Latest MCCU News

Arrangements for MCCU stage county matches

13 Jul, Stephen Smithson reports. County secretaries have been asked to confirm entries to the MCCU team championship, the u1850, u1650 u1450 team championships by the end of July and to arrange dates for matches by 31 Aug. If a county wishes to play u20250 matches please contact Stephen. The u1850 and u1650 matches will be over 16 boards and the u1450 over 12 boards. The default time control for MCCU matches will be G110/10. It is expected that MCCU nominations for the national stages will be required for the third week in March 2026

Birmingham FIDÉ Rapid and Blitz results

5 Jul 2025. Finlay Bowcott-Terry (Warks) had double success winning both the Open Rapidplay (3½ points from 4 games) and Blitz tournaments (6 points from 6 games). The u1650 rapidplay tournament was won by Ethan Lynch (Warks) (4 points from 4 games). The event was organised by Domenico Napolitano at Archbishop Isley Catholic School, Acocks Green, Birmingham. Just under 40 players competed. See full results.

ECF looking for members representatives

3 Jul 2025. Nominations, including self-nominations, have to be received by the Chair of the ECF Council by 14 July. Representatives are Members of the ECF Council, must be Direct Members in the category for which they are elected, and remain Direct Members throughout their period of office. All reasonable expenses incurred in acting as a Direct Members’ Representative will be reimbursed by the ECF. Ten representatives are required: two Honorary and life members; 2 platinum members; 4 gold members; and 2 bronze members. If more than ten players are nominated, there will be elections.

Retirement of CEO and President

28 Jun 2025. Owing to ill-health both Ray and Eunice Dolan have tendered their resignations and were unable to attend the annual meeting at Derby. The meeting thanked Ray and Eunice for their long and enthusiastic support of the union and they were appointed vice-presidents of the union in recognition of their contributions. The meeting elected Paul Sharratt (Worcs) as CEO and Gavin Cartwright (Worcs) secretary and safeguarding officer. There will be a further meeting to confirm decisions taken because there were insufficient counties represented at the meeting.

Midlands GP qualifier for British Championship

31 May 2025. Jacob Boswell (Staffs) heads the leaderboard and qualifies for the British Championship in Liverpool.

Senith Is Midlands choice for British Championships

27 May 2025. Senith Gunarathne (Notts) was the highest on tie-break on 4 points having come second to GM Mark Hebden in the Nottingham Congress. He is still a junior player and we wish him success at the British.

GM Mark Hebden wins Nottingham Congress

11 May 2025. Mark Hebden (Leics) won the Open section with 4½ points from his five games. Matthew Inglis (Surrey) won the Major (u1900) also on 4½ points. The Major (u1700) was shared by Nicolas Rojas (Cheshire) and Tom Adams (Yorks) who scored 4 points. Four players shared first place in the Minor (u1500) tournament: Stephenie Gelder (Leics), Terry Bennett (Lincs), Adam Sisson (Notts) and Dhamindra Gunarathne (Notts) each scored 4 points. The Improvers tournament (u1300) was won outright by Samyuktha Vijayendra (Notts) on 5 points. The event made neary £200 for the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. The event was organised by Stuart Humphreys, Simon Scott, and John Swain and the tournaments controlled by Phill Beckett and Hambel Willow.

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Text in blue-green links to entry form, website or email contact

Next in the Midlands

Sun 10 Aug, Lincoln Rapidplay at Southside, Colegrave Street, Lincoln LN5 8DW. Six rounds starting at 10am. Open, Major (u1800) and Minor (u1500) tournaments. Time control 20 min + 10 sec.

Next Junior tournament

Fri 11 to Sun 13 Jul, EJCOA Youth Championships at Nottingham High School, Waverley Mount, Nottingham NG7 4ED. Five rounds, U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18, U20 sections, half point byes available in rounds 1-4, time control 90 min + 30 sec increment. Fourteen workshops presented by titled players during the congress, and simuls with IMs.

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national events

Fri 18 to Mon 21 Jul, English Women's Chess Championship and u1700 Women's Championship at Kenilworth. Seven rounds, time control 90 min + 30 sec increment, FIDÉ rated.

Fri 18 to Mon 21 Jul, English Chess Championship at Holiday Inn, Kenilworth. Seven rounds, time control 90 min + 30 sec increment, FIDÉ rated. Event full, waiting list only.

Thu 31 Jul to Sun 10 Aug, British Chess Championships at St George’s Hall and Liverpool Holiday Inn. Weekend, week-long, juniors, senior, blitz supporting events.

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.