Next events - Words in green are hyperlinks to pdf entry form, congress website, or contact’s e-mail

• ECF Online tournaments Something on nearly every day
• Sun 13 Sep Chess at Pebworth Party in the Park. Contact Dan Lambourne
• Sat & Sun 19 & 20 Sep Chess at Stoke Prior Steam Rally. Contact Dan Lambourne.
• Thu 24 Sep. First online junior match

Longbridge A win Towers Cup

26 Aug 2026. There was another exciting finish in the Summer Cup competitions at Meadow Farm, Redditch. in round 2, Longbridge A scored 3, Malvern and Redditch scored 2½, Worcester and Kidderminster 1½, and Longbridge B 1 point. The strong showing by Longbridge A won them the Toweres Cup with 6½ points followed by Malvern on 5, Redditch on 4½, Worcester 3, and Kidderminster and Longbridge B on 2½ points. See details. Picture shows Longbridge board 1, Cory Hazlehurst, receiving the Towers Cup from controller Dan Lambourne.

Dudley League annual meeting

25 Aug 2026. members stood for a minute’s silence at the start in memory of president Paul Sharratt. Mike Biddle (Oscott) was unanimously elected as the new president. John Fahy (Warley) was re-elected secretary, treasurer and competitions secretary.

New county champion Joe Rastall

23 Aug 2026. Joe Rastall (Worcester) was the surprise winner on tie-break from Kevin Hurney (Longbridge). Joe has has a sabattical from chess this season and returned on top form. As consolation Kevin won two other prizes: he was the Senior (+50) champion and also won the Paul Sharratt Trophy for his game against Ed Higgs (Worcester). At the end of round 4, there were four players on 3½ points with Kevin Hurney facing David Smith (Redditch) and Joe Rastall playing Matt Gillings. Joe won and the Hurney-Smith game was the last to finish. Julie Wilson (Stourbridge) retained women’s title she has held since 2018 on tie-break from Ceylon Ozvatan (Warndon). James Allsopp (Malvern) retained the Junior championship, CM Lee Davis (Malvern) won the veteran’s championship and Seamus Flynn (Worcester) picked up the Minor (u1650) championship with 4 points. Other players with prizes were: Scott Oxtoby (Worcester, slow starter, losing first game), Ian Clarke (Malvern, Double Misfire, losing first two games) Joe Tipping (Redditch, Chalk-it-up-to-a-bad-day, losing first three games), Roger Thompson (Zero to hero, higest scoring player with fewer than five standardplay games), Tom Sherwood (Longbridge, best scoring unrated player attending their first Worcestershire congress). Picture bove right: Players, officials and winners with their trophies pose with Worcester City Mayor Tor Pingree.

Former secretary receives Jim Friar award

22 Aug 2026. There was a record number of entries for the 2026 competition held at the King’s School Worcester including several junior players. Just before the start of the second round, former county association secretary Andrew Farthing was presented with the Jim Friar Award for his services to Worcestershire Chess. Andrew held the role of secretary for Worcester City Chess Club, Worcester & District Chess League and Worcestershire Chess Association. He oversaw the merger of the district and county association leagues immediately after the Covid emergency and briefly stepped up this season as competitions secretary in spite of no longer being an active player. President Ray Collett said: "Andrew's help was crucial for running the Worcestershire Megafinals over several years and he was certain that this season's congresses in the county have built on those foundations." At the end of the first three rounds of the congress, the joint leaders, Matthew Gillings (Redditch) and Kevin Hurney (Longbridge) are on three points. Picture below right: WCA president presents Jim Friar award for services to Worcestershire Chess to former secretary of the association