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 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.

Wolfpack teams struggle in round 4

3 Mar 2026. Only team C was able to draw in the online matches in 4NCL: They drew with English Deaf Chess Association. team B is just above the relegation zone in Group A of Division 2. See full results.

Worcestershire qualify for national quarter finals

28 Feb 2026, Harry Evans reports. The team travelled to Rolls Royce, Derby and beat Derbyshire 9-7 to gain a place in the national quarter finals. Matt Gillings (Redditch), Kevin Hurney (Longbridge), Lee Davis (Malvern), John Wrench (Kidderminster), Harry Evans (Redditch), and Ian Clarke (Malvern) won their games. See match card.

The decisive round 4 game at Kidderminster

Kidderminster President’s Cup results

25 Feb 2026 John Wrench reports. Eighteen players took part in this rapidplay (10+5) tournament. Joe Friar made a complete sweep winning all his five games. Second was John Wrench on 4 and Mark Riley was third on 3 points. The decisive game came in round 4 when the top two seeds Joe Friar and John Wrench met both with 3/3. In a very close game a draw looked the most likely outcome, but a mistake by John with only a few pieces left on the board allowed Joseph to find the winning move despite having only seconds left on his clock.

Worcestershire Wolfpack A and B teams lack bite

7 Feb 2026. Round 3 of 4NCL Main Online was disappointing. Both the A and the B teams lost 1½- 2½ and the C and D teams played each other. The C team won, but it was a tough battle. Cory Hazlehurst (Longbridge), Jim O’Dell (Kidderminster), Glenn Cox (Kidderminster) and Nick Hanne (Hereford) won their games. See details.

Worcestershire winners at Coventry

15 Feb 2026. Alaric Stephen (Worcester) won the Intermediate (u1750) tournament with a clean sweep of five victories. Joe Friar (Kidderminster) was joint second with 4 points in the Coventry Open. Nigel Towers played in the Major (2000) and scored 3 points. See full results.

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 president of Worcester & District Cless 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.