Latest MCCU News

Lincolnshire lose Minor Counties final on board count

6 Jul 2024. The score was tied, but Sussex won on board count 41-29.

Midlands schools at National schools championship

28 Jun 2024. King Edward V1 Camp Hill Sch for Boys, Birmingham was the highest ranking Midlands school. It was placed 14th out of 26 teams with two match wins and a draw in the five round competition at Nottingham High School. Nottingham HS A team won two matches as did Hereford Cathedral Sch. King Edward's Sch Birmingham won one match and drew one: Nottingham HS team B won one of their matches. The event was won by King's College Sch, London with five match wins.

New rapidplay competition in Worcestershire

27 Jun 2024. Worcestershire CA are organising an additional rapidplay league for the 2024-5 season.

Union annual meeting

22 Jun 2024. Union annual meeting  22 Jun 2024. Officers and delegates met at Derby. In an effort to ensure more teams enter the Midlands team tournaments next season members agreed to invite entries for an Open tournament and an u1650 tournament for teams of 12 players. A shortened time control was recommended for the lower tier competition. There were two changes of honorary directors: Peter Sherlock stepped down from Director for Ratings and the inter-counties competitions and his successor is Stephen Smithson (Staffs).

English championships

23 June 2024. IM Jonah Willow (Notts) and Finlay Terry-Bowcott (Warks) were the top ranking MIdland players in the open championships held at Kenilworth finishing with 5 points from 7 games a point behind the leaders. Gawain Jones (Surrey) won the open on play-off. WGMs Kata Toma (Worcs) and Elmira Mirzoeva (London) led the Women's Championship on 6 points. In the play-off, scores were equal after the rapidplay games, but Elmira won the first Blitz tie-break and drew the second to claim the title from the defending champion.

Birmingham Rapidplay

9 Jun 2024. The Open tournament was won by CM Stanley Badacsonyi (London) with 6 points from 7 games with IM Yichen Han (Oxon) and Finlay Bowcott-Terry (Warks) sharing second place on 5½ points. Michael Green (Leics) and Shahab Quraishi (Staffs) shared first place in the Major (u2000). Three shared first place in the intermediate (u1800) with 6 points: Richard Swajkun (Shrops), Joshua Cherrington (Leics) and Max Dooley (Notts). The Minor (u1500) was won outright by Daniel Jones (Staffs). Over 140 competitors played in this Birmingham and District Chess League event organised by Alex Holowczak and Harrison Marriott. See full results.

County semi-finals: Lincolnshire battle way to final

8 Jun 2024. The Minor counties team from Lincolnshire was the only Midland team to get to a national final. Lincolnshire beat Somerset in the Minor Counties competition. The Lincolnshireunder-1850 and under-1650 teams lost to Greater Manchester teams. Staffordshire lost to Essex. See links to full semi-final results.

English Seniors championships

28 May 2024. The over-50 champion was GM Peter Wells (Oxon) with 6 points from 7 games. The top scoring Midlander was GM Mark Hebden (Leics). IM Paul Littlewood (Middx) won the over-65 championship with 5½ points and The highest scoring Midlanders were Mike Page (Warks) and Dave Bray (Leics) who both scored 4 points. Over 70 players competed at Kenilworth and the event was organised by Nigel Towers (Worcs), Adrian Elwin (Beds) and Richard Buxton (Warks).

Alex Holowczak FIDÉ appointment

22 May 2024. Worcestershire IA Alex has been appointed Technical Administration Panel chair for the Chess Olympiad to be played in Budapest in September.

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Next in the Midlands

Sat 13 Jul. Leicester Rapidplay at The Cedars Academy, Wanlip Lane Birstall, Leics. Start at 10am with 6 rounds. Open, Major (u1950), Intermediate (u1750), Minor (u1550) and Improvers (u1300) tournaments.

Next Junior tournament

Fri 27 Sep. Birmingham DCL Junior Chess League at King Edward's School, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham. Teams of 4 players, U-13 and Secondary School tournaments.

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national event

Thu 25 Jul to Sun 4 Aug. British Championships 2024 at Hull City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, Carr Lane, Hull. Championship, Major Open, u2050, u1900, u1750, u1600, u1450, 50+, 60+, junior ages, weekend (Open, u2000, u1750, u1500), Rapidplay and Blitz Championships.

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.