Latest MCCU News

TEN Midlands teams in national stages of the county team competitions

24 Mar 2026, Stephen Smithson reports. It is likely the draw for the national stages will be made on 2 April. The Minor Counties competition time control will be 2¼ hr + 15 sec increment from move 1 and it is likely that the u1450 and u1650 time control will be 1h 50min + 10 seconds increment from move 1.

20 Mar 2026, Stephen Smithson reports. Lincolnshire u1650 defaulted their fixture with Derbyshire and because there were plenty of games in the Midlands u1650 competition, Derbyshire can play in the national stages. Derbyshire have also accepted an invitation to play in the u2050 competition.

Worcestershire through to national stages for Minor Counties and u1650 teams

7 Mar 2026. In the u1650 team competition, Worcestershire beat Lincolnshire 7½-4½. See detailed scores.

28 Feb 2026. In the last of the matches for the Midlands team championship, Worcestershire beat Derbyshire. See match card.

Last u1850 match won by Lincolnshire

21 Feb 2026. In the match for the u1850 team championship Lincolnshire beat Staffordshire 4-8. See results. Lincolnshire stand second in the u1850 table and can expect a nomination for the national stages.

Coventry Open results

15 Feb 2026. Over a hundred and twenty players competed in five tournaments in this event organised by IO Alex Holowczak at The Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry. Xian Junhao (CHN) made a clean sweep in the Open with 5 points from his five games. Leading Midlanders were Joe Friar (Worcs) and Finley Bowcott-Terry (Warks) on 4 points. Mark Obi (Warks) won the Major (u2000) with 4½ points; Alaric Stephen (Worcs) won the Intermediate tournament (u1750) with 4½ points. There was a four-way tie for first place in the Minor (u1500): Shane Cooksey (Staffs), Chris Fraser (Notts), Markas (Mykhnenko (Warks), and Yu Jiwei (Cheshire) all on 4 points. There was also a u1000 rapidplay tournament. This was won by Adhrit Ragunandan (Warks) with 5 points from his five games. The Arbiters were Dipal Patel (Warks), David Cebolla Ruiz (Warks), and Dan Turner (Staffs). See full results.

Herefordshire Chess Association

13 Feb 2026. The association has a new website

Click "News" on the menu bar above for other recent items.

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

Next in the Midlands

Fri 3 - Mon 6 Apr. 4NCL Easter Congress at Mercure Daventry Court Hotel, Sedgemoor Way, Daventry NN1 0SG. Open, u2000, u1700 tournaments, 7 rounds, time control 90+30. Half point byes available in rounds 1-6.

Next Junior tournament

Sat 7 Mar. Coventry Junior Open at Meadow Park School, Abbey Road, Coventry CV3 4BD. 1pm to 6pm, ECF Gold membership required. Seven tournaments, 3 for under-18s and 4 for under-11. Five rounds, time control 15+10,

Online competitions

Link for all ECF online events.

Link for all 4NCL online events.

Next national events

Sat 21 Feb & Sun 22 Feb. British Universities Championship at Copthorne Hotel, Merry Hill-Dudley, The Waterfront, Brierly hill, DY5 1UR. Nine round team rapidplay and individual blitz tournament

Sat & Sun 7 & 8 Mar. English Youth Championships 2026 at Nottingham High Sch. Under-8, 10,12, 14, 16 and 18, Open and Girls 5-round tournaments, time control 60+30,

Sat & Sun 14 &15 Mar. British Rapidplay Championship 2026 at Holiday Inn Peterborough West, Thorpe Wood, Peterborough PE3 6SG. One open section, 11 rounds, time control 15+10.

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.