold and Harry Lamb and equipment was provided by Chess Direct. Full results and more pictures are on the Manchester Federation website and there is a video of the prize giving uploaded by Hope Mkhumba to YouTube.

Two share Bolton Busy Persons Prize

7 Apr. This annual 10 minute quickplay tournament was won by Craig Whitfield (Cheddleton & Leek, Staffs) and Ali Jaunoobi (Denton, Greater Manchester) with 7 points from 8 games. Sixty players competed.

Alan Walton wins New East Manchester Open Rapidplay

26 Mar, Mick Norris reports. Alan Walton (Three Cs, Oldham) was first in the Open with 5½ points. The u160 section prize was shared by Balvinder Grewal (Nottingham Univ), Jamie Horton (Three Cs) and Brendan brown (Clitheroe). The u120 section was headed by Yousef Bin-Suhayl (Wisbech). Grading prize-winners were: Nathan Taylor (Three Cs), Daniel Abbas (Three Cs) and Hope Mkhumba (Chorlton) for u180, Chris Hodgson (Worsley) and Phillip Cattermole (Macclesfield) for the u140, Lee Hindley (Eccles) for u100. The Junior prizes were won by Alexander Cartlidge (Cheddleton & Leek) and Stephen Chung (Skelmersdale). Over 120 players competed and the controllers were Fiona Green, Julian Clissold and Rod Middleton. Details and pictures from Manchester Federation website. The RGP leaderboard has been updated, but has not been checked for omissions.

Steve Crockett retains RGP lead, but Matthew Fergusson closes gap

26 Mar. All three leading RGP contenders played at the Birmingham League Rapidplay in Quinborne Birmingham. Steve (Redditch) had a poor day and second placed Matthew Fergusson (Hallfield Sch, Birmingham) narrowed the gap.

Birmingham League Rapidplay: GM Danny Gormally leads the field

25 Mar. In the Open Danny Gormally (Cheddleton) on 5 points led Ameet Ghasi (Birmingham), Ian Thompson (Crowthorne), Martin Brown (St Helens) & Tahir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan) all on 4½ in a field that included four GMs. The Major was won by Simon Smith (Warley) on 5½; the Intermediate by Neil Derrick (Cabot, Bristol) on 6; and the Minor by John Pakenham (Warley) and Shivashi (Solihull Checkmates) who shared the prize on 5 points. Just under 100 players enetered the four tournaments. Full results are posted to the English Chess Forum. The Midlands Rapid Grand Prix page has been updated to include these results. Use "Grand Prix" menu button above and then "Rapid Grand Prix".

Midlands county teams eligible for national stages

25 Mar. The last Midlands matches have been played. Midlands county teams eligible for the National stages are: Open - Staffordshire & Warwickshire; Minor - Leicestershire & Lincolnshire; u180 - Warwickshire & Nottinghamshire; u160 - Nottinghamshire & Greater Manchester; u-140 - Worcestershire, Leicestershire & Warwickshire; u120 - Staffordshire Terriers, Worcestershire & Warwickshire; u100 - Nottinghamshire & Warwickshire. Use the "County Matches" and "National Stages" menu buttons to see details.

Staffordshire Terriers snap up Midlands under-120 title

24 Mar. In the final day of the Midlands team championship season, the Terriers tore the heart out of Worcestershire's upper order to take the title in style. Use "County Matches" and then "u120 Champ" menu buttons.

Ameet Ghasi triumphs in British Blitz Championships

24 Mar. Ameet, the Midlands-based Warwickshire county board 1 player scored 9 points to take the title ahead of James Cobb (Bristol), Lawrence Cooper (Staffs), Mark Hebdon (Leics) and Tahir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan) on 8½ in a field of nearly 90 that included four GMs.

Notts-GMC u160 draw makes Notts Midlands champions.

24 Mar. Greater Manchester met Notts in the u160s at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The match was an 8-all draw, but this was sufficient to make Notts champions. The result of the u120 match to decide the fate of the u120 title is awaited (Sat 22:10)

Bushbury through to England club semi-finals

24 Mar. Julie Johnson reports: St Albans conceded their match against the Wolverhampton team who now face a match with Metropolitan from central London.

Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire win

21 Mar. In the under-140 county team match, Notts beat Worcs and Shrops beat Staffs. In the under-120 match, Lincs beat Warks. Click "County Matches" above and follow the links for details.

Will busiest day for Midlands chess be 5th May?

14 Mar. Dates for the Midlands Megafinals for UK Chess Challenge have now been published and four megafinals take place on this day. There's likely to have been over 5,000 competitive games played by 6pm that day.

Bloxwich Junior Chess Club on the move

13 Mar. Bloxwich Junior Chess Club has moved to St. James Church, Old Lane, Bloxwich Walsall WS3 2DD. The club plans an all-play-all tournament for the St James' Trophy starting 17 Mar. and on Sat 21 April The Generation Game graded Tournament, against adults. If you know anyone who would like to take part, contact Ray Dolan tel 07980 101 744.

Leicestershire clinch minor counties title

10 Mar. Leicestershire just pipped Derbys and Worcs went down heavily to Lincolnshire in the last Midlands stage matches. Use the 'County Matches' menu button above and then the 'Minor' button on the left to see the full story.

Grand Prix latest

8 Mar. Martin Burrows (Wigston, Leics) joins Ian Kingston (W Nottingham) at the head of the table with two events to go.

Warks Congress

4 Mar. Ameet Ghasi (Birmingham), Tomasz Sygnowski (West Bromwich) and Richard Weaving (Solihull) shared 1st prize in the Open with 4 points from 5. Wiatt Ropp (Stratford) won the under-170 outright with 4½. There was a 5-way tie for first in the under-145: Tim Allen (Battersea), Ray Collett (Worcester), Clive Pemberton (Balsall Common), Rick Weston (Witney), and Andrew Wiggins (Redditch) all on 4 points. Stephen Crockett (Redditch) was undisputed first in the under-120 with 4½ points. Over 100 players turned out for the congress at Arden School & Language College, Solihull. Chief arbiter was David Thomas assisted by Alex Holowczak and Matt Carrr. For full results visit the Warks congress page.

Colin McNab British Chess Solving Champion

18 Feb. The final solving championship organised by the British Chess Problem Society and sponsored by Winton Capital Management was won by guest Poitre Murdzia and Colin, a Scots GM, won his first British Solving Championship ahead of Mestel and Nunn. For further details visit the British Chess Problem Society.

Greater Manchester diminished again

18 Feb. Mick Norris reports on the ECF Forum that Derbys beat them in the Minor Counties fixture at Chorlton.

Worcestershire under-120 triumph again

12 Feb. Four straight wins book a place for Worcs in the national stages. The cruch match, however, to decide the Midlands title will be on 24 March when they meet Staffs Terriers. Nearest rivals Warks drew against the Staffs Bulldogs while Staffs Terriers beat Lincs to challenge Worcs. Use the county matches menu button and then the u120 menu button to see details of the weekend u120 results.

Steve Crockett likely winner of Midlands u-150 Rapid Grand Prix

5 Feb. Redditch player Steve Crockett has particpated and scored well in five events and is now more 5 points clear of his nearest rival Matthew Fergusson (Hallfield Sch, Birmingham). Use the Grand Prix menu button above and then the RGP Leaderboard button for more details.

Stockport Rapidplay attracts 140 players

5 Feb. Peter Taylor reports. Allan Beardsworth (Gtr Manchester) won the Open on 5½/6. Martin Burns (Stockport) and Brendan Brown (Clitheroe) shared first place in the Major on 5½. Winners of the other tournaments on 5½ were: Intermediate, A Horton (3Cs, Oldham, GMC); Minor, Karl Moorcroft (3Cs, Oldham, GMC). A full list of winners is on the Stockport & District League site.

 

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