Latest MCCU News

Worcestershire win u1650 Midland Counties Championship

15 Feb 2025. Worcestershire got revenge for their loss in the open section against lincolnshire by winning the u1650 encounter in in the u1650 competition. Both teams were very nearly equally rated and the match went to the wire. See full results.

Lincolnshire retain Midland Counties Championship

8 Feb 2025. Lincolnshire beat Worcestershire in the Midlands Counties Team Championship to retain their title. See detailed results. Both Lincolnshire and Worcestershire will go through to the national stages beacuse Staffordshire lost to both those teams. Worcestershire u1650 team beat Warwickshire in the postponed a home match at Droitwich. See full results

Nottingham Rapidplay

2 Feb 2025. The three top tournaments were triumphs for Nottingham University players. Simon Schweizer was first in the open above GM Hebden and IM Willow with 5 points from 6 rounds. The Major was won by Joseph Greco with 5½ points and the Intermediate by Cai Owen, also on 5½ points. Ufuk Kachek (Derbys) was first in the Minor with 6 points and Ambrose Lam first in the Improvers with 5½ points. The event held at Nottingham High School attracted neary 200 players and was organised by NAs John Swain, Hambel Willow and Phil Beckett assisted by Stephen Humphreys, Simon Scott. Mr and Mrs Gunarathne, Mr Richmond, and Mr and Mrs Sykes staffed the catering which raised £150 for humanitarian relief in the Ukraine. See full results and Nottinghamshbire CA report.

Lincolnshire u1850 beat Derbyshire

1 Feb 2025. Although Derbyshire had to withdraw from the u1650 team competition, they entered a u1850 team who played Lincolnshire for the u1850 Midlands championship. Lincolnshire ran out easy winners, but Derbyshire will have the opportunity to compete nationally as a second Midland nomination. See detailed results.

MCCU nominations for national stages of county competitions

28 Jan 2025, Stephen Smithson reports. The MCCU expects to nominate seven teams to play in the national stages starting in April. Matches in the Midlands stage should be completed by the end of February.

Lincolnshire overwhelm Staffordshire in county fixture

18 Jan 2025. Four teams travelled to Bramcote, Notts, but Staffordshire were four players short in the championship match and lost heavily. See Midland championship results. The u1650 match was keeny contested and ended in aa draw. See u1650 results.

Shropshire New Year Congress

5 Jan 2025. The open tournament was shared by Shabir Okhai (Leics) and FM Tin Kett (WLS) both on 4 points from 5 games. Julie Van Kemenade (Shrops) won the prize for best female performance. Glyn Pugh (Cheshire) won the Major (u1900) outright with 4½ points. There was a three-way tie for the Intermediate (u1700) between Neil Homer (Derbys), Nicholas White (Bucks) and Waylon Chan (Shrops) all on 4 points. The Minor (u1500) tournament was won outright by Cesar Pileggi (Shrops) with 4½ points. Over 160 players participated and arbiters were Peter Purland and Dan Hilditch-Love. See Shropshire CA report on Facebook and pictures.

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Next in the Midlands

Sat & Sun 22 & 23 Feb, Coventry Open at The Allan Higgs Centre, Allard Way Coventry. Open, u2000, u1750 and u1500 tournaments. Half-point byes available in rounds 1-4

Next Junior tournament

Sat 1 Mar 2025. Nottinghamshire Primary Schools Chess Association Individual County Championships at Nottingham High Sch, NG1 4HH, 9:30am-4:15pm. For children in school years 2, 3, 4, and 5. Six rounds, time control 15 min + 10sec, Prize giving at about 4pm.

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national events

Sat & Sun 1 & 2 Mar, British Rapidplay Championship 2025 at Holiday Inn Peterborough-West, Thorpe Wood, Peterborough PE3 6SG. Eleven rounds , time control 15 min + 10 sec.

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.