Midland Counties Chess Union
News & Results

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Last updated 12 May 2026

News in the 2025-6 seasons

4NCL Easter Congress

6 Apr 2026. The open tournment was won by Ieysaa Bin-Suhayl (Northants) with 6 points from seven rounds. The u2000 tournment was won by Mohammad Mozaffari (Surrey) on 6½ points, the u1700 by Sam Smylie (Ireland) on 6 points and the Open Blitz by GM Szymon Gumularz (Poland) with 8 points from nine games. on 6 points. The event was held at Mercure Daventry Court Hotel with nearly 150 players and organised by Mike Truran.

Northampton FIDÉ Congress

29 Mar 2025. IM Peter Large (Surrey) won thee u2400 tournament with 4 points from five games. First place in the u1900 tournament was shared by ACM Stellio Jerome (Northants) and Jonadab Oki (Beds) on 4 points, the u1600 tournament was won by Yi Xie (China) with 4 points.

National stages county team chess

24 Mar 2026, Stephen Smithson reports. It is likely the draw for the national stages will be made on 2 April. The Minor Counties competition time control will be 2¼ hr + 15 sec increment from move 1 and it is likely that the u1450 and u1650 time control will be 1h 50min + 10 seconds increment from move 1.

20 Mar 2026, Stephen Smithson reports. Lincolnshire u1650 defaulted their fixture with Derbyshire and because there were plenty of games in the Midlands u1650 competition, Derbyshire can play in the national stages. Derbyshire have also accepted an invitation to play in the u2050 competition.

Worcestershire through to national stages for Minor Counties and u1650 teams

7 Mar 2026. In the u1650 team competition, Worcestershire beat Lincolnshire 7½-4½. See detailed scores.

28 Feb 2026. In the last of the matches for the Midlands team championship, Worcestershire beat Derbyshire. See match card.

University of Warwick congress

1 Mar 2026. Arya Cont (Oxon) won the Open tournament against titled opposition with 4½ points from five games. The Minor and Major tournaments were a triumph for Surrey players. Martin Faulkner made a clean sweep of the Major and two shared the top place in the Minor tournament: Ian Froh and Oscar Butler. Over a hundred players competed an this event organised by Andrii Boiehko (Surrey). Arbiters were IA Matthew Carr (Staffs), NA David Cabolla Ruiz (Warks) and NA Sam Foster (Surrey) and the event was held at the university Westwood Teaching Centre

British Universities Championships

22 Feb 2026. Imperial 1 finished first out of ten teams in the championship with 15 points. Warwick 1 finished in fourth place with 10 points. Oxford 2 team finished just ahead of Cambridge 2 for the Plate on 17 match points. The competition for the Shield was won by Queen Mary’s with 15 points; the Cup was won by Cambridge 4 team with 16 points and Oxford 5 team won the plaque ending on 16 points. The event was organised by Alex Holowczak (Worcs) and attracted over sixty teams form twenty two universities and was played at Copthorne Hotel, Dudley, Worcs.

Last u1850 match won by Lincolnshire

21 Feb 2026. In the match for the u1850 team championship Lincolnshire beat Staffordshire 4-8. See results. Lincolnshire stand second in the u1850 table and can expect a nomination for the national stages.

Coventry Open results

15 Feb 2026. Over a hundred and twenty players competed in five tournaments in this event organised by IO Alex Holowczak at The Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry. Xian Junhao (CHN) made a clean sweep in the Open with 5 points from his five games. Leading Midlanders were Joe Friar (Worcs) and Finley Bowcott-Terry (Warks) on 4 points. Mark Obi (Warks) won the Major (u2000) with 4½ points; Alaric Stephen (Worcs) won the Intermediate tournament (u1750) with 4½ points. There was a four-way tie for first place in the Minor (u1500): Shane Cooksey (Staffs), Chris Fraser (Notts), Markas (Mykhnenko (Warks), and Yu Jiwei (Cheshire) all on 4 points. There was also a u1000 rapidplay tournament. This was won by Adhrit Ragunandan (Warks) with 5 points from his five games. The Arbiters were Dipal Patel (Warks), David Cebolla Ruiz (Warks), and Dan Turner (Staffs). See full results.

Herefordshire Chess Association

13 Feb 2026. The association has a new website

National stages of county team competitions

11 Feb 2026. The controller of the national stages, Mark Murrell, has asked the MCCU to nominate counties for the national stages by 23 March. The default date for the preliminary round is 25 April. The default date for quarter finals for Open, Minor, u1850 and u1450 teams is on 9 May, and the quarter-finals for u2050 and u1650 teams is on 16 May. All semi-finals are sceduled for 13 June and the county team finals will be on 4 July.

Paul Sharratt

10 Feb 2026. It is with sadness I report the sudden and unexpected passing of the MCCU CEO Paul Sharratt (Worcs). Paul contributed immensley to Midlands chess having been Worcestershire's delegate for many years serving the MCCU initially as secretary, chairman of its meetings and stepping up to become CEO after Ray Dolan’s retiral from the post last summer. Under Paul's leadership Midlands inter-county chess has recovered from a very low ebb. In earlier times Paul was secretary or president of three chess leagues: Birmingham, Dudley, Worcester, and Worcestershire. Paul did not restrict his service to the Midlands and contributed greatly to the ECF national safeguarding team. He will be greatly missed and difficult to replace. See tributes on the Worcestershire CA and English Chess Federation websites.

Worcestershire u1650 beat Staffordshire

7 Feb 2026. In a close match Worcestershire secured a 7-5 victory over Staffordshire. See details.

Nottingham Rapidplay

1 Feb 2026. GM Mark Hebden (Leics), Nigel Birtwistle (Lincs) and Matthew Inglis (Notts) shared first prize in the Open tournament with 4½ points from six games. The Major (u1900) tournament was won outright by Arav Ajaykumar (Leics) with 5 points and the Intermediate (u1700) tournament by Nicolas Rojas (Cheshire) with 6 points. Ives Lau (Nots) won the Minor (u1500) tournament with 6 points and Taylor Morrison (Notts) won the Improvers tournament with 5½ points. Over a hundred and fifty players competed in this event at Nottingham HS organised by Nottingham CA with Hambel Willow, Phill Beckett, Stephen Humphreys and Simon Scott acting as arbiters. Mr and Mrs Guarathne, Mr Kumar and Mr Grainger staffed the hot drinks stall and raised over £100 for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Birmingham FIDÉ Rapidplay

25 Jan 2026. Finlay Terry-Bowcott (Warks) took first prize with 6½ points form 7 rounds. In the Major (u2000), Francis Sagyaman (Warks) won with 6 points from 7 rounds. The intermediate was won by Blake Yoe (Oxon) with 6 points and Mohananditya Poluru (Shrops) made a clean sweep of the Improvers tournament (u1500) with 7 points. The event was organised by IA Alex Holowczak (Worcs) and arbiters were IA Matt Carr, FA Richard Buxton, and NA Dan Turner (all Staffs). Over a hundred and twenty players competed.

Nottinghamshire win u1850 and u1450 Midlands team titles

24 Jan 2026. Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire played u1850 and u1450 fixtures. Notts were victorious in both. See match cards for u1850 and u1450.

17 Jan 2026. Warwickshire beat Lincolnshire 5-7. See match card.

10 Jan 2026. Worcester tried out a new home venue in Kinver and both teams correctly judged that snow would not impede their travel. Worcestershire’s clear victory was in line with players’ current ratings. See details.

Shropshire Congress results

11 Jan 2026. The open tournament was won by John Potter (Derbys) with wins in all five rounds. In the Intermediate tournament (u1900), first place was shared by Ethan Parker (Gtr Manchester) and Krishnavaroop Thimmegowda (India) with 4½ points. Fourplayers led the Intermediate tournament with 4 points: John Roche (Cheshire), Paul Sadler (Wales), Malcolm Fletcher (Shrops) and Mohammed Andeel (Gtr Manchester). The Minor (u1500) tournament was won by Mohanditya Poluru (Shrops) and Ben Plimley (Oxon). Over 150 players competed in this event The tournament directors were Phil Love and Chris Lewis and Arbirts were Peter Purland and Dan Hilditch-Love. See full results.

Lincolnshire beat Derbyshire and Worcestershire in Midlands Championship

6 Dec 2025. Lincolnshire outrated Derbyshire and came away with a convincing win by 11½-4½. This back-to-back win ensures them the Midlands championship. See match card.

15 Nov 2025. Lincolnshire dominated on the lower boards in the opening match for the Midlands Championship against Worcestershire. Lincolnshire won by 11½ to 4½. See match card.

Nottinghamshire on way to u1850 Midlands championship

29 Nov 2025. Nottinghamshire had a comfortable win against Lincolnshire in a fourteen board match. See match card. Staffordshire u1650 had a comfortable victory over Warwickshire in a 12-board match. See match card.

Birmingham Rapidplay

9 Nov 2025. Finlay Bowcott-Terry (Warks) won the Open tournament with 6 points. Tara Tamilselvan (Leics) came first in the Major (u2000) tournament. The Intermediate (U1750) was won by Cameron Davis (Devon) with 6½ points. The Minor (u1500) tournament was won by Tarik Kocaboy (Birmingham) with 6 points. This seven round event was organised by IO Alex Holowczak (Worcs) at Quinton Community Centre and it attracted over a hundred and thirty players. See full results.

Winners at Coventry International Congress

31 Oct 2025. IM Sohum Lohia (London), GM Vojtech Plat, former Czech champion, and IM Hao Wang (London), all on 7 points, shared first prize in this ECF nine-round event. WIM Trisha Kanymarala (IRL) won the women’s prize with 6 points. Highest placed Midlands player was GM Mark Hebden (Leics). The Blitz tournament, also of nine rounds, saw Vojtech tie with IM Siva Mahadevan (Warks) equal first with Vojtech. WFM Elis Dicen was top woman with 5½ points. The congress attracted nearly eighty players and was organised for the ECF by Alex Holowczak and arbiters were FA Lance Leslie-Smith (Mddx), FA Richard Buxton (Warks) and NA Dipal Patel (Birmingham). See full details.

First u1650 matches played. Staffs and Warks win

25 Oct 2025. Warks-Derbys. Derbyshire scored a narrow victory over Warwickshire at Coleshill, Warks. See details.

11 Oct 2025. Staffs-Lincs. Staffordshire beat Lincolnshire 9-7 in a 16 board match. See details. The match began with Staffs taking a quick 3-0 lead and looking in a strong position on many boards. Gradually Lincs began to claw back into contention, but Staffs were aboe to make two draws to secure the win.

Worcs Champion wins Guernsey International Congress

25 Oct 2025. WGM Kata Toma followed up her win at Worcester with first place at Guernsey. She won on tie break from FM Hamish Olsen (SCO) with 5½ points from seven games. See details.

Birmingham FIDÉ Rapid and Blitz

4 Oct 2025. Dragos-George Munteanu (Derbys) Bruce Baer (Birmingham), and Luke Honey (Devon) shared first prize with 4 points from their five rapidplay games. Ethan Lynch (Warks) dominated the Blitz with wins in all seven games. The event attracted eighteen players, was played a Bishop Iseley School, Acocks Green, Birmingham and organised by Domenico Napolitano.

27 Sep 2025. u1650 Warks-Worcs.Worcs defaulted a board in a 12-board match and in the end Warks won with that advantage. See details.

27 Sep 2025. Derbys-Staffs. Peter Evans and David Pickering report. Over 16 boards, the final result was an 8-8 draw at Rolls Royce Derby. As Derbyshire’s Under 1450 players have not yet formed a team, the captains agreed to reserve the lower four boards for under 1450 players. The lead changed hands several times. Eventually two boards were left. Staffs won the sixth board to reach 8 points and on the last board with the clocks ticking away, and the Derbyshire player achieved a past pawn and victory with only 2 minutes to spare. A hard but cleanly fought drawn match. One player remarked that he enjoyed his hard fought game - the last to finish - and David Pickering commented that county chess allows time to play a game to its logical conclusion. See details.

Matches for the MCCU team championships

12 Sep 2025, Stephen Smithson reports. The fixtures lists are available on the ECF League management System. The first match for the MCCU county team championship is in mid-November; the first of ten u1650 matches is on 27 September, and the u1850 match between Lincolnshire and Staffordshire is on 21 February 2026.

Nottingham UK Open Blitz Qualifier

7 Sep 2025. WFM Elis Denele Dicen (Warks) qualified as top female player with 9½ points in this fifteen-round event. IM Aaravamudhan Balaji (London) won the tournament with 14 points and also qualifies. Forty players competed in this event organised by Alex Holowczak (Worcs) for the the ECF with arbiters FA Hambel Willow (Notts), FA John Bowley (Essex) and NA Marcel Taylor (Notts)

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