Worcestershire Chess League

About the Worcestershire League

The Worcestershire League

The Worcestershire League runs two divisions and a team handicap knock out competition, the Wheatley Cup. The League Competitions Secretary and Grading Officer is Paul Sharratt (Stourbridge) and the General Secretary of the Worcestershire Chess Association is Ray Collett (Worcester City). Division 1 matches are for 6 boards and Division 2 and Knock Out Cup matches are for 5 board teams.

Membership of the League is open to clubs affiliated to Worcestershire Chess Association based on the pre-1974 boundaries of Worcestershire, which includes Dudley, Warley, Halesowen, and Stourbridge, and other clubs approved by Worcestershire Chess Association Executive Committee.

League matches are played during the chess season, September to April. Division 1 matches are played over 6 boards and Division 2 matches over 5. All games in Divisions 1 and 2 are graded. The first playing session should be 3 hours with the first time control at 42 moves. If the game has not been completed at the end of the first session, players may agree a result, go to adjudication or play on at a second session of at least 2 hours with a second time control at move 70 (see League Rules for further details). Games in Divisions I and II are graded and clubs are responsible for any game fees for players who are not ECF members.

The Knock Out Cup Organiser is Laurence Wheatley (Greenlands). The competition is a handicap five-board team knockout event where stronger graded teams must score more to win. This competition is outwith the League programme and web pages about this tournament are in the Worcestershire Chess Association website.

How to Enter a Team

Club Secretaries should notify the County Association's General Secretary, Ray Collett, of their club's intentions to compete prior to the August Executive Meeting of the County Association.

The fees are fixed at the Worcestershire Chess Association AGM. Current fees are shown below and fixtures are arranged aat the meeting immediately following the Association's Executive meeting in August.

Fixtures

Six teams entered division I and they play home and away: Halesowen IA, Halesowen 1B, Kidderminster A, Malvern, Olton, Worcester City.

Division II has five teams playing home and away matches against each other team: Droitwich, Greenlands, Halesowen 2, Kidderminster B, Stourbridge.

League fees

The 2017-8 League team entry fee is £19 for each team and club affiliation fee is £5 for each club..

Worcestershire League website

The editor of this website works very closely with the league, but the website is independently maintained by Ray Collett. If you have comments or corrections, please send them to Ray Collett.