2 December
By Bill Armstrong
In the recent World Team Olympiad in Crete, the United Kingdom came sixth out of the 34 teams participating.  This was an improvement on our seeding as eighth strongest.

We made such a successful start that, after four rounds, only Russia and ourselves were on maximum points.  After the inevitable pairing, a tight match and the 3-1 defeat, we were still playing all the strongest teams in the remaining four encounters.  Perhaps we were a little deflated by the loss to Russia when we lost narrowly to Germany and then drew three matches.  We can, however, look back on a tournament with only two losses, one to the gold medallists, a victory against the silver medallists, Ukraine, and a draw with the third placed Spain.  Germany and Poland took fourth and fifth places.

To find out more about chess for visually impaired players, or the Olympiad in Crete, games etc can be found on www.braillechess.org.uk

2 November
Well done to Lawrence and the team who scored a 12 - 4 win over Greater Manchester, in Bushbury yesterday.  Well done on a very good start to the season!
Match details

26 October
Staffordshire's board 1, Lawrence Cooper, has now returned home to Stafford after representing England at the recent Mind Sport games in Beijing from 4th-18th October.  Lawrence played 2nd board in two of the chess events.  His opponents included several Grandmasters, and Lawrence had the honour of finishing as England's top scorer in the team rapidplay.

His first event was the team blitz competition, with 11 games played in just one day.  The England team finished with 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses.  Rate of play for this event was slightly different to the familiar league competition:  Each player started with 3 minutes for all moves but, 2 seconds was added to a player's clock every time they complete a move (they used digital clocks).

Lawrence's second event was the team rapidplay, with 9 games played over two and a half days.  The England team finished with 4 wins and 5 losses, which was well above the team's seeding.  Rate of play for this event was 25 minutes for all moves, and 5 seconds added every time a move was made.

The Mind Sports games included five disciplines (Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Draughts & Go).  Sadly, unlike the Olympics, England’s medals were limited to gold in the Womens Bridge and two silver medals (more than Australia and US though!).  One of the female chess players did make the semi-final of the rapidplay chess but lost a sudden death play off for the bronze medal.

Lawrence (a chess coach) has already coached the England Juniors at an event between the four home nations and at The World Junior in Turkey in August.  In January, he will playing in Queenstown in New Zealand.

Mind Sports Games website

13 October
Ray Dolan is trying to recruit Over the Board, Postal and Email chess players, or even the wish to learn.  For more details, visit the Cannock & District League Web Site and click on Great Britain Chess.  There is also a poster you can download to help raise awareness.

27 September
Players interested in playing for the U125 team this season should note that the date for the first match (at home against Worcestershire) has now been put back by one week.  It will now be played on Saturday 18 October at Brewood Cricket Club, starting 1.30 pm.

As I told you earlier, if you are interested in playing for John's team, just let him know.  Tel: 01782 611164.

1 December
In this match played at Shifnal, well done to Steven Cooper, who won despite being outgraded by 29 points by his opponent.
Match details

1 December
Apologies for the delay posting the results of this game.  I don't have any report, but well done to all the Staffordshire players in this very close result.
Match details

16 November
By Paul Clapham
The match started off badly for the Terriers losing the first three games.  Denis Nesbitt winning on board 4 gave us our first win of the afternoon and Matthew Wyza's win on board 8 started to gnaw away at the deficit. ...
Match details

9 November
Terriers v Bulldogs is one Inter-County fixture I really do look forward to, and the one where I prefer not to take sides - I support both teams.

The first game was over after just 6 moves:  As part of the King's gambit, one player made what he thought was a good developing move, overlooking one fatal reply - ouch!!

With just board one to finish, the scores stood level at 5½ - 5½.  The remaining game looked like it was heading for a draw... 
Match details - Terriers
Match details - Bulldogs

26 October
I don't have any information on the match, but well done to the players who went to Nottingham yesterday as part of Alan Thomason's U150 team and secured a 7½ - 8½ victory.  Well done!
Match details

26 October
With many of last season's better players unavailable (for various reasons), the Bulldogs travelled to the picturesque Webheath village for their U100 tie against Worcestershire yesterday.  A defaulted board gave Worcester an early 3 - 2 lead.  As the games finished, that was gradually consolidated into a decisive 8 - 4 victory for the home team.  One of the last players to finish was Paul Walters.  Despite the result, he made a very good inter-county debut.
Match details

The catering (which included home-made sultana and apple cake cooked by one of Worcester's players) was richly enjoyed.

18 October
John Day made his debut as captain of the u125 team against Worcestershire this afternoon.  John's team took an early one point lead, thanks to wins from Peter Broomhall, Peter Shaw and John Day himself.  The points swung to and fro, until with just one game remaining and eleven players looking on, the Staffs player needed a draw to level the match.  Unfortunately, time trouble and a gambit that didn't work as intended meant the result went the wrong way - giving the win to Worcestershire by 7½ - 8½.

A solid start from John Day's team.  Thank you John and well played everyone.
Match details

13 October
My thanks to Steve Wilcox who has been in touch so that I can let you know that Rushall Chess Club will be meeting at a new venue from Monday 3rd November.  From that date, they will meet at Bloxwich Memorial Club, Harrison St, Bloxwich WS3 3HP.

Until then, they will continue to meet where they are now.