Latest MCCU News

Midlands team champ results

19 Oct 2024. Worcestershire beat Staffordshire in the first match in The Midland Counties Team Championship 7-5 at a match in Droitwich. See full results.

County team entries

16 Oct 2024, Stephen Smithson reports. Lincolnshire and Staffordshire have asked to be nominated for the national stages of the u1850 and u1450 county teams competions. So longas teams fulfill their fixtures MCCU should be able to nominate 2 teams for the Open / Minor Counties competitions and 3 for the u1650 competition.

Congratulations to Ameet and Jonah

14 Oct 2024, ECF reports. At the Fagernes International in Norway, Ameet Ghasi (Warks) fulfilled his third GM norm and Jonah Willow (Notts) gained his first. Ameet will become England’s 42nd GM. Ameet’s achievement is remarkable because he works for Biogen, a pharmaceutical company, and is an amateur. Picture courtesy of Brendan O’Gorman.

Warwickshire win first county match

5 Oct 2024. Watwickshire u1650 team playing at home beat Staffordshire in a close match. Full results.

Triple tie in Midlands Blitz Qualifier

28 Sep 2024. FM Stanley Badacsonyi (London), IM Yichen Han (Oxon) and Finlay Bowcott-Terry (Warks) led the field of over 60 competitors with 12½ points at Quinborne Community Centre, Birmingham. Stanley and Yichen had the better tie-breaks. Top female players at Birmingham were Ana Williams (Notts, on 9 points) and WFM Ruqayyah Rida (Essex on 8½ points). Qualifiers go forward to the UK Open Blitz tournament to be held on 16 November at Leamington Spa.

Counties gear up for 2024-5 season

1 Sep 2024, Stephen Smithson reports. Detailed guidance has been sent to team captains in Lincs, Staffs, Warks and Worcs who have been asked to submit dates for matches. Teams will be of 12 players with default time controls (G135+10 for the Midlands team championship and G110+10 for the u1650 matches) unless captains agree a shorter playing session. Captains are encouraged to designate some boards in the u1650 matches for players rated below 1450. Other counties that have expressed interest have a few days more to make a late entry. Contact Stephen.

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

Next in the Midlands

Sat & Sun16 & 17 Nov Birmingham Open at King Edward VI Five Ways Sch, Scotland Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 4BT. Open, u2000, u1750, and u1500 tournaments.

Sat 23 Nov & Sun 24 Nov. Derbyshire Chess Congress at Trent College, Derby Road, Long Eaton Nottingham NG10 4AD. Five rounds, Open, Major (u1950), Intermediate (u1750), Minor (u1580) and Foundation (u1350) tournaments, time control 90 min + 10 sec. Half point byes available in rounds 1-4.

Next Junior tournament

Sat 16 Nov EPSCA Midland Junior County Championship 11am to 5pm at Under-11 boys and girls teams and under-9 teams at Nottingham HS, Forest Road East, Nottingham NG7 4ED.

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national event

Sat 16 Nov. UK Open Blitz Championships at Woodland Grange Hotel, Milverton Lane, Leamington Spa CV32 6RN.

Sat 28 Dec - Sun 5 Jan 2025. Hastings International Chess Congress

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.