Midland Counties Chess Union
News & Results

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Last updated 22 February 2026

News in the 2025-6 seasons

Birmingham FIDÉ Rapidplay

25 Jan 2026. Finlay Terry-Bowcott (Warks) took first prize with 6½ points form 7 rounds. In the Major (u2000), Francis Sagyaman (Warks) won with 6 points from 7 rounds. The intermediate was won by Blake Yoe (Oxon) with 6 points and Mohananditya Poluru (Shrops) made a clean sweep of the Improvers tournament (u1500) with 7 points. The event was organised by IA Alex Holowczak (Worcs) and arbiters were IA Matt Carr, FA Richard Buxton, and NA Dan Turner (all Staffs). Over a hundred and twenty players competed.

Nottinghamshire win u1850 and u1450 Midlands team titles

24 Jan 2026. Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire played u1850 and u1450 fixtures. Notts were victorious in both. See match cards for u1850 and u1450.

17 Jan 2026. Warwickshire beat Lincolnshire 5-7. See match card.

10 Jan 2026. Worcester tried out a new home venue in Kinver and both teams correctly judged that snow would not impede their travel. Worcestershire’s clear victory was in line with players’ current ratings. See details.

Shropshire Congress results

11 Jan 2026. The open tournament was won by John Potter (Derbys) with wins in all five rounds. In the Intermediate tournament (u1900), first place was shared by Ethan Parker (Gtr Manchester) and Krishnavaroop Thimmegowda (India) with 4½ points. Fourplayers led the Intermediate tournament with 4 points: John Roche (Cheshire), Paul Sadler (Wales), Malcolm Fletcher (Shrops) and Mohammed Andeel (Gtr Manchester). The Minor (u1500) tournament was won by Mohanditya Poluru (Shrops) and Ben Plimley (Oxon). Over 150 players competed in this event The tournament directors were Phil Love and Chris Lewis and Arbirts were Peter Purland and Dan Hilditch-Love. See full results.

Lincolnshire beat Derbyshire and Worcestershire in Midlands Championship

6 Dec 2025. Lincolnshire outrated Derbyshire and came away with a convincing win by 11½-4½. This back-to-back win ensures them the Midlands championship. See match card.

15 Nov 2025. Lincolnshire dominated on the lower boards in the opening match for the Midlands Championship against Worcestershire. Lincolnshire won by 11½ to 4½. See match card.

Nottinghamshire on way to u1850 Midlands championship

29 Nov 2025. Nottinghamshire had a comfortable win against Lincolnshire in a fourteen board match. See match card. Staffordshire u1650 had a comfortable victory over Warwickshire in a 12-board match. See match card.

Winners at Coventry International Congress

31 Oct 2025. IM Sohum Lohia (London), GM Vojtech Plat, former Czech champion, and IM Hao Wang (London), all on 7 points, shared first prize in this ECF nine-round event. WIM Trisha Kanymarala (IRL) won the women’s prize with 6 points. Highest placed Midlands player was GM Mark Hebden (Leics). The Blitz tournament, also of nine rounds, saw Vojtech tie with IM Siva Mahadevan (Warks) equal first with Vojtech. WFM Elis Dicen was top woman with 5½ points. The congress attracted nearly eighty players and was organised for the ECF by Alex Holowczak and arbiters were FA Lance Leslie-Smith (Mddx), FA Richard Buxton (Warks) and NA Dipal Patel (Birmingham). See full details.

First u1650 matches played. Staffs and Warks win

25 Oct 2025. Warks-Derbys. Derbyshire scored a narrow victory over Warwickshire at Coleshill, Warks. See details.

11 Oct 2025. Staffs-Lincs. Staffordshire beat Lincolnshire 9-7 in a 16 board match. See details. The match began with Staffs taking a quick 3-0 lead and looking in a strong position on many boards. Gradually Lincs began to claw back into contention, but Staffs were aboe to make two draws to secure the win.

Worcs Champion wins Guernsey International Congress

25 Oct 2025. WGM Kata Toma followed up her win at Worcester with first place at Guernsey. She won on tie break from FM Hamish Olsen (SCO) with 5½ points from seven games. See details.

Birmingham FIDÉ Rapid and Blitz

4 Oct 2025. Dragos-George Munteanu (Derbys) Bruce Baer (Birmingham), and Luke Honey (Devon) shared first prize with 4 points from their five rapidplay games. Ethan Lynch (Warks) dominated the Blitz with wins in all seven games. The event attracted eighteen players, was played a Bishop Iseley School, Acocks Green, Birmingham and organised by Domenico Napolitano.

27 Sep 2025. u1650 Warks-Worcs.Worcs defaulted a board in a 12-board match and in the end Warks won with that advantage. See details.

27 Sep 2025. Derbys-Staffs. Peter Evans and David Pickering report. Over 16 boards, the final result was an 8-8 draw at Rolls Royce Derby. As Derbyshire’s Under 1450 players have not yet formed a team, the captains agreed to reserve the lower four boards for under 1450 players. The lead changed hands several times. Eventually two boards were left. Staffs won the sixth board to reach 8 points and on the last board with the clocks ticking away, and the Derbyshire player achieved a past pawn and victory with only 2 minutes to spare. A hard but cleanly fought drawn match. One player remarked that he enjoyed his hard fought game - the last to finish - and David Pickering commented that county chess allows time to play a game to its logical conclusion. See details.

Matches for the MCCU team championships

12 Sep 2025, Stephen Smithson reports. The fixtures lists are available on the ECF League management System. The first match for the MCCU county team championship is in mid-November; the first of ten u1650 matches is on 27 September, and the u1850 match between Lincolnshire and Staffordshire is on 21 February 2026.

Nottingham UK Open Blitz Qualifier

7 Sep 2025. WFM Elis Denele Dicen (Warks) qualified as top female player with 9½ points in this fifteen-round event. IM Aaravamudhan Balaji (London) won the tournament with 14 points and also qualifies. Forty players competed in this event organised by Alex Holowczak (Worcs) for the the ECF with arbiters FA Hambel Willow (Notts), FA John Bowley (Essex) and NA Marcel Taylor (Notts)

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