Worcestershire Chess Association

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
Sat & Sun 14-15 Feb Coventry Open at The Allan Higgs Centre, Allard Way, Coventry CV3 1HW. Open, u2000, u1750, and u1500 tournaments. Five rounds, ECF and FIDE rated, time control 80+10, half-point-byes available in rounds 1-4.
Sat 21 Feb, Birmingham FIDE Rapid at Archbishop Ilsley Catholic Sch, Victoria Road, Birmingham B27 7XY. Open, u1600, u1300 tournaments, 4 rounds, time control 15+5. Also a blitz tournament.
Sat 28 Feb & Sun 1 Mar University of Warwick at Westwood Teaching Centre, kirby Corner Road, Coventry CV4 8EJ. Open, Major (u1850) and Minor (1500) tournaments, five rounds, time control 60+30, half-pont bye available in rounds 1-4.
Sat 28 Feb 2026. Worcestershire-Derbyshire in the Midland Counties team Championship. Please contact Harry Evans (Redditch) if you can play. Venue at Derby.
Sat 28 Feb, Stroud Open Rapidplay at St Matthews Church Hall, Stroud, GL5 4JE. Open, 7 rounds, time control 15+5.
Sat to Mon 23-25 May, Cotswold Chess Congress at The King's School, Gloucester GL1 2BG. Open, Major (u1860) and Minor (u1550)tournaments, six rounds, 90+30 time control. half point bye available in rounds 1-5.

Over-the-board Windmill team are fourth in table

7 & 8 Feb 2026. The Windmills team was paired against the strong Irish team TMNT in round 5 of Division 4 of the Four Nations Chess league. Ian Clarke (Malvern) secured a draw against the reigning Irish woman champion, but the top boards lost to higher rated opponents to give a final score of 1-5. In round 6, the team faced Barnet Knights D and won 5-1. Redditch players Matthew Gillings, Harry Evans, Ben Attwell and David Smith won their games. At the half-way stage of the season, the team are in fourth place and have a realistic chance for promotion to Division 3. See match cards.

Paul Sharratt RIP

10 Feb 2026. It is with very great sadness that I have to report to you that Paul Sharratt, secretary of Worcestershire Chess Association, passed away suddenly. This has come as a great shock and was totally unexpected. He was CEO for the Midland Chess Counties Union, former President of the Birmingham Chess & District Chess League, President of Dudley & District Chess League, former secretary of Stourbridge Chess Club, founder and secretary of Kinver Chess Club as well as playing a leading role in the ECF’s safeguarding policy. Paul was instrumental in the association's recovery from the 2019-20 Covid emergency. In terms of personal achievements he was presented the Jim Friar award for services to Worcestershire chess in 2020, he captained the Worcestershire u1650 team to become 2016 national champions, and won the Worcester & District Chess League individual competition for the Ball Cup in 2015. He was rightly proud of these achievements. Former MCCU CEO Ray Dolan said: “He was a legend”.

Picture: Paul receiving the Jim Friar award for services to Worcestershire Chess in 2020

Worcestershire u1650 beat Staffordshire

7 Feb 2026. Worcestershire’s new venue at Kinver is looking lucky with a second win there, tghi time over Staffordshire. The teams were evenly rated overall with Stffordshire having higher rated players at the top of the board order and Worcestershire lower down. Worcestershire finished with a 7-5 victory. See details. Worcestershire stand third in the u1650 MCCU county table and need a draw in the next match to progress to the national finals: a win will net the Midlands u1650 team championship.

Paul Sharratt receiving The Friar award in 2020

Higgs is Worcester’s 2026 Blitz champion

5 Feb 2026. At a well attended blitz tournament, four all-play-all groups produced quarter-finalists Phil Austin, Bilal Butt, Ben Fellows, Ed Higgs, Scott Oxtoby, Joe Rastall, Alaric Stephen, and Rob Sutton. In the final, Ed Higgs beat Alaric Stephen, a former Wporcester junior champion.

Online Wolfpack A team wins

3 Feb 2025. Worcestershire Wolfpack A scored a 4-0 victory over Dundee City C in round 2 of the Four Nations Chess League. The remainig three teams were less successful: B losing 1½-2½ to Hertford 2 in Division 2; C losot to Epsom salies 2 3-1; and D lost to Dartford Juniors 2½-1 in Division 4. At the end of the evenong the A team stood equal first in Group B Division 1 with Hertford 1 and Dundee City B. The B team is fifth in Group A of Division 2. The C and D teams play in Division 4 and stand tenth and fourteenth out of field of 31 teams. See match cards and links to games.

Worcestershire players at Birmingham FIDÉ Rapidplay

25 Jan 2026. Several players from the Dudley League and from Shirley & Wythall played in this seven round event organised by IO Alex Holowczak (Oldbury). Oliver Green (Kynoch) and Filippo Montanelli (South Birmingham) each scored 4 points, David Smith (Redditch) scored 3½ and Ben Doran (Stourbridge) scored 2 points in the Major (u2000) tournament. Three Stourbridge players competed in the Intermediate (u1750) tournament: Daniel Jone scored 5, Adam Ware and Che Duljeet Adams each scored 3½ points. In the Minor (u1500) tournment, Kim Gilbert (Shirley & Wythall) scored 5, and his clubmates Jon Asbury 4 and Praveen Vattikonda 3 points. Two Halesowen players also played with young Alex Chan scoring 4½ and Shuayb Sattar 4 points.

Worcestershire Wolfpack teams win online

20 Jan 2026. The B team, contrary to expectations remain in Division 2. In round 1 of the new 4NCL online season all four Worcestershire teams won their matches. The A team beat Wessex A, the B team beat East Kilbride, the C team beat Hertford 3 and the D team beat London Deaf B. See match cards with links to games.

Worcestershire Windmills win at Dudley

11 Jan 2026. In round 3 of the second wekend of the over-the-board 4NCL League Division 4 competition, Worcestershire had a splendid 5½-½ win over Wessex B on Saturday and a 3½-2½ win against Iceni 2 on Sunday. With four rounds now complete, the Windmills are fourth in the table and have chances of promotion. See match cards.

Worcestershire u1650 beat Derbyshire

10 Jan 2026. Although snow forced postponments in league matches on Thursday, captains decided to go ahead with the home match on Saturday against Derbyshire at Kinver. WOrcestreshire players had an emphatic 7½ - 2½ win. Worcester players Seamus Flynn, Alex Nicholls, Chris Lee, David Cleak, and Paul Serafini and Daniel Jones (Stourbridge) won their games. See details.