Lido School of Chess Rapid Play Day 10th May

 The Lido School of Chess are running a rapid play day on Saturday 10th May 2025. The event takes place at Barr View Primary Academy, Aldridge Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, B448NT. Congratulations to the Lido School who go from strength to strength. To play or for further information please check out the entry form.

Team Staffordshire at Chess.com

 Paul Hodgson is the organiser of Team Staffordshire who play matches using correspondence mode on Chess.com. For further information check here or for further details of contact Paul.

Staffordshire Chess Congress is back

 The Staffordshire Chess Congress for 2025 will be held at the King's Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August. The Staffordshire Chess Association and the NSDCA thank Stoke-on-Trent City Council for their generous sponsorship and provision of the hall. Further details and an online entry form are available here

Robert Milner

Robert Milner has announced that he standing down both as President of the Staffordshire Chess Association and as Chairman of the North Staffs and District Chess Association. Eyesight problems have made it very difficult for him to continue in his roles and as an Association we wish him all the best for the future and we hope that he will continue to advise the Committee when possible.

County Teams share venue against Lincolnshire

 The Staffordshire Chess Association Teams had a double match with Lincolnshire on Saturday 17th January at Bramcote in Nottingham. The Under 1650 team drew 6-6, most of the matches were drawn, but there were wins for our two youngest players, Malcolm Fletcher a Junior from Stafford Chess Club and Daniel Jones represents both Bushbury and Brewood.

First Team Captain Andrew Smith had difficulties raising a side and unfortunately he was unable to play himself due to illness on the day. A four board deficit was conceded before the match began and with Lincolnshire having several players with a 2000+ rating the score of 1.5 to 10.5 was probably better than expected. There were draws for Pavel Nefyodov (Stafford), Mircea-Marius Mesesan (Tamworth and Lichfield) and Richard Anderson (Lichfield).

Full scorecards may be viewed on the MCCU website, or the LMS

The Minor Counties (first team) and the Under 1650 team have finished their fixtures for the 2024-5 Midland Counties Championship and both teams are unlikely to be invited to participate in the National County Championship. As the only entrant in the Under 1450 competition, Staffordshire has a bye to the U1450 National Stages.

Andrew Smith deserves praise for the work he is undertaken in leading the Staffordshire first team, and let's not hope he is too disheartened. Well done Andrew.

Mercia Chess Club New Venue

 Mercia Chess Club have moved to a new venue:

Hurst Hill Labour Club, 22 Clifton St, Bilston, WV14 9EY

They still meet on Tuesdays starting at 19:30





U1650 Staffordshire draw with Worcestershire

 Saturday 23rd November saw the Staffordshire Under 1650 team host Worcestershire in the latest round of the Midland Counties Championship. The match was played at a new venue to the SCA, Acton Tussell Community Centre, which proved a very satisfactory match space. The match was tied six all, and featured the debut of two juniors, Malcolm Fletcher of Stafford and Aarav Sohi of Rushall and Staffordshire Juniors who achieved a win on board 11 and a draw on the 9th board respectively. For full scorecard please see the MCCU website.