2019-20 season News

Worcester City players get County over the line in national final

22 Aug. Worcestershire had squeezed into the knock-out stages of the ECF Minor Counties Championships Online having lost their first three matches in the group stage. The final was a hard-fought match against Somerset led by IM Jack Rudd. City club players on lower boards made up for the relatively weaker top order on this match. Ray Collett's late draw from a very bad position took Worcestershire over the line to gain its first online national championship. Tony Shaw and Matthew Holmes won their games and Robin Hayles drew.

WMA league surprise for Worcester 2

20 Aug. Worcester players had all “sat down” for their match against new comers Lichfield. We watched the time count down to zero for the start of the match... and nothing happened ...for about 30 seconds and suddenly up pops a message from chess.com stating the match had been cancelled. Captains are trying to find out what happened and it seems likely that the match will be re-scheduled. In Division 1, Worcester faced the strong Sutton Coldfield team. Worcester's number 1 player Peter Kitson was able to play for the first time online and won both his games.
13 Aug. Worcester 1 played newly promoted Warwick University Alumni winning the first match and drawing the second in Division 1. Meanwhile Worcester 2 drew the first match, but lost the second against John Wrench’s strong Isle of Wight team. Both fixtures were played in the opening round of the West Midlands Area League Summer season. Stephen Mellor won both his games on board 2 for the first team and David Cleak both his games on board 3 for the second team.

West Midlands Area Online League Summer Season 2020

13 Aug 2020. Worcester entered two teams and were supported by players from Droitwich CC and the season started 13 August. See 2020-1 news.

Worcester players forge win for county in national semi-final

8 Aug. Worcestershire beat Berkshire 7-5 in the ECF Minor Counties Online championship. Club players Ray Collett, Robin Hayles, Tony Shaw, and Matthew Holmes won their games.

Worcester players forge win for county in national semi-final

8 Aug. Worcestershire beat Berkshire 7-5 in the ECF Minor Counties Online championship. Club players Ray Collett, Robin Hayles, Tony Shaw, and Matthew Holmes won their games.

Colin mid-table in online tournament

12 Jul. Colin Vernon scored 2 points from the five round Online 4NCL Minor tournament. He is believed to be the first member to have played in a UK online tournament.

Club members play for Worcestershire in Counties tournament

18 Jul. Worcestershire won its first online county match against Somerset 8-4. Four members played in the county team. Robin Hayles and Matthew Holmes won their games and Ray Collett drew his game. Click for full results of Worcestershire online matches.
4 Jul. Four city club members played for Worcestershire against Cumbria in the ECF Online Counties Tournament. Ray Collett and Tony Shaw drew their games and Worcestershire lost by a single point.
20 Jun. Stephen Mellor and Tony Shaw played for Worcestershire in their fixture against Shropshire, but Worcestershire lost badly.
6 Jun. Tony Shaw drew his game playing for Worcestershire in the online friendly match against Gloucestershire. Stephen Mellor played on board 1, but lost his game.

Worcester City teams in West Midlands Area Online Quickplay

26 Jun. Worcester 1 finished the Spring Season in sixth place in Division 1 below Redditch and above Greenlands. In Division 2, Worcester 2 finished 9th out of ten teams just above Solihull 2. Click for full tables and detailed results for each match

Worcester entered two teams in the newly formed West Midlands Area online quickplay league. The format of each encounter is that each team plays two maches with four boards. Each club’s players are ordered according to past performance on the chess.com platform and play two games against the same opponent with colours reversed. The time control is 15 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds from move 1. Two Droitwich players, David Cleak and Arnold Kirkland have joined forces with Worcester and have mostly played for Worcester 2 in Division 2.
18 Jun. Worcester 2 came off worse against South Birmingham 2 losing both matches.
11 Jun. Worcester 2 played Solihull 2 winning both matches.
4 Jun. In Division 1, Worcester won both their matches against Greenlands to finish their first online campaign on a high note. Rob Sutton, Matthew Holmes and Ray Collett won both of their games. Worcester 2 drew one match and lost the other against Stourbridge 2. Sourbridge defaulted board 4 and Simon Berry was the only Worcester player to win a game.
28 May. In Division 1, Worcester 1 lost to Sutton Coldfield in one match and drew the other. New Captain Rob Sutton won both his games. There was no fixture for Worcester 2 this week.
21 May. In Division 1, Worcester 1 lost both matches against Solihull. Rob Sutton won one game and Matthew Holmes also achieved a draw. Worcester 2 scored a double win against Coventry Chess in Division 2. Robin Hayles and Dillan Duke both scored two wins.
14 May. In Division 1, Worcester lost badly against a highly graded South Birmingham team. Only Ray Collett was able to slavage half a point. Colin Vernon saved a further pair of defaults by joining as a late substitute a few seconds before the match start. Worcester 2 also suffered a double defeat aginst Stourbridge 1 in Division 2. New junior player Dillan Duke scored one win.
7 May. In Division 1, Worcster 1 faced county rivals Redditch losing one match and drawing the other. Stephen Mellor scored two wins and Rob Sutton scored 1½. A technical glitch meant that one Worcester player could not log in and the team defaulted one board in in both matches. Worcester 2 drew one match and lost the other against Isle of Wight. David Cleak won both his games.
30 Apr. Worcester 1 played its first fixture against Rugby drawing one match and losing the other. Worcester 2 lost both its matches with Mutual Circle.
23 Apr. In the club’s opening online West Midlands fixture, Worcester 2 drew one match and lost the other against Warwick University.
18 Apr. Worcester entered two teams into the West Midlands Online League one in each of the two divisions.

City club adjourns over-the-board play because of Covid-19

26 Mar. Further play in the 2019-20 season now appears very unlikely and it is likely that the 2019-20 Blitz Tournament will have to be cancelled or moved on-line. Senior members of the club will be consulted on next steps and what to do about 2019-20 club awards shortly.
17 Mar. All meetings of the club due in March and April were cancelled because of the epidemic.

District league results 2019-20

Championship semi finals

12 Mar. The rapidplay semi-finals were: Collett-Holmes and Harris-Shaw and the club championship finals were: Collett-Holmes (again!) and Harris-Mellor. The KO stages in these competitions were not played because of the Government stay-at-home order.

League result

3 Mar. City lost 1-5 away to Halesowen in the county league. Only Ed Osbourn and Ray Collett escaped with draws.

Club players help Worcestershire u140 team retain Midlands Championship

29 Feb. Tony Shaw and Matthew Holmes drew their games in the match against Lincolnshire.
22 Feb. Simon Berrry played board 2 in the match where Worcestershire u140 beat Derbyshire.

League results

16 Feb. In the Division 2 away match, Worcester Pawns were whitewashed by Redditch B.
11 Feb. In Division 1 of the District League away match, only Stephen Mellor on board 1 escaped with a draw in the match against Redditch A.
13 Feb. In District Division1, Worcester Bishops lost to Redditch away. Stephen Mellor was the only player to draw after having winning chances before running short of time.
6 Feb. In the Division 2 match against Kidderminster Rooks, team captain Roger Yates was the only home team winner in a tense drawn match decided in the closing seconds of play.
31 Jan. Worcester Bishops beat Malvern 2½-1½ in the away County Division 1 match. Tony Shaw and Stephen Mellor won their games and Phil Austin drew. Stephen's game was decided in the closing minutes of play. In a complex position with both kings vulnerable, Stephen’s opponent overlooked a mate in one.
30 Jan. In the home District Division 2 match, Matthew Holmes was the only player to draw against Greenlands.

Matthew Holmes forges ahead in the grading list

29 Jan. Matthew gained 18 points in the January ECF grading list. Nick Harris, John Hesketh, Jim Keene, Stephen Mellor, Tony Shaw and Rob Sutton registered smaller gains.

Simon Berry sole winner in county u120 match

18 Jan. Worcestershire u120 team were soundly beaten by Nottinghamshire.

City team beat Malvern

16 Jan. Matthew Holmes turned out at short notice to make up a full team. Ray Collett won in double quick time and that was followed by wins from Matthew and Stephen Mellor,

Worcester out of the Wheatley Cup

2 Jan. Redditch brought the county champion to help thrash Worcester over-the-board. Redditch’s players heavily outgraded Worcester and after application of the candicap in this competition, the final score was 2.4-5.0.

Bishops team lose to Stourbridge

28 Nov. In the team’s first District League Division 1 match of the season, Worcester lost 1-3. The match score was even late into the session. Board 1 ended abruptly in favour of Stourbridge and our borad 4 lost on time in a promising position.

City team beat Halesowen and lose to Olton

21 Nov. In the county Division 1 match, formerly invincible Halesowen lost 2½-3½. Stephen mellor, Phil Austin and Tony Shaw won their games.
7 Nov. Olton brought a strong team for Worcester’s first Diivision 1 match of the season. Steven Mellor, on board 1 was the only winner andf the team lost 2-4.

Pawns beat Mercia

19 Nov. In the Pawns away District League Division 2 match, Ray Collett, Simon Berry and John Hesketh won their games to beat Mercia 3-1.

Club players in action

2 Nov. Tony Shaw and Matthew Holmes both won their games in the Worcestershire-Nottinghamshire u140 home match. Worcestershire won 12-4.
20 Oct. Simon Berry and Tony Shaw played in the Birmingham rapidplay. Both scored 3½/7 Tony in the Intermediate and Simon in the Minor tournament.
19 Oct. Peter Kitson scored a draw on Board 1 playing for Worcestershire first team against Warwickshire.

Nick Harris is double 2019 Champion

31 Oct. The much delayed second-leg Rapidplay final was a draw against Ray Collett, but Nick wins the title with a 1½-½ overall score in the finals. Nick also won the 2019 Club Championship - standard play - at the close of the 2018-9 season back in May. In the first leg of the final played on 26 September, a King’s Indian Sämisch Variation led to a blocked centre and an open c-file. After major pieces were exchanged, there was a balanced minor piece ending, but with time running short, Ray cracked first in a cramped position and lost a pawn and then the game.

Worcester Pawns lose to Kidderminster

30 Oct. In their second match of the season, Worcester lost 1-3. William Kemp, playing on board 1 won his game.

First match win for new season

7 Oct. The Pawns team scored a 3-1 win playing away to Stourbridge in District Division 2. Captain Roger Yates and William Kemp scored wins. See District website for details.

Club back to Winter HQ

5 Sep. The first meeting of the new season got the club off to a fine start.

Pat Greenow elected life-time member at annual meeting

23 May. Senior officers were re-elected: Andrew Farthing President; Ray Collett Hon Secretary and Treasurer, and Pat Greenow was elected as a lifetime member for his previous service over many years as honorary treasurer and team captain. Nick Harris, the 2019 club champion received the Ranken Cup and Matthew Holmes the Blitz trophy. Ray Collett (City team) Ed Osbourn (Bishops team) and Phil Smith (Pawns team) were best performers for their teams.