Worcestershire Chess Congresses

2023 Closed Congress 26 & 27 August

Peter Kitson champion for third time

The congress was held at King’s School Worcester and was organised by Scott Oxtoby assisted by Joe Rastall and Aiden Griffiths (all Worcester). Like 2022, there were four rounds omitting a Saturday evening session and prizes were trophies rather than cash to keep entry fees as low as possible.

Peter Kitson (Worcester) won the individual Worcestershire Chess Championship competition. The other winners were: Julie Wilson (Stourbridge) Women's champion; Joshua Clarke (King’s School Worcester and Mavern) Junior champion; Lee Davis (Malvern) Veteran champion; Darren Whitmore (Shirley & Wythall) Senior champion; and Chris Lee (Worcester) Minor champion.

Playing in the Vigornian Room at King’s School Worcester

Peter’s path to the title was thrown into doubt by the bus time-tables because the first service to get him to Worcester for round 3 meant he was a quarter of an hour down on the clock before he could make his first move. In the end, it was his opponent who became short of time and lost.

This is the third time Kitson has been county champion, the first being in 1998. Peter won on tie-break from up-and-coming young Kidderminster player Joseph Friar with both players ending on 3½ points. Julie Wilson’s win means that she is also a three-time champion.

 The battle for the junior championship was intense. Joshua Clarke (King’s School Worcester and Malvern Club) edged the trophy on tie-break from James Allsopp (Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy and Malvern) and Ignacy Zatorski (Blessed Edward Oldcorne College and Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy).

The players

 Prizes were presented by Brian Turner (Malvern). He thanked the King’s School and its staff for providing the venue and making players welcome. He praised the school’s consistent support for community games, chess as well as other sports, which includes providing a venue for the popular Saturday morning Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy.

Gallery

Cross-table

Use left hand menu items to view results of previous congresses in Worcestershire