Worcestershire chess news 2012-3
More recent news see home page.
For results of county teams click here
Most recent news is at the top of the page
21 Jul 2013 Andrew Farthing reports. Worcestershire Open Chess Congress has made a surplus of £740 for Leukaemia CARE, the Worcester-based national charity. Visit the congress website for full results and pictures.
9 Jul, Stuart Fishburne reports. Malcolm Hunt wins Halesowen Blitz tournament. I'm sure everyone will want to wish Dave Bissell from Halesowen well as we understand he is emigrating to Vancouver, Canada.
3 Jul, Stuart Fishburne reports. John Edge (Halesowen) has crowned a fantastic season by winning the BDCL division 1 individual trophy. This is his sixth victory in this event! Congratulations, John! The winning game can be found in here, with notes by John himself.
11 Jun. Phillip Serrell - Ben Chin-See match in BBC's antiques show. Worcester News reports that BBC's antiques programme Put you Money Where Your Mouth Is featured RGS Worcester pupil playing dealer Phillip Serrell to determine the decide how much to pay for a chess set bought at a car boot sale. See report.
5 Jun Stourbridge webmaster reports. Stourbridge Prize winners. Presentations were made to Dave Scriven (President's Cup) for the ninth (!) consecutive year, Steve Alcock for most improved player, and Jeremy Fallowfield for the club's best player.
26 May. Worcs players do well at Cotswold Congress. Setephen Crockett (Redditch) won the Minor tournament. Two Worcester players, Andrew Farthing (Major) and Colin Vernon (Minor) won grading prizes.
10 May. Hagley win Worcestershire League Championship in the last league match of the season beating Worcester City. Halesowen won Division 2. In the Worcester & District League, Worcester Bishops are Champions and Redditch II are Division 2 champions.
17 May. Annual General Meeting of the Association. A well-attended meeting heard that the association had made a small surplus on its core operations during the 2012-3 season. To plan for likely cost rises during next year, League entry fees will be £17 per team. Andrew Farthing takes over from Maurice Bissell as new Honorary Secretary and other officers are unchanged.
1 May Stewart Fishburne reports. Birmingham & District Chess League have awarded Ashwin Kalyana the prestigious Ritson Morry Junior prize for 2012-3. Well done, Ashwin!
22 Apr Mark Hore reports. Death of John Holmberg, Redditch Chess Club. John was stalwart of Redditch and Headless Cross Clubs. He died on 12 April, but had been in bad health for some time. John played and capatained for Redditch teams and has represented Worcestershire. John continued to attend the chess club until very recently and he played in the Worcestershire Open Congress last July. Players The funeral will be held at 11am at Redditch Crematorium on Tuesday 7 May.
18 Apr. Worcester Chess Association Executive meeting was held at Claines. After 17 years' service, Maurice Bissell confirmed he will be retiring from the hon. secretary's position. Also retiring is Giles Stanton who has captained the u140 county side for several years. League delegates reported that the Worcester & District League championship was taken by Worcester Bishops and the Division 2 title by Redditch. Warley Quinborne have won Dudley & District Divgision 2 and their Division 3 winners are Brewood.
14 Apr. Redditch players score in Staffs congress. Steve Crockett shared his second place in the Minor (u120) on 4 points. Andrew Wiggins played in the Major (u160) and scored 3 points, but was out of the prize list.
16 Mar. Worcestershire u-120 team in national stages. Despite an end-of-season loss to Staffs, Richard Collett has taken Worcestershire under120 team into the national stages of the competition where their opponents in the Quarter-finals are Kent probably to be played 18 May.
11 Feb reported by Andrew Farthing. Stephen Crockett (Redditch) first in the Minor tournament at Torquay, sharing with three others on 4 points out of 5. Three Worcestershire players travelled to Devonfor this congress. In the Major, Jason Cole scored 2 points and Andrew Farthing was half a point shy of a share of first place, finishing on 3 points following a loss from a level position in the final round.
3 Feb. Tom Robinson (Redditch) came second in the Major tournament of the Stockport Rapidplay.
10 Jan. We have received sad news that John Clark of Worcester City club passed away. There is a short tribute to him from Andrew Farthing and information about the funeral on the Worcester City website.
9 Jan. Jeremy Fallowfield won Stourport's New Year Blitz with a clean swwep of nine wins from his 9 games. Second placed was Nic Arkell on 8 points. See report in Stourport News.
12 Jan. Halesowen's 4NCL team win against BCM Hippos in the 3rd round. See Halesowen Club's website for a report.
6 Jan. County players at Shrops Congress. All the county players at this congress in Telford scored 3 points. Jeremy Fallowfield (Stourbridge) and Pavel Besedin (Worcester) were in the Open while Nigel Towers, Alex Holowczak (Warley), Jon Asbury (Redditch) and Andrew Farthing (Worcester) were in the Major.
30 Mar. Steve Crockett wins the Minor tournament at Castle Chess Hereford Congress.
14 Oct. King Edward's School Camp Hill, Birmingham win the Major team competition at Millfield International beating 7 other schools.
14 Oct. GM Keith Arkell, former Droitwich team member, publishes his autobiography
with a collection of 70 games. For further information about Arkell's Odyssey visit his publisher Keverel Chess.
13 Oct. Worcestershire Minor Counties team lose heavily to Lincolnshire.
13 Oct. Andrew Farthing attended the ECF Annual General Meeting as Worcestershire's representative. His report is on the MCCU website.
8 Oct. Pavel Besedin, Worcester City player wins Open at Dudley Congress.
4 Oct. Andrew Moore reports that Graham Wyle of Hagley passed away on 28 September and the funeral will be at 11am on Wednesday 10 October at Stourbridge Crematorium.
|
16 Dec. Bert Foord. The death on Thursday 13 December at Droitwich is announced of Bert Foord aged 91, former honorary treasurer of Worcestershire Chess Association. Bert held this position for twenty-five years until retiring in 2011. Bert's working life was as a lecturer in comparative politics teaching at Newcastle University, and in Germany. He retired in 1984 from the position of Principal of Avoncroft College, Bromsgrove. Bert played for Redditch, where he was club champion, Bromsgrove and most recently Droitwich clubs. He also played for Worcestershire both over-the-board and by correspondence. He is survived by his wife Joyce and son Richard. The funeral will be at Worcester on Monday 24 December. Bert was a true servant of Worcestershire Chess Association and players offer Joyce and Richard sincere condolences on their loss.
Picture shows Bert at the WCA 2005 Annual meeting.
|
|
15 Dec. County team results. Worcestershire lose to Greater Manchester in the Minor Counties and the u120 team beat Nottinghamshire
8 Dec. Ben Fuller (Nunnery Wood HS, Worcester) won the Worcester Junior Congress sponsored by King's School Worcester with a clean sweep 6 points from 6 games. Oliver Rosoman (King's School Worcester) won the silver medal and Luke Smith (Perryfields HS, Oldbury) the bronze.
7 Dec. Carlsen wins the London Chess Classic. Keith Arkell finished out of the medal with 6/9 in the FIDE Open and Ray Sayers was finished on 4½ points
1 Dec. County team result. Worcestershire u-140 team beat Notts.
1 Dec. Two former county players GM Keith Arkell (ex Droitwich) and Ray Sayers (ex Worcester City) compete in the masters tournament at the London Chess Classic
10 Nov. Worcestershire under-140 team lose to Staffordfshire. Result.
27 Oct. Worcestershire u120 team under new skipper Richard Collett score county's first 2012-13 win.
24 Oct. Ryders Green School Sandwell won the inaugural CSC West Midlands Tournament. The same school also won second place and third placed was Barr Beacon School. Six teams played at West Bromwich Town Hall organised by CSC co-ordinator Andrew Moore.
23 Oct. Pete Seeley fells GM. At Arkell's Reditch simul, the GM had forced the win of a critical pawn in a double-rook-and-pawn ending only to walk into Pete's mating net!
20 Oct. Worcestershire u140 team just pipped by Shropshire away.
|
3 Oct. Ken Durnell. Members of Kidderminster club joined the family and over 150 mourners for a celebration of Ken's life and the funeral at St Michael and All Angels Church, Stourport. Ken was a well-liked and respected stalwart of Kidderminster Club and captain of the Kidderminster II team in the Worcestershire League for thirty years. In addition to chess, Ken was a founder member of Severn Valley Railway Preservation Society, and a member of Stourport Civic Society and an active member of St Michael's congregation. Ken died at home on Friday 21 September after a brief illness.
|
|
18 Sep. GM Keith Arkell, former Droitwich player, has just had his autobiography published by Keverel Chess. Click to purchase a copy of Arkell's Odessey
1 Sep. The new English Chess Federation Membership Scheme comes into effect making membership much cheaper than paying Game Fee for most players. The Worcestershire Chess Association agreed at its annual meeting to encourage all Worcestershire players to join and can collect subscriptions for those players without Internet access.
23 Aug. County team decision. On the advice of Paul Sharratt, the county Executive meeting decided to enter Minor Counties, u140 and u120 teams into the Midlands Championships this season. Detailed consultation had shown there were insufficient players at present to sustain an extra team as mooted at the AGM. Jim Friar was welcomed as Junior Chess Organiser in succession to Andrew Moore who has done so much to promote junior activities in Worcester Junior Chess Academy and and the Birmingham Junior Chess League.
|
12 Aug. Steve Crockett British u120 Champion. For the first time for many years Steve brings a British title to Worcestershire to add to his earlier Midland Counties u150 Rapidplay GP title. Picture shows Steve (right) with Lara Barnes Congress Senior Arbiter at the congress in North Shields. Picture: Arnold Lutton (Basildon CC)
|
|
2-15 Aug. Headless Cross junior Ashley Davis represents Wales at the World Junior Chess championships in Athens, Greece. Lateefa Messam-Sparks and Henrik Stepanyan, who played in the Worcester Open a few days ago are also there representing England.
5 Aug. Halesowen is club with the mostest!
Some members of Halesowen at their headquarters, The Lighthouse, with their haul of trophies: Worcester County Divisions 1 and 2; Birmingham League Division 4; Wolverhampton League Division 2 and Humphreys Cup (Picture: Tony Taylor)
23 Aug 2012. County team decision. On the advice of Paul Sharratt, the county Executive meeting decided to enter Minor Counties, u140 and u120 teams into the Midlands Championships this season. Detailed consultation had shown there were insufficient players at present to sustain an extra team as mooted at the AGM. Jim Friar was welcomed as Junior Chess Organiser in succession to Andrew Moore who has done so much to promote junior activities in Worcester Junior Chess Academy and and the Birmingham Junior Chess League. Worcestershire League held its fixtures meeting which is reported on the Worcestershire League website.
For older news, visit the 2011-12 page
|
