16 June
Well done to the 59 players who took part in the Leek Rapidplay just over a week ago.
Results and Robert Milner's report

11 May
Do you know any jokes, short stories or anecdotes about chess?  If you have a good one, it could win you a £10 prize.

Anyone can enter, and all you have to do is send in your joke, short story or anecdote.  If the judges think yours is the best, you will win £10 as a prize.  The closing date for entries is the end of June.  After that date, the winning entry and a selection of all those you send in will appear on this website.

Entries can be emailed to staffs.chess@tiscali.co.uk  You should include the words "Chess competition" in the subject box of your email.  If you prefer, you can write down your entry and send it by post to
Andrew Davies.  "Chess competition".  The Penthouse, Shutt Green Lane, Brewood, Staffs. ST19 9LX.  Please make sure your entry includes your name and how we can contact you if you win.

As usual, there are a few conditions of entry, so here's the small print
It is a condition of entry that any jokes, short stories or anecdotes sent by you may be published.  They must have something to do with chess.  Each person should send a total of no more than 30 jokes, stories and anecdotes.  If the winning item is sent in by more than one person, the prize will go to the person whose entry was received first.  All material should be suitable for players of all ages.  In awarding the prize, the judges decision is final.

11 May
From now on, if you move your mouse pointer near to any of the links at the top of these pages (e.g. Congress or Tournament etc), a text box should appear.  For each link, the text is intended to give you an idea of what is on the page the link takes you to.

It should work properly with most browsers.  I've tested it with MS Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Netscape Navigator.  It should work with Safari etc but I can't confirm that.

Gradually, the text will be added to all the main links on the site and improved.

27 April
On Monday evening, the county's Gothard cup final (U151) was played between Rushall and Warley Quinborne.  The match was played at Rushall, and from what I hear, it was an exciting finish - going down to the last board and the last few seconds of the time control.
Match details

Out of respect for the local leagues I don't normally mention league results until after the season has ended but, just a week before Rushall were competing in the Gothard Cup final, their team beat Walsall Kipping by 3½ - ½ to secure the WDCL's Humphreys cup (4 boards, U110).  The winning Rushall team were Ray Hancox, Matthew Carr, Peter Broomhall and Shane Cooksey.

Well done to all the players

17 May
Yesterday, the Terriers were in sunny Northamptonshire, facing a team from Kent in the national quarter finals.  During the match, John Montague earned a draw against Baven Balendran, a member of the England under 14 team.  Although yesterday was only the third time Karol Gryzbowski played for the team this season, his win earned the team a notable point.  Despite finishing with a draw, Matthew Wyza returned home yesterday undefeated in inter county chess this season.  Also, well played to ungraded Danny Torbica who made his inter-county debut - in the national quarter finals.
Match details

Well done to Paul Clapham, John Day and everyone who played for the Terriers this season.

11 May
Like the local leagues, the Derby league runs from September to April.  This year, Cheddleton entered a team in division 3.  The 4 player team had home and away fixtures against 6 opposing teams from clubs such as Derby/Mickleover, Spondon, Belper and Rolls Royce.  Against that opposition, Cheddleton's boards 1 and 2 included players such as Jason McKenna, Chris Sizeland and Craig Whitfield.

It was the team's very last match of the season that would secure the title.  Cheddleton were playing a team from Derby/Micklover.  If Cheddleton could at least draw, the division 3 title was theirs, a loss would give the title to their opponents.  In that final match, Tom Adams won in just 12 moves against a player graded 81.  His win helped secure a 3½ - ½ win (and the division 3 title) for Cheddleton.  My thanks to Wilf Adams for supplying the info.

Well done to Craig Whitfield, Tom Adams and all the other players who helped the Cheddleton team secure the Derbyshire division 3 title.

4 May
On Thursday evening, Stafford Chess Club played host to the county's Withnall cup final (U101) between Fenton and Rushall.  At Stephane Pedder's invitation, I went to the event.  After boards two and one had finished, the score stood at 1 - 1.  Then one of the players accidentally knocked the best part of a pint of beer over the board next to him.  Their clocks were stopped while that game was transferred to another (dry) board.  As the match drew to a conclusion, the score was 2 - 2 (and level on board count) with just board 5 to finish.  The fall of Peter Greenwood's flag gave the win to Peter Tideswell and victory to Fenton.  You can read more about the action on Steve Emmerton's blog.
Match details

John Amison tells me that Fenton have also secured this season's title of Division 4 Champions in the North Staffs League.

Congratulations Fenton,
and
well done to all the players