8 Feb
The draw for the national stages of Inter-County chess are now available on the New, Improved ECF website.

Some of our teams have been more successful than others but depending on how the remaining matches finish, it is still possible for all our teams to reach the national stages - who said I'm an optimist.

The Open team have won every match, and have an unassailable lead.  Once confirmed as MCCU champions, David Anderton's team will be facing a quarter-final fixture at home against the Northern Counties second team on 22 May.

Barring any problems, a win for John Day's U140 team against bottom of the table Shropshire next month should also secure them a place in the National stages.  But with three places up for grabs, where they finish will be dicided by results of other matches.

In the U120 section, the Bulldogs currently lead, two points clear of second place Warwickshire.  They still have 2 games to play, so it's all still to play for.

Despite being in the lower half of their respective sections, it is still possible for Alan Thomason's U160 team and Paul Clapham's Terriers team to qualify.

22 January
Those of you who browse the junior pages of this site should be familiar with its events calendar.  As something of an experiment, and for a trial period this, general, part of the site has now been given its own events calendar.

17 January
By Paul Clapham
The fixture Leics v the Terriers went ahead yesterday at the Village Hall at Hoby, Leics.  The bad weather of the past couple of weeks and a boiler failure at the original venue looked as though they might jeopardise the fixture...
More details

1 January
The draw for the semi-finals of the county cups have now been issued.  Mike Savin has also sent me the details of the matches already played, on behalf of Graham Humphreys.

Semi-final draw and first round results

13 December
I don't have any details yet, but well done to John Day and our team for their 8 - 8 draw against Worcestershire yesterday.

6 December
As you may be aware, The New Penny has been having a refurbishment which has meant Fenton Chess Club has been unable to use the venue.  Fenton now have a new venue.  For the rest of this season at least, the address is:

New Albert Inn,
102 Albert Street,
Newcastle-under-Lyme,
ST5 1JR

Directions for finding the new venue have been added to the Fenton page.

22 November
Last weekend our U140 players faced a team from Derbyshire, yesterday it was the turn of our Open team to take on players from the same county.  I don't have a report on the match, but our captain David Anderton was kind enough to send me the results.
Match details

16 November
By Paul Clapham
A very closely fought game.  After nearly 4 hours of chess, the result rested on the outcome of the last game.
Match details

8 Feb
Despite being outgraded on every single board, John's U140 team finished with a very creditable 6 - 10 score against the Notts team in Bushbury on Saturday.
Match result

31 Jan
I don't have the details yet, but I've been told that yesterday's match between Greater Manchester and our open team had a very tight finish.  With one game still playing, our team needed just a draw to secure victory.  In a very tense position several checks were given and parried until... the players agreed a draw.  Once confirmed, that victory should secure the team as winners in the midlands stages and MCCU first team in the national stages.  More details once I receive them.

Well done to David Anderton and everyone involved with the team.

22 Jan
Entry forms for the 2010 Staffordshire Congress are now available.  It will be held in the main hall of

Bloxwich Leisure Centre
Bloxwich

where it was held in 2007 and 2008.

Full details.

Entry forms
Word (30 KB)   PDF (21 KB)
In addition, those who took part last time should receive entry forms in the next week or so.
Good Chess!

11 January
At the Wrekin Congress in Telford this weekend, I've been told that Paul Jackson from Rugeley chess club finished on 4½ out of 5 and gave him an outright win in the Minor section.  Congratulations Paul!

18 December
In the Hickman,
Lichfield beat Stafford by 3½ - 2½.

In the Jackson,
Cheddleton beat St Mary's by 5 - 0.

In the Withnall,
Fenton beat Walsall Kipping by 3 - 2
Lichfield beat Warley Quinborne by 3 - 2
and
Stafford beat Rushall by 4 - 1.

My thanks to Graham Humphreys for phoning me with the results.  I'll have the board by board details shortly.  Also, special thanks to Stephane for emailing the details of Stafford's match against Lichfield in the Hickman More details

22 November
The Wrekin Congress will be held on the weekend of 9 and 10 January 2010.  As it's being held just down the road in Telford, every midlands player interested in congresses should know about this event.

Entry forms
Entry form (PDF Acrobat file 108 KB)
www.shropshirechess.org

16 November
By Matthew Carr
Now we only needed one point for a win.  My attention was drawn to board 15.  There was a queen race going on...
Match details

16 November
Drama as the last game reaches it's conclusion.
Match details