Latest MCCU News

National stage county competitions draw

7 Apr 2025. Seven Midlands teams compete in the national quarter finals. In the Minor Counties competition, Worcestershire face Devon and Lincolnshire face Cambridgeshire: in the u1850 Lincolnshire play Suffolk and Derbyshire play Cambridgeshire: in the u1650, Worcestershire play Kent and Lincolnshire play Surrey: in the u1450, Staffordshire play Essex. Quarter final matches are due to be played on the weekend of 10/11 May and 17/18 May. This year there is no MCCU team in the Open or the u2050 competitions.

National stage county competitions dates

28 Mar, Mark Morrell, controller of the national county team competitions has published default dates for the KO stages: Preliminary rounds, 26th April; quarter-finals 10th May (Open, Minor, u1850 and u1450) or 17th May (u2020 and u1650); semi-finals 7th June and finals on 5th July.

Nottingham Congress

11 Mar 2025, Neil Graham reports. The MCCU nomination for a place in the British Championship will be offered to the highest scoring Midland player in the Open tournament. The congress is at Nottingham on Saturday and Sunday 10 and 11 May.

Staffordshire accepts invitations to national stage

9 Mar 2025, Stephen Smithson reports. Staffordshire have accepted a nomination to compete in the Open competition. Lincolnshire and Worcestershire have accepted nominations to play in the Minor Counties Championships. In the rated limited competitions, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire will be playing in the u1850; Worcestershire and Lincolnshire in the u1650 and Staffordshire in the u1450.

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.

Midlanders win at Blackpool

9 Feb 2025. Siva Mahadevan and GM Mark Hebden both scored 4½ points in the five-round Open tournament of the Blackpool Congress.

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

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Next in the Midlands

Sat & Sun 10 & 11 May, Nottingham Congress at Nottingham High School Forest Road East Nottingham NG1 4HH. Five rounds, Open, Major (u1900), Intermediate (u1700), Minor (1500) and Improvers (u1300) tournaments, time control 90 min + 10 sec increment. The highest scoring Midland player in the Open tournament will receive the MCCU nomination to play in the British Championship.

Next Junior tournament

Sat 5 Apr, Shropshire Junior Chess Championships at Charlton School, Apley Avenue, Wellington, Telford Shrops TF1 3FA. Open to junior players from other counties, under-8, -10, -12, -14, and -18 sections (subject to entries), starts 10am, 6 rounds, time control 15 min + 10 sec, trophies for top boy and top girl in each section, and medals for high scorers. Light refreshments available.

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.