Worcestershire Chess League

Halesowen A are 2018 league champions
Malvern are runners-up

3 May. The last game resut, a game adjourned on 8 Mar, was received and the final table is shown below.
1 May. Worcester finshed on a high note with a 5-1 victory at home.
24 Apr. Olton beat Kidderminster
17 Apr. Halesowen A dropped their second match point in a home fixture against Worcester. Board 3 was adjourned with advantage to the Halesowen player who had to win to draw the match. In a blocked position both sides had all their major pieces. Hunt had control of the open h-file and had just checked the white king. After adjournment, silicon brains took a couple of microseconds to see that white had a forcing rook sac for a pawn to bust open the white position on the second move of the main variation. It would have been a really nice move to have seen played even if one was on the losing end of the combination and I am sure none of the spectators saw it. The white resigned without further play.
12 Apr. Olton playing away snatch a match point from Halesowen A to deny the top team a 100% record. Malvern were the last team to win every match of a season and that was in 2013-4 [Thanks to Geoff Herbert for this info].
8 Apr. Olton, at home, beat Halesowen B and one game was adjourned, but the Halesowen player resigned without further play
20 Mar. Worcester, a man down, draw with Olton.
14 Mar. Kidderminster beat Halesowen B to go level with Worcester City
8 Mar. Worcester beat Kidderminster, but one game still to be decided. The adjourned game in the Kidderminster-Malvern match on 28 Feb was resigned by the Kidderminster player without resumption to make Malvern the winners. Malvern have now completed their fixtures and only Worcester, if they won the next four matches including one against Halesowen A, could equal their score.
7 Mar. The final game in the Malvern-Olton match started on 30 Jan (!) and was completed after adjournement on 6 Mar. The game and the match were drawn.
4 Mar.Two weeks after the match, results of adjourned games between Malvern and Halesowen A have been agreed..
27 Feb. Halesowen A beat Kidderminster to stretch their lead.
18 Feb. Malvern and Halesowen 1A have three games adjourned. Resumption of the games will be on 1st, 2nd and 13th March.
13 Feb. Halesowen 1B gain a home draw against Kidderminster.
6 Feb. Halesowen 1B get first match points with a home win against Malvern.
30 Jan. Olton and Malvern are tied with a game to be completed on 6 Mar. The Olton player holds an advantage.
16 Jan. The second match between the two Halesowen team has predicatably given another match win to the A team. One game was unfinished, but conceded 6 days later without resumption.
12 Jan. Malvern at a home match trounce Worcester and catch up with Halesowen 1A.
11 Jan. Halesowen 1A kicked off play in the new year withan away win at Kidderminster. Halesowen 1A retain their 100% record and go clear first in the league.
24 Dec. Malvern resigned the game from 19 Dec to give Halesowen 1A a 5 -1 victory and Halesowen 1A go into the New year looking on track to retain their title, possibly with a 100% record.
19 Dec. Halesowen A demonstrate who's boss with home win against Malvern, but one game is adjourned.
7 Dec. Malvern beat Worcester to become clear leaders and maintain their 100% record.
6 Dec. Kidderminster gain their first match points with a win at home against Olton.
1 Dec. Malvern, at home beat Kidderminster putting them level with Halesowen 1A on match points and half a game point ahead. These two teams do not meet until February 2018.
28 Nov. Halesowen 1B are still without match points after losing at home to Worcester
15 Nov. After a week's cogitation players agreed a draw without resumption in the unfinished Halesowen B-Olton fixture to give Olton a win.
10 Nov. Malvern beat Olton
2 Nov. An adjudication, a second session and a resignation complete the card for the match on 17 Oct.
18 Oct. Worcester City gain match points with an away win against Kidderminster.
17 Oct. Halesowen 1A are two points up in a match against Olton
13 Oct. After several years, two come along at once. Malvern and Halesowen 1A have submitted a game for adjudictaion.
21 Sep. First match result is a draw.
4 Sep. All fixture dates have now been agreed.
24 Aug. For the first time in many years a club is fielding two teams in Division One. Halesowen 2B, Division II champions accepted promotion at the fixtures meeting and joint colleagues in Halesowen 1A in Division One. Worcester City were permitted to continue in Division One so now there are six teams: Halesowen 1A, Halesowen 1B, Kidderminster A, Olton, Malvern and Worcester City.

Captains please send dates of fixtures to Paul Sharratt, (07515 688 795) competitions secretary, and Ray Collett, webmaster as soon as possible.

Captains and Club Secretaries are reminded that clubs are liable for the ECF fees of any player who is not a member of the English Chess Federation and plays more than three games in the league during the season. Players may join individually on-line at: ECF online membership or you can join via your club and Worcestershire Chess Association. Secretaries and captains can check whether their team members are ECF members by downloading the ECF membership list (MS Excel .xls format).

Team captains and club secretaries

Team captains and secretaries for 2017-8 season.

• Halesowen 1A: Captn John Edge 0121 550 0467; Secy, John Southcote 0121 429 1518
• Halesowen 1B: Captn Dustin Bowcott, 07508 471 148; Secy, John Southcote 0121 429 1518
• Kidderminster A: Captn David Waud 07889 508 656; Secy, John Wrench 07913 227 402
• Malvern: Captn, John Knee 01684 565 378; Secy, Brian Turner 01684 568 398
• Olton: Captn Mark Cundy, 0121 707 2722; Secy, Rob Reynolds 07552 366 104
• Worcester City: Captn TBA; Secy: Ray Collett 01905 454 754

Contact information is on the "clubs and teams" page using the left menu button.