Upcoming junior chess tournaments (green text is a link to organiser or website).
- Join English Chess Federation England Juniors Club to find online events
- Mon 2 Dec 6pm on lichess. Worcestershire Squad play a team Battle with juniors from other counties. Contact Simon if you would like to play.
Junior and community chess clubs in Worcestershire
Alvechurch Library Chess Club
A community club. Contact Nigel Towers for more information. Use the tab at the top if this page to see more information.
Bewdley Chess Club
A community club meeting on Friday lunchtimes. The coach is John Wrench. Use the tab at the top if this page to see more information.
Pebworth Chess Club
A community club that meets in the evening. Contact Debbie Robinson.
Stourport Chess
Contact the coach John Wrench. Web: Stourport Chess
Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy
The longest established junior club in the county, has a history stretching back to 2004. It is open during school terms on alternate Saturday mornings at King's School Worcester. Head coach is Simon Berry. Use the tab at the top of this page to see more information.
New chess club to start in HoW College Worcester
Colin Vernon, Lecturer in Esports & Computing at Heart of Worcestershire College is hoping to start a chess club for students at the St Andrew’s Building on Deansway next term. Colin recently qualified as a World Chess Federation Lead School Instructor (LSI) and will be putting it to good use in coaching players for the Delancey UK Chess Challenge in spring term. Conotact Colin Vernon.
Junior players in the news
Worcestershire Squad in Inter-Counties team battle
2 Dec 2024. Worcestershire junior squad was in good form for the Inter-county yeam battle and finished 7th out of 15 teams, beating Warwickshire and the strong juniors from Surrey. Ned Guyatt was top scorer with 17 points and he was ably supported by good scores from Eric Gregory, Julian Bedson, Samuel Thomas, Cameron Henry, "Royal Aaron", and Ethan Twohig. See full results and links to games.
4 Nov 2024. Worcestershire county juniors were tenth out of 14 teams with 67 points. Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) was the highest scorer of the team with 17 points.
7 Oct 2024. A better turnout by players boosted the team’s position to 8th out of 14 teams with 64 points. Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) was highest scorer with 29 points.
2 Sep 2024. Samuel Thomas was highest scorer, but the team slipped into 11th place.
5 Aug 2024. The squad were tenth out of fourteen teams witn 38 points. Eric Gregory and Cameron Henry were the top scorers.
New Worcestershire Junior champion
14 Jul 2024. James Allsopp (Malvern Chess Club and The River School, Worcester) won the title at the weekend Worcestershire closed congress held at King’s School Worcester. James also plays for Malvern senior team and was successful in the recent UK Chess Challenge Megafinal. Former champion Joshua Clarke is now over 18 and hopes to go to university in September.
Worcestershire Squad in Inter-Counties team battle
1 Jul 2024. The team scored 41 points and came eleventh out of 15 teams competing. Samuel Thomas was the highest scoring player.
3 Jun 2024. A poor turn-out for the squad meant that Worcestershire score 20 points only and came 13th out of the 16 teams competing. Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) was again the highest scorer with 17 points.
Four champions at Worcestershire Megafinal
2 Jun 2024. Ruby Rastall (Heart of Worcestershire Coll) won the under-18 Girls title. Diah Patel (K Edward HS) won the U-12 Girls title with 3½ points and Lottie Fraser (Kings St Albans, Worcester) was Under-11 Girls champion. Lyra Hayward (King’s Hawford, Worcester) was Under-10 Girls Champion with 1½ points. Ethan Twohig (Northwick Manor Primary, Worcester) was Under-8 Boys Champion with 4 points from his six games. Dr Brian Turner, treasurer of Worcestershire Chess Association, presented prize-winners with their trophies. All champions qualify for entry to a Gigafinal as did the following Worcestershire players: James Allsopp (The River School, Worcester), Ned Guyatt (Nunnery HS, Worcester), Adrian King (Wyre Forest Primary, Kidderminster), Dylan Kirkbright (Bishop Perowne School, Worcester), Callum Wyman (Ellowes Hall Sports Coll, Dudley). The Megafinal was held at Malvern College and ably supported by staff led by Deborah Brenchley. The event was organised by IA Alex Holowczak with help from players Simon Berry, David Smith, John Wrench, and John Knee. |
 |
Worcestershire junior set for Gigafinal
12 May 2024. Samuel Thomas, a member of WJCA and a regular online player in the Worcestershire Wolfpack squad, qualified for a UK Schools Chess Challenge Gigafinal at the Birmingham Megafinal.
Worcestershire Squad in Inter-counties Team battle
6 May 2024. Two Worcester RGS boys did well in the event. Eric Gregory (23 points) and Cameron Henry (14 points) were the highest scorers. Worcestershire squad were in 11th place of the 16 teams that entered. This is the first time that all teams have played together since the merging of divisions 1 and 2.
Worcestershire Squad in Inter-county Team Battles
4 Mar 2024. Worcestershire Squad were 4th out of 5 teams , but would have been in second place with only 3 more points. The squad scored 36 points and winners Cambridgeshire scored 88 points. The highest Worcestershire scorer was again Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) with 25 points.
5 Feb 2024. Two Worcestershire players Ned Guyatt (Worcs Jun Chess Acad) and Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester), scored 20 points from their games. They and Joshua Clarke (The King’s School Worcester on 18 points), featured in the list of the best 10 players in this event.
Juniors find it tough in Division 1
4 Dec 2023. The team ended fifth in the table 1 point behind Cambridgeshire Juniors in spite of again having only four players. Ned Guyatt (Worc Jun Chess Acad) was highest scorer closely followed by Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester).
6 Nov 2023. The team scored 70 points in the Inter-County Division 1 with Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) the highest scorer, but finished in 7 place an excellent result for the six-player team. If the squad had been able to field a full team of 15 players it could have easily been mid-table.
Joe Conway Lees wins Staffordshire Junior Championship
19 Nov 2023. Joe Conway-Lees, who plays for Stourbridge Chess Club, won the Staffordshire Junior Chess Championship. In a field of twenty players, Joe won all his games to finish undsputed champion.
Juniors help Worcestershire Wolfpack teams
10 Oct 2023. Three junior players have established places in Worcestershire’s online Wolfpack teams that play in the Four Nations’ Chess League. Edward Higgs (Worcester) is the most recently recruited player and he joins Carlos Patterson-Navarro (Malvern) and Samuel Thomas (RGS Worcester and Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy). See Worcestershire Wolfpack results and links to players’ games.
Worcestershire juniors score at Birmingham
8 Oct 2023. Two players from Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy played in the Birmingham Junior congress. Harry Barraclough scored 4 points from his five games and was placed second in the under-11 tournament.
Worcestershire second in Inter-county Team Battle
4 Sep 2023. A rather small squad powered into second position on 44 points just ahead of Nottingham’s Robin Hoods. The battle was won by Hampshire on 75 points. Highest scorer for Worcestershire was Eric Gregory (RGS Worcester) who bagged 20 points. See full results and links to players’ games.
Worcestershire Junior champion
27 Aug 2023. Joshua Clarke (RGS Worcester & Malvern) retained his junior champion title on tie-break from new player Ignacy Zatorski (Worc Jun Chess Acad) and George Charman (Hanley Castle HS).
Schools with chess clubs including schools entering Worcestershire Megafinal of UK Chess Challenge
Blessed Edward Oldcorne College, Worcester
Christopher Whitehead College, Worcester
Heart of Worcestershire College Worcester
King's St Alban's, Worcester
King's School, Kings Hawford, Worcester
King's School Worcester
King Edward VI School Camp Hill, Birmingham
King Edward School Birmingham
Nunnery Wood High School, Worcester