Detailed History 2010 to 2020

The annual Tony Evers memorial match was held on 30/6/2010. This is an end of season friendly match against Halesowen with a buffet and raffle. The match was a disaster for Stourbridge. Halesowen were the underdogs on paper with lower rated players on most boards. They put in an excellent performance to win the 10 board match by 6 ½ to 3 ½. The only Stourbridge player to win was club secretary Dave Scriven who is still in excellent form.

The concluding round of Stourbridge Chess Club ’s annual Summer tournament has been played. This was a five round swiss tournament with one round every fortnight. The deciding match was between Dave Scriven and Nick Harris. Nick managed to win a pawn in the middle game. He then swapped off the pieces to secure an end game where he had a superior position. He won another pawn which meant the game was won despite some stern defence from Dave. Nick would have repeated his last year’s performance of scoring a perfect 5 out of 5 had he not had to miss one of the rounds due to illness. Julie Wilson came 2nd on 3 ½. Dave Scriven was awarded a prize for his excellent win against the top club player Jeremy Fallowfield. Grading prizes went to Graham Toone and Steve Alcock.

The Costa Coffee chess challenge was held on 14th August 2010 from 10:00am to 3:00pm. It was in Costa coffee in the Ryemarket. The idea is that Stourbridge Chess Club members would sit playing chess there and challenge members of the public to a game. Any member of the public who won got a free cup of coffee.

While playing for Wales in the 2010 olympiad, Julie Wilson sent this email.

Just to let you know, I am alive and well in Khanty-Mansyisk Siberia. Contrary to expectations the hotel had been built and was ready for us. So we're staying in a nice 5 star hotel. The food is also fine except it gives me indigestion ! There's lots of choice though.

We're playing in the tennis centre which is about 10 minutes drive from here. We get taken there by bus usually at about 2:10pm for a 3pm start which means there's a lot of hanging about. The problem is they're enforcing the rule that if you're not sat at the board at the start of the match you lose !

The time control is 40 in 90 then 30 minutes are added, there's also a 30 second increment added on per move.

There are 5 in each team with 4 playing in any match. I'm board 4 but because we are rotating the players that means I usually play on board 3.

In round 1 we played agains France and lost 3.5-0.5 with Olivia drawing on board 1. My opponent won a pawn but I got quite a lot of play for it and fritz actually put me ahead for a while.

In the second round we lost 2.5 - 1.5 against Surinam which we had expected to win. I was not playing which was a good thing as I was ill the night before. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Suzy and Lynda tried too hard to win. I think the Surimamers were young players and played quite a bit above their rating. Unfortunately non-players are not allowed in the playing area so I could not watch the games. The provision for spectators is very poor and there are no demo boards.

In round 3 we played against Mozambique and won 4-0. They were not very good, although I was very nervous in my game and did not play well. I gave her a knight fork. We had a very unfriendly Russian arbiter. In my game there was a dispute. We played 40 moves, then my opponent played her 41st. I then had a long think about whether or not I had forced mate with a rook and 2 bishops. The possible checks were quite complicated. My clock went down to 0 and did not add on the 30 minutes. My opponent called over the arbiter who then took us to another table and insisted on playing through the games on the scoresheets and correcting all the mistakes. My opponent had a lot of mistakes ! All this was done through 2 very poor interpreters who knew nothing about chess ! Also I was dying to go to the loo, as I'd planned on going when we reached time control and in fact had to rush off. Fortunately our captain took over at this stage. I don't know why they could not just go to a computer to check ! The whole thing seemed to faze my opponent more than me so I then had no difficulty winning.

In round 4 we played Jordan. They were also an up and coming young team. The definitely knew how to play. In my game I was starting a king side attack but missed a combination on the queens side, lost a piece and gave her the apparent opportunity to win material. i decided to ignore that and go all out for the kingsside attack and it worked. I went through it with Fritz and it's very difficult to defend. The final position on the internet is wrong because she set the pieces up when we finished. I played the knight fork on king and queen and she resigned. We drew the match.

In round 5 we played against Taipei. Unfortunately I had not slept the night before and played crap against a 12 year old. I was well ahead and should have traded 2 rooks for a queen and pawn to be queen and bishop versus rook, knight and bishop with the possibility of picking up several pawns. Instead I messed up big time and she got a draw by perpetual.

Tomorrow I'll be black on board 3 against Portugal and hope to repeat my previous victory against them.

Today is a rest day. Last night there was the bermuda party but I did not go. I'm too old and it goes on all night. We went into K-m today and wandered round. It's a nice city, all very modern and geared up for the cold. They have heated subways. Energy is very cheap here. We went to the orthodox cathedral where the people were coming out from a special service ( a confirmation maybe) lovely to see. We managed to get lunch at a self-service cafe where we could point at what we wanted. Noone speaks English here ! They've ferried in all the English speakers in Ugra province to help. Myram assigned to the Welsh teams is an English teacher but speaks very poor English and does not understand a lot. We then visited the museum of man and nature which was very good. After that we were getting cold so came back to hotel.

This year’s Christmas blitz tournament was played in 2 groups with players playing each other twice – once with black and once with white. The time control was a fast 5 minutes per person per game. The championship group was won by Jeremy Fallowfield with a perfect score and the challengers group was won by Julie Wilson.

Stourbridge got the wooden spoon in dudley division 1

The 2010/2011 chess season has now drawn to a close. It brought mixed results for Stourbridge Chess Club .

In the division 2 of the Birmingham league, Stourbridge first team were in contention for promotion to the prestigious first division but could only finish 4th. They won 6 , drew 4 and lost 2 matches.

Stourbridge Chess Club held it’s AGM on 8th June. The following awards were made:

 
• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven for the 7th consecutive year. Dave puts in a tremendous amount of work as both club secretary and treasurer
 
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was shared by Paul Sharratt and Colin Woodall. They are both relative new-comers to the club and their play has improved tremendously throughout the season.
 
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Jeremy Fallowfield who put in an excellent performance as board one for the first team in both the Birmingham and Wolverhampton leagues.

This year’s Tony Evers memorial match against Halesowen was hosted by Stourbridge. There was no stopping Stourbridge who won the 10 board match easily by 7 ½ to 2 ½ with the bottom 6 boards all winning. New comer Leon van Rensberg looked very promising in his win against the experienced Joyce Evans.

The Stourbridge Chess Club summer tournament has now come to an end after 5 rounds. The overall winner was undefeated Dave Davies with 4.5 out of 5. In the deciding match in the last round he played against tournament organiser Julie Wilson who was on 3 points. Julie gained a slight advantage but pressed too hard for the win. She made an error and was forced to resign a few moves later. Equal second were Don Curry and Julie Wilson on 3 points. The grading prize went to John Loynes who ended on 2 ½ points after beating higher rated Dave Scriven in the last round.

The past season brought mixed results for Stourbridge with the first team not living up to expectations while the second team players put in some tremendous performances. In the Wolverhampton league the first team were relegated from division one to division two while the second team put in a great performance as runners up in division 3. They won 7 matches and lost 3 and will be promoted to division 2. For the first time in many years, Stourbridge fielded a team in division 2 of the Worcester and District Chess League. The team finished second and were offered promotion to division one. However this was declined as the standard of play is much higher in division one and Stourbridge wish to field a less experienced team in this league.

Stourbridge Chess Club held it’s AGM on 30th May. The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven for the 8th consecutive year. Dave puts in a tremendous amount of work as both club secretary and treasurer
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player was awarded to Jeremy Humphries..
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to to Steve Jukes who put in an excellent performance for the first team in the Birmingham league.

The team Captains for the forthcoming season are as follows:

• BDCL Div 2 – Dave Scriven (League and Cup)
• BDCL Div 3 – Eric Horwill (League and Cup)
• WDCL Div 2: ‘A’ team – Dave Scriven (League and Pittaway Cup)
• WDCL Div 2: ‘B’ team – Jeremy Humphries (League and Humphreys Cup)
• DDCL Div 1 – Julie Wilson
• Worcester Div 2 – Paul Sharratt 

Tony Evers match 2012

In the last round of the Stourbridge Chess Club Summer tournament, leaders Jeremy Fallowfield and Don Curry both won and thereby tied for first place. Jeremy won a piece fairly early on against Ricky Brookes. Ricky got a lot of counter play for the piece but it was not enough to get on terms with Jeremy who defended the position very accurately. In his game against Don Curry, Colin Woodall managed to get his rook trapped leading to Don winning the exchange. Don then had an overwhelming attack forcing Colin to resign. Steve Alcock won a pawn against Tony Taylor but was unable to bring home the win and had to settle for a draw in the resulting rook and pawn end game. The results were as follows:

 Half point bye to Julie Wilson

The joint winners were Jeremy Fallowfield and Don Curry (Halesowen) on 4 out of 5. The match between them was drawn, and both players took a half point bye.

Julie, Ricky Brookes and Tony Taylor (Halesowen) all scored 2, with Colin on 1½ and Steve A on 1.

Stourbridge Chess Club held its pre-season blitz tournament on Wednesday 29th August with the fast time control of 7 minutes per person per game. Club top player Jeremy Fallowfield played true to form and won the tournament with an impressive score of six and a half out of seven. Only club secretary Dave Scriven was able to prevent him from scoring a perfect 100%. Dave played an excellent attack but had insufficient time to calculate the moves and was forced to settle for a draw by perpetual check. Andrew Moore finished second with 6 points.

Wednesday saw both Stourbridge teams playing in the first round of the Terrill trophy. This is a knock-out cup organised by the Birmingham league on a handicap basis. The second team played away against Boldmere. As Boldmere also play in division 3 neither team had a handicap. Boldmere fielded a much stronger team on paper but Stourbridge put in a fantastic performance to draw the match 3-3 and progress on board count! We won on boards 1 and 6 with Boldmere winning boards 3 and 5.

Meanwhile the first team who play in division 2, hosted Shirley & Wythall, a division 3 team. We had to overcome a 1.5 handicap, but Shirley & Wythall helped by defaulting board 6, leaving us to get 3 points from the 5 games that were played. On the night, Steve Jukes played well on board 5 to win a piece and eventually won his game. Unfortunately Stourbridge board 3 went wrong in a complicated position and lost. This leaves us with 3 games adjourned. On board one, Jeremy Fallowfield has the better position but no obvious win. His father Nic is a pawn up on board 2 so should bring home the win. Dave Scriven on board 4 has a monstrous king side attack and it’s likely his opponent will resign rather than returning to play on. So the firsts should also make it through to round 2.

Wednesday saw Stourbridge Chess Club with 2 home matches. Our first team hosted Shirley & Wythall in Birmingham league division 2. We outgraded our opponents on all boards, some significantly. Could we play to the level our grades suggested and get the win? From the early exchanges, it was looking good. Then a cry of despair from board 3, as Nick Harris touched the wrong piece. It could have been a disaster with a piece lost, but in the end the only thing lost was most of Nick's advantage. A draw was agreed soon afterwards. Dave Scriven had come out the opening well and was actually a knight and a couple of pawns up, with a pawn on the 7th rank, but his opponent seemed to have some tremendous pressure thanks to his heavy pieces on the semi-open b-file and his strong Bishop. Dave found a killer combination and sacrificed his queen for his bishop to leave him with a completely won position. With us now ahead, the other 4 games are all adjourned. On board one Jeremy Fallowfield has a great position and it’s expected that his opponent will resign without returning. His father Nic on board 2, is a pawn up and has winning chances. We should be able to at least draw the other 2 boards.

Our Worcester and District team also played, with Sam Bradley making his debut and new member Helen Kirkby also playing after her recent success at Boldmere. There was no fairytale ending as we lost 2.5-1.5. Colin Woodall secured an early draw and Paul Sharratt won on board one.

This week saw an overstretched Stourbridge with 3 matches and the results were surprisingly good.

In the Birmingham league division 3, the second team hosted a very strong Wolverhampton team. We were outgraded on every board and the difference showed in the results. The score stands at 5-0 in Wolverhampton’s favour. It’s now up to team captain Eric Horwill on board one to prevent the whitewash. He is currently adjourned in a favourable position against a much higher graded opponent, so looks likely to pull off an upset.

On Monday the B team in Wolverhampton division 2 played away against Rushall and won 4½-1½. The team is finding it tough in division 2 and this is their first win of the season. They need a few more wins to stay clear of relegation.

The half way point of the season is here, and Stourbridge Chess Club are doing well.

Our Birmingham division 2 team are comfortably in the top half of the division and in the Terrill trophy quarter final.

Our Birmingham division 3 team are mid-table, though some clubs have played a ridiculously low number of matches so far, and also in the Terrill trophy quarter final.

Unfortunately, the two Stourbridge teams are drawn against each other and play on 9th January so one Stourbridge team will be knocked out. With the handicap system it’s not so clear-cut which team that will be!.

Our Wolverhampton division 2 'A' team are sitting pretty at the top of the division with the title ours for the taking after a great win at Wolverhampton.

Our Wolverhampton division 2 'B' team are struggling, as expected after promotion last season.

Our Dudley division 1 team are surprisingly top of the table, but it won't last.

Our Worcester league team are in the top half of their division with a 50% record so far.

A new year's blitz tournament was held on 9th january. 10 players participated, including a new member who said he had played 29 years ago. What he didn't say was how well he played 29 years ago! Nick Arkell is the younger brother to grandmaster Keith! When Keith was playing on board 1 for Worcestershire, Nick was on board 2. He may be rusty, but he was certainly strong enough to beat everyone except Jeremy. Nick will hopefully be joining us.

As expected the competition was won by Jeremy Fallowfield with a perfect 9/9. Second place, and the prize of SCC membership, was won by Nick Arkell with 8/9. Greg Dyett was third with 6/9. Dave Scriven and John Foxall both scored 5. John Loynes did well to score 4.5 and Steve Jukes scored 4 with Eric Horwill surprisingly only scoring 2.5. Steve Alcock and Colin Woodall enjoyed the evening.

On Monday the first team travelled to Rugeley for a potential banana skin in our quest for the Wolverhampton division 2 title. Rugeley have some competent players but often have lower graded reserves. We struggled to assemble a team, so many thanks to reserves Colin Woodall and Helen Kirkby for agreeing to play. Rugeley had managed to assemble their strongest team for a while, including someone who hadn’t played so far this season. This could be very tricky, especially as their lower graded reserves were not playing, so our own reserves would be up against it. It looked like we would need the higher boards to score the necessary points.

First to finish was Helen who lost. This was quickly avenged by board one, Jeremy Fallowfield who gained an advantage in the opening, launched a kingside attack and won. In similar style, his father Nic Fallowfield on board 2 gained the initiative in the opening, launched an attack and won. Colin Woodall also won against a much higher rated opponent. Steve Jukes drew to give us the match 3½-2½.

We now have two matches left to secure the title. Mercia at home and Lichfield away.

On 20th February we hosted the Terrill trophy semi-final match against Tamworth. Stourbridge fielded what was probably the strongest team we have had for many seasons. Our board six was graded 158! Tamworth are leading Division 2 with a perfect 8/8 and can be very strong. Home advantage was vital. Not only did it strengthen us but it weakened Tamworth because some of their better players would not travel and they arrived with 3 reserves.

On board 1, Jeremy Fallowfield and Phil Briggs has basically taken the opening manual all schoolboys have (develop pieces, get King safe) and ripped it up. Jeremy launched a king side attach down the open ‘h’ file and eventually won

Meanwhile on board 2, Nic Fallowfield with black got into an amazing position. Nic only had his queen and knight developed! His other pieces were still at home, as were all his remaining pawns. White on the other hand had his queen on b7 threatening to win the a8 rook or mate. White only had 1 pawn developed while other pieces were also at home. Was Nic busted? No, because the white King was doing the hokey-cokey between the 3rd and 4th ranks. Nic managed to keep checking his opponent while simultaneously developing his pieces and castling into safety. He then delivered checkmate. A fantastic game!

On board 6 Dave Scriven got a 2 pawn advantage against a passive opponent and won. Greg Dyett also won. The other 2 boards were draws meaning that Stourbridge won the match 5-1.

On Thursday our first team in division 2 of the Wolverhampton league travelled with 3 reserves to Lichfield knowing that avoiding defeat would mathematically secure the promotion that has been inevitable for several months. It would also mean we could still win the Div 2 title.

Both Nick Arkell and Dave Scriven’s opponents chose to play drawish lines, resulting in the inevitable draw.

Meanwhile, from a wild position, Eric Horwill was able to swap off the pieces and end up a pawn up in a rook and pawn end game which he then promptly won.

Steve Alcock played some wonderful moves to win couple of pawns and get a strong attack. Promotion, here we come. Then the time control approached. With only a few minutes remaining several people gathered round the board to study a fantastic position where several pieces were en-prise in several lines. If you had 20 minutes you may have worked it all out, but with his flag hanging Steve sensibly accepted his opponent’s draw offer.

In time trouble, Paul Sharrat in a good position, dropped his queen and was forced to resign. Fortunately, Steve Jukes had a great position which his opponent resigned, so we won the match 3½-2½ and with it promotion to division 1.

On Wednesday 20th we host Mercia. If we avoid defeat we are the champions. Also last week on Wednesday 13th, our second team played Mercia in Birmingham division 3 and drew the match 3-3.

The same night saw Greg Dyett playing his adjourned game against South Birmingham ‘A’. Unfortunately Greg had the worst of the adjourned position and was down on time but the position was still playable and his opponent would have to work to win it. We offered a draw to draw the match, but they declined, obviously believing they had winning chances. What can I say? Their guy went wrong and Greg, who was just hoping to hold the draw, actually won. Excellent! With this result and Warley Quinborne’s loss to South Birmingham ‘B’ we are now in contention for promotion to the prestigious division 1 of the Birmingham league.

Thursday saw the resumption of the 4 adjourned games from the Terrill final with Stourbridge required to get 2 points from the 4 games. It was a brave effort from Stourbridge in the Terrill, but we lost by the narrowest of margins.

Nick Arkell’s sealed move was a mistake and he lost quickly as did Dave Scriven who’s adjourned position was also lost. We were left to rely on Jeremy Fallowfield and Steve Jukes to get the miracle two wins we needed. Steve was always looking drawn at most and when he shook hands the match was decided.

Jeremy pulled off an amazing win against 213 Pitcher to give the final score 4.5 - 4 to South Birmingham (including the 2.5 point handicap).

Wednesday was also a busy night for Stourbridge. Our Birmingham division 2 team hosted Mutual Circle with our promotion chances entirely in our own hands. Mutual Circle arrived with a seriously depleted team. I expected us to win easily, and indeed we did. 5-1 with wins for Nic Fallowfield, Nick Arkell, Greg Dyett and Steve Jukes with draws for Nick Harris and Dave Scriven.

 In Birmingham division 3 Westminster arrived at Stourbridge knowing 1 point would see them promoted. They brought some big guns with them, but also some weak reserves. We had a decent team assembled, so we should have been capable of giving them a good game. I don’t think anyone expected us to thump them 5-1. Great result. Westminster are now in a play-off for promotion.

On Thursday, in Worcester league division 2 we drew 2-2 away against Worcester thanks mainly to a super win in 17 moves by junior Daniel Arkell! This was Dan’s first win for the club.

On Thursday in the Birmingham league division 2, Warley Quinborne lost their final match against Tamworth and this means that Stourbridge will be promoted to division 1. So next season the first team will be division one of both the Wolverhampton and Birmingham league.

The past season was one of the best ever for Stourbridge with double promotion to division 1 of the Wolverhampton league and to the prestigious division 1 of the Birmingham league.

We were champions of Wolverhampton division 2 with a perfect 100% record.

We also won division 1 of the Dudley league.

Stourbridge Chess Club held it’s AGM on 5th June. The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven for the 9th consecutive year. Dave puts in a tremendous amount of work as club secretary, treasurer and first team captain.
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was awarded to Steve Alcock who consistently played well often against stronger opposition.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Jeremy Fallowfield who put in an excellent performance on board one for the first team, leading them to promotion to division 1 in both the Birmingham and Wolverhampton league. Jeremy also put in a stellar performance in the Terrill trophy beating significantly higher graded opposition in both the semi-final and the final.

The team Captains for the forthcoming season are as follows:

• BDCL Div 1 – Dave Scriven (League and Cup)
• BDCL Div 3 – Paul Sharratt (League and Cup)
• WDCL Div 1: ‘A’ team – Dave Scriven (League and Pittaway Cup)
• WDCL Div 3: ‘B’ team – Paul Sharratt (League and Humphreys Cup)
• WDCL Div 4 'C' team - Paul Sharratt
• DDCL Div 1 – Julie Wilson
• Worcester Div 2 – Paul Sharratt 

Tony Evers match 2013

The match was played over 11 boards. On paper it looked like the result could be close with Stourbridge only outgrading their opponents significantly on the bottom 3 boards. Stourbridge put in a tremendous performance to win the match 7½-3½ (the same as last year) . Nic Fallowfield on board one set a great example on board one against the higher graded Stewart Fishburne. He won a piece with a tactic early on and then went to bring home the win.

Thanks to Eric Horwill for providing the buffet. It was the final part of his 80th birthday celebration. We presented Eric with a memento of his time at Stourbridge Chess Club, which started in the 1940’s, not long after Brian had joined.

Our internal Summer Swiss tournament involved 11 players competing over 5 rounds. After 4 rounds Dave Scriven led with 3½ while Jeremy Fallowfield and Julie Wilson had 3 points. In the final round Dave had black against Jeremy while Julie played Steve Alcock. When Julie agreed a draw it meant the winner would be determined over the board between Jeremy and Dave.

Jeremy had a big attack against Dave’s exposed King, but Dave exchanged off to a level position. Jeremy then pushed hard in a minor piece ending, but again Dave defended well and eventually sacrificed a knight for a pawn to force a drawn game.

Dave won the competition with 4/5 with Julie and Jeremy joint second on 3½.

The start of the season has been tough for Stourbridge Chess Club with them failing to win a match so far. In Birmingham division 1, for the first time in the club’s history we had a grandmaster Keith Arkell playing on board one but even this was not enough to defeat a strong Olton team. In a tough away match Stoubridge had to field two reserves both of whom lost. Greg Dyett and Nick Arkell both agreed draws leaving it up to the top two boards to win to draw the match. After looking at the positions this seemed an unlikely proposition so they both agreed draws to give Olton the match 4-2.

The second team were away against Westminster in division 3 of the Birmingham league and also lost 4-2. The only bright spot being John Foxall’s win. Steve Jukes and reserve Colin Woodall both drew.

The week started with Walsall Kipping accepting our offer of two draws in the Wolverhampton league division 1 match to give us the win. We now have only the two adjourned games left against Bushbury to complete the season in this division. There are three teams still in title contention, but the other two are favourites ahead of Stourbridge.

 On Monday the Birmingham league 3 team played host to Boldmere in the final match of the season. A win would keep us in the hunt for promotion, but Boldmere always give us a good contest. And so it proved! The games were all very tight throughout. The top 5 boards all eventually agreed draws but Tony Shaw on Board 6, missed Loach's threat of a mate in 2 and lost for the first time this season in this division! This result means we finish third in division 3 and just miss out on promotion.

 Also on Monday our Dudley division 3 team hosted Bushbury. A last minute withdrawal left us a player short and the 115 maximum grade limit meant we couldn’t find a suitable reserve, so we, embarrassingly, defaulted a board in a home match. Dan and Charlie-Ann Arkell both lost but Sam Bradley avoided the whitewash by winning on board 1.

 On Wednesday 10 players from Halesowen visited us; 6 for the Birmingham league division 1 match and 4 for the Wolverhampton league division 4 match. In the Wolverhampton league match , whilst we started ahead in some games, blunders cost us and we ended up comprehensively thumped 4-0. However Halesowen may have fielded an ineligible player which could result in Stourbridge being awarded the match !

The Birmingham league division 1 match was far closer. We were close to full strength and fielded just one reserve Dave Scriven on board 6. Halesowen, who are still far too close to the relegation trap door, arrived with their strongest team of the season. This was going to be close, but we were probably favourites. On board 3 Nic Fallowfield and Malcom Hunt agreed a quick draw. This was followed by a draw on board 6. The other 4 games are all adjourned and the most likely match outcome is a draw.

 Next week on Thursday it is Trophy Finals night at Warley Quinborne with Stourbridge fielding teams in both finals.

The week started with the Dudley division one team hosting Rushall on Monday. On paper the teams were evenly matched. On board 2, Julie Wilson soon gained the upper hand when her opponent misplayed the opening. Julie eventually wrapped up a convincing win. Dave Scriven won a pawn in the opening and then gradually won 3 more pawns. It was only when Dave threatened to win hi rook that his opponent resigned. The remaining 2 players Nick Arkell and john Foxall both accepted draws to give the match.

The club are title contenders in Wolverhampton division 1 with everything resting on the outcome of 2 adjourned games from the match against Bushbury. The match score was 2-2. First to play his was Nic Fallowfield who had done his homework on the position. Nic was a pawn ahead in a difficult queen and bishop versus queen and knight endgame which he managed to convert into a win. So we had at least drawn the match.

Next to play was Eric Horwill who had an inferior position. If Eric could win, we win the league, but that wasn’t going to happen. If he could draw it, we would have at least a play-off for the league title, but that was unlikely to happen. Eric somehow managed to block everything up and his opponent, in disbelief at his own inability to convert the position, shook hands on a draw. We’d done it! A great result and the title was 95% ours. Only Lichfield could stop us now. They had 3 adjourned games and needed to win all 3 to force a title decider play-off on game points. If they dropped just one half point the title was ours. Fortunately for Stourbridge they have now dropped half a point and Stourbridge are the Wolverhampton division one champions with 6 wins 2 draws and one loss. A great achievement !

Thursday night was Birmingham league finals night. Stourbridge had teams in both finals. Our first division team were facing third division Redditch in the Terrill trophy final. Due to the handlicap system based on divisions we had to win 5-1 to win the match. This was quite a tall order and meant all the Stourbridge players had to play for a win.

First to finish were Greg Dyett with a draw and Nick Harris with a win. Then there was a shock result on board one. Grand master Keith Arkell pushed too hard for a win, blundered away a piece and lost so Redditch had the 1.5 points they needed to win the trophy ! Next to finish was Jeremy Humphries the reserve on board 6 who won against a higher rated opponent. Jeremy Fallowfield also won but Nick Arkell lost a long 4 hour game. 3.5-2.5 to Stourbridge, but the Trophy had been lost nearly two hours earlier. This was not the result we expected.

Our third division team were facing 2nd division Sutton Coldfield in the final of the Homer cup for teams knocked out in the first round of the Terrill. Again due to the handicap system we needed 2.5 over the boards. John Foxall launched a decisive attack and won his game. Eric Horwill was forced to concede when he went 3 pawns down in an endgame. On board one Julie Wilson blundered away a knight and is adjourned in a lost position. The other 3 boards are also adjourned with Dave Scriven definitely ahead. Paul Sharrat and Tony Shaw are both a pawn down, so it will be a tough fight to gain the 1.5 points required to lift the trophy.

2013- 2014 has been a fantastic season for the club. We were champions of divisions 1 and 3 in the Wolverhampton league and runners up in division 1 of the Dudley league. Even more pleasing is the number of new members who have joined for this season. They are very welcome additions to Stourbridge and have played far more than expected. We are the only Midlands club with a grand master playing regularly. As a result of this we will be fielding more teams next season.

The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven (10th consecutive year)
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was presented to Sam Bradley.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Keith Arkell.

The annual post-season friendly Tony Evers match against Halesowen was held on July 16th at the Stourbridge Institute. The match was played over 11 boards. On paper it looked like Stourbridge should win as they outgraded their opponents on most boards. Stourbridge put in a tremendous performance to win the match 7½-3½ (the same as the last 2 years) . it would have been an even worse defeat if Stourbridge had not loaned then Craig Hutton who won on board 11.

Tony Evers Memorial Match Results

We had 14 entries for the Summer tournament which included some guests. This year it was won by Jeremy Fallowfield on 4½. (4 wins and a bye). Julie Wilson and Martin Berridge tied for second. This was a great performance by Martin who was awarded the grading prize

The pre-season blitz tournament was held on 27th August. This year there were 15 entries who insisted on a playing an all-play-all round robin tournament. An A3 printer will be needed if we carry on like this. The winner was Jeremy Fallowfield with an amazing perfect 15. Nick Arkell was second with an almost as good 14 points. John Foxall was third with 11.

2014- 2015 has been a good season for the club with us fielding more teams than we have done in recent years. Our new team in Birmingham division 5 finished second (just missing out on the title by the narrowest of margins) and will be promoted to division 4. Stourbridge won the 10th Humphreys Trophy with a narrow victory over neighbours Halesowen. This is organised by the Wolverhampton league for players graded under 130. This season we were also able to field a team made up almost entirely of junior players and are the only Midlands club with a grand master playing regularly.

Tony Shaw won the Ball cup as Worcester and District league indivdual champion,

The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven (10th consecutive year)
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was presented to Sam Bradley.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Nick Arkell.

We had 12 entries for the Summer tournament which included some guests. Julie Wilson with Jeremy Fallowfield on 4 points for first place. Jeremy could not play the last 2 rounds so Julie Wilson did not have to face him. The grading prize went to Jeremy Humphries with 3 points which included a good win against Dave Scriven.

Pre season blitz tournament 2015 Nick Arkell 10 Eric Horwill 7½ John Foxall 5 Julie Wilson 4 Martin Berridge 3½ Double round robin 5 mins per person

This was the first week of the season for Stourbridge Chess Club . We started with a bang as 13 players were in action on the first night, Wednesday 2nd September. In the Wolverhampton league we hosted Mercia in the first round of the Pittaway Cup (8 players) while our Wolverhampton league Division 3 team (5 players) travelled to Stafford.

Mercia are a division 2 team so they had a 2¼ handicap against Stourbridge meaning SCC needed to score 5½ over the 8 boards. Mercia were also finalists last season. We were very close to full strength with only one regular first team player missing. Mercia were a long way from full strength. Stourbridge heavily out-graded Mercia, with most players being graded 40 or more points higher than their opponents. But winning chess games isn’t always that easy, and the question was would Stourbridge score the number of wins needed?

However on the night it was much closer than expected. Stoubridge were 4-2 ahead and had to score 1½ from the last 2 games. Fortunately they won them both to make the final score 6-2.

Scc’s Wolverhampton division 3 team were missing 2 key players when they travelled north, whereas Stafford were at full strength, so they significantly out-graded SCC across the boards, with four boards over 20 points in their favour.

 First to finish was reserve Steve Alcock who won in 20 minutes and 11 moves. Two hours later Sam Bradley also won to make it 2-0. SCC now needed one point from three games to win the match which was secured by Martin Berridge and Colin Woodall both drawing.

The following night our Wolverhampton league Division 3 team had to play away again, this time at Wolverhampton. First to finish was Colin Woodall playing the Sicilian. Young Lewis Clarke went wrong in the opening. He lost his knight which got pinned making it 1-0 to Stourbridge. Jeremy Humphreys played solid game which ended in draw. Martin Berridge won a rook and proceeded to bring home the win. Steve Alcock won a knight and then won the endgame. Sam Bradley’s game was evenly balanced when Sam miscalculated a sacrifice and lost. Wolverhampton 1½ - 3½ Stourbridge

This is excellent. Wolverhampton out-graded us on every board, but not by much. Two matches in two nights, both away, both wins. Great start for the team. And best of all, players willing to play two in two nights to help out the club.

On Monday the Birmingham division 3 team travelled to Sutton Coldfield, looking for their first win of the season.

 The match seemed to be well balanced for about an hour or so, then the two reserves Sam Bradley and Colin Woodall began to establish an advantage. Dave Scriven agreed a draw while John Foxall went wrong in a good position, lost his advantage and also accepted a draw. Sam then completed a nice win, shortly afterwards so did Colin and SCC were 3-1 up. Unfortunately, Stourbridge were unable to hold the remaining 2 boards and both games were lost. The final result was 3-3, at last a point in this division.

 On Wednesday, the third team hosted a strong Birmingham University team in Birmingham division 4. Stourbridge came out of the openings well on all boards but then started to go wrong. Board 4 blundered a rook and quickly lost. This was followed by a loss on board 2. On board 1 Tony Shaw missed a winning combination and also lost. On board 6 junior Dan Arkell managed to force a stalemate from a lost position. Team captain Steve Alcock was unable to stop the rot and also lost.

This left Sam Bradley fighting for a win. Initially he had 4 pawns for two pieces but those four pawns were steaming down the king-side with nothing to stop them. Eventually his opponent gave back the material but was still unable to stop the remaining pawns advancing and lost on time.

So another lost match, however, Stourbridge have played most of the top teams in this division and are still capable of beating the remaining teams so still have some chance of retaining a place in Division 4.

In the week between Christmas and new year, Stourbridge Chess Club players took a well earned break from league matches and held their annual Christmas blitz tournament. Nine players played in a round-robin format with the fast time control of six minutes per player to complete the game. Jeremy Fallowfield showed his dominance at quick-play chess scoring 8½, losing a half point to Eric Horwill’s tactical play. Nick Arkell finished second with eight points.

Just before Christmas, the club faced Warley Quinborne twice with both the first and third teams playing them. In Wolverhampton league division one, SCC first team won 4-2 with wins for grandmaster Keith Arkell and Nic Fallowfield. The rest of the team all drew. The third team did not fare so well. Stourbridge fielded a team of youngsters who put up a good fight but all lost. However this is a great experience for them and bodes well for the future.

The week started on Monday when Stourbridge played at home against Halesowen in the Humphreys Cup semi-final. This competition is for players graded under 130. SCC were outgraded on every board, but not by much. First to finish was Colin Woodall with a draw by repetition. Then the Halesowen board one blundered and immediately resigned giving the win to Stourbridge’s Jeremy Hymphries. This meant only a draw was needed from one of the remaining two boards for Stourbridge to win on board count. In the end both games were drawn giving Stourbridge the match 2½-1½ and a place in the final. The Birmingham league division 3 team are in a very tight relegation battle along with 5 others. They faced Redditch on Tuesday and drew the match thanks to reserve Sam Bradley scoring a very credible win on board 6. Stourbridge’s four remaining matches are against other relegation candidates so there is still a good chance they will stay up.

Wednesday night was busy in the Birmingham league with Stourbridge’s division 1 and 4 teams both playing and fighting relegation. The division one team self-destructed against title chasing Sutton Coldfield. Only the top 2 boards Keith Arkell and Sabrina Chevannes managed to draw and the remaining four players all lost. That is an astounding result for Sutton Coldfield. SCCs losing 4 boards all had decent chances but somehow they all went against Stourbridge.

 The division 4 team’s relegation fight looked even more difficult having scored just 1 point in 8 matches and being 3 points adrift of safety with 3 matches remaining. Surprisingly, they got their first win of the season, beating Redditch 4-2. Colin Woodall and Dan Arkell both won with Tony Shaw, Jeremy Humphries, Sam Bradley and Martin Berridge all drawing. This was a great result which keeps Stourbridge’s hopes alive.

The week ended on Thursday when Stourbridge’s four youngsters made the short trip to Warley Quinborne in Wolverhampton division 4. SCC lost the match but Dan Arkell continued his good form with a perpetual draw against a much higher rated player.

With the end of the season approaching, Stourbridge Chess Club played four matches this week. The week started with the Wolverhampton league division 3 team, who have performed miracles this season, faltering with a 3-2 defeat to Halesowen. This almost hands Lichfield the title in what had been a two horse race. Stourbridge’s runners-up spot is also now in danger as their one remaining match is against Kidderminster who are also in contention.

The Birmingham league division 3 relegation battle was centre stage on Tuesday as SCC seconds travelled to Birmingham. Stourbridge needed a point from two matches to be safe whereas Birmingham were playing their last match and needed at least one point to have any chance of surviving. Stourbridge won 5-1 in a deceptively close match. The score line did not really reflect the closeness of the action.

On Wednesday, Stourbridge required 12 players for two matches. A very strong Wolverhampton league division 1 team travelled to Kidderminster with all five top players available and a good reserve to play the already relegated and in some disarray Kidderminster. It should have been a relatively easy win. In the end though Stourbridge won by the closest of margins 2½-3½ and are now second in the league two points behind leaders Lichfield but with two matches in hand.

At the same time Stourbridge fielded a very weak team in Birmingham league division 4 at home to Bushbury. With the team already relegated there was nothing left to play for. The team did as well as expected with a draw for Martin Berridge and a very good win for Colin Woodall so the final score was 1.5 – 4.5.

The season is definitely ending on a high note for Stourbridge Chess Club with this week bringing much success.

In Dudley division one, Stourbridge faced Halesowen on Monday for their final match in this division. Stourbridge were outgraded on every board except for board 4 where Halesowen fielded a strong ungraded player. Theoretically Halesowen should have won but Stourbridge thumped Halesowen 3½-½ with wins for Eric Horwill, Sam Bradley and Jeremy Humphries. This result meant there was a 3 way tie for first in the division but Stourbridge were confirmed as Dudley Division 1 Champions because they had won more individual games.

Also on Monday the BDCL Rules and Disputes Committee upheld Stourbridge’s complaint that South Birmingham had not played in strength order in their division tie. Stourbridge were therefore awarded the match. But unfortunately this was not enough to save Stourbridge from relegation.

The second team won their match against St Georges in the 3rd division of the Birmingham league by default and now finish mid table with a 50% record.

 Thursday night was Cup Final night. Stourbridge played against Brewood in the Wolverhampton league Humphreys Cup. This is for players graded under 130. Brewood had a decent team, but so did Stourbridge with Sam Bradley and Martin Berridge on fire this season. Stourbridge won! Sam won on board 1 with Jeremy Humphries , Colin Woodall and Martin Berridge all drawing. SCC retains the trophy that it also won last season.

Geoff Harris of Stourbridge died on 27 May 2016, aged 86 years. He hadn't played competitive chess for many years, but in his day he was a very strong player. Geoff Harris, a lifetime member of Stourbridge, was remembered at a memorial service at St Peter's Church, Pedmore. At his peak, Geoff was a 200+ player, twice champion of Worcestershire in 1961-2 and 1962-3. He represented England and of course Worcestershire in team play. His best performance in the British Championship was in 1954 when he was 6th. He played board 1 for the Lye team to win the Worcestershire Chess League and after the closure of that club joined Stourbridge. Again playing on board 1 he helped his team to win two BDCL championship and several Worcestershire titles. He is remembered as a "genuine gentleman of the chess board" and will be much missed by all.

We are champions of Dudley division 1. This year, the division started with 4 teams but then Wolverhampton withdrew so there were only 3. All 3 teams tied for first place but it was awarded to us because our match score was better. We won 2 and lost 2 but the 2 matches we lost were 2.5-1.5.

Paul Sharratt won the Ball cup as Worcester and District league indivdual champion,

We won the Humphreys cup

The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven (12th consecutive year)
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was presented jointly to Sam Bradley and Martin Berridge.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to grand master Keith Arkell.

Stourbridge players again dominated the county team with 5 members representing Worcestershire in the national final match for players graded under 140 against Surrey. Worcestershire won the match 10-6 despite being out-graded with an average grade of 127 as opposed to Surrey’s 129. Of the Stourbridge players, Sam Bradley and team captain Paul Sharratt won, Eric Horwill drew and Tony Shaw and Jeremy Humphries both lost. Following their success, team Captain Paul Sharratt said:

All the team and everyone connected with Worcestershire chess is delighted that a team representing the county has won a national title for the first time. The team has players from a number of local clubs - Droitwich, Greenlands, Halesowen, Kidderminster, Redditch, Stourbridge and Worcester. Given that the team entered the competition this season after a three-year absence it is remarkable that they have achieved this success so quickly.

The annual friendly Tony Evers match against Halesowen was played on 19th July. This time it was their turn to host it and the Lighthouse pub provided the buffet. Unfortunately it was on the hottest night of the year but despite this Stourbridge put up a good show and won 11½-3½ and in particular the Seekuge family defeated the Bowcott-Terry family 3-0.

We had 13 entries for the Summer tournament which included some guests. This year it was very close with most players playing all 5 rounds. The overall winner was Gathsara Seekkuge with 3½ followed by a 6 way tie for second.

The preseason blitz tournament was a 13 player round robin tournament with 5 minutes per person per game. It was won by Nic Fallowfield on a score of 12 - near perfect except for a loss to Gayathma Seekkuge in his first game. Equal second were Dave Scriven and John Foxall on 9½. There were a lot of (often overlooked) blunders but it was good fun.

The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven (13th consecutive year)
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was presented to Martin Berridge.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Dave Scriven for his stellar performances against higher rated opponents on board one of the first team.

Worcestershire

Stourbridge’s Greg Dyett represented Worcestershire in the midlands team championship. In his four matches he won one, lost one and drew two. Worcestershire won 3 and lost one match to share the title with Lincolnshire and are the Midland Counties Union's first nomination for the national stage of the Minor Counties Championship.

4 Stourbridge players Eric Horwill, Paul Sharratt, tony Shaw and Sam Bradley represented Worcestershire in the Midlands county team championships for players graded under 140. Worcestershire won their three matches and the championship. They are now through to the national stages. All the Stourbridge players did well and did not lose a single game between them.

We finished 4th in division 2 of the Worsestershire league and won division 2 of the Worcester league.

Dudley league

This year in division 1, there were only 3 teams so we played each other twice. We came second, losing to Warley Quinborne and beating Halesowen. There were two good performances. Colin on 2 out of 2 and Julie Wilson scored 2½ out of 3. In division 2 we finished 5th out of 9.

Wolverhampton League

We finished 10th out of 11 teams in division one and were relegated. In division 2 we did well to finish 6th.

We won the Humphreys cup

Birmingham League

This was a poor season for Stourbridge in division 2 we finished 10th out of 12 teams and wjust escaped relegated. In division 3 we finished 11th and were relegated.

Wolverhampton League

This season we had two teams in division 2. The first team won the division and the second team came 10th out of 11 but escaped relegation due to another team dropping out. The first team were helped by Zibbi Koncki who with black won 4 and drew 2.

Birmingham League

We finished third in division 2 and fifth in division 4.

Worcestershire

In both the Worcestershire and the Worcester and district league we finished second in division 2.

Dudley

We finished 4th out of 4 teams in division 1 and decided not to play in this division again as there is not enough interest in the club. In division 2 we finished 10th out of 10 teams.

The following awards were made:

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, was presented to Dave Scriven (13th consecutive year)
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy, awarded for most improved player, was presented to Joe Bombardini. Joe was new to chess and has made rapid progress.
• The Sydney Willets Trophy, awarded to the best club player, was presented to Zibby Koncki for his fighting style and excellent results on board one.

The annual post-season friendly Tony Evers match against Halesowen was held on July 24th at Halesowen. It was a fourteen board match. Stourbridge out graded their opponents on the higher boards but Halesowen looked better on the lower boards where Stourbridge fielded four less experienced juniors. In the end the final result was a 4½-9½ win for Stourbridge with Stourbridge’s top eight boards all winning. Even against lower rated opposition this is still a good consistent performance.

Results

On the 29th August, Stourbridge Chess Club held the first Brian Dudley memorial blitz chess tournaments in memory of the club’s former president and county champion Dr Brian Dudley.

Players were invited from neighbouring clubs to participate in either a junior or an adult tournament.  Both tournaments had a fast time control of 10 minutes per person per game.

The final results were a clean sweep for Stourbridge even though only a quarter of the participants were Stourbridge players.

The junior tournament was a five round round robin and was won by Stourbridge’s Ethan Chan Smith on a perfect 5 point score.  Kidderminster’s  Cameron Henry came second.

The main tournament had thirty entrants and was originally intended to be a 7 round Swiss tournament. After three rounds father and son Nic and Jeremy Fallowfield shared the lead on 3 out of 3. They were playing each other in a potentially decisive game in the fourth round when there was a power failure and play had to be stopped!  Fortunately, the power came back on after 25 minutes and play resumed but this meant the tournament had to be cut to 6 rounds in order to be completed on time.  In the end maturity and experience triumphed over youth with Nic winning his fourth round tie against his higher rated son.

After 6 rounds, Nic won the tournament with 5.5 points winning 5 games and drawing one against Kidderminster’s third placed Joseph Friar.  Jeremy Fallowfield who now plays for Shirley and Wythall finished second on five points.

Stourbridge’s Hossam Aboushady took the Under-145 prize on 4 points, and Jeremy Humphries the Under-125 on 3.5 points.

The 2018/19 chess season is now well and truly underway. On Wednesday Stourbridge Chess Club played their opening match in Wolverhampton division one at home versus Stafford. Unfortunately, Stourbridge were missing 3 of their top four players but were able to field their best reserves. The Stafford team sheet showed two strong players on boards one and two with international master Lawrence Cooper on board one but boards four and five were weaker than expected and board six was as ungraded beginner. After the first ten minutes of play it all looked good for Stoubridge and Stafford’s board two player had not arrived. On board six, Martin Berridge launched an attack and was soon ahead. Multiple mating threats were defended, but only at the cost of material; first an exchange then a piece win to leave Martin a rook ahead and a severe attack still in progress. A more experienced opponent would have resigned, but his beginner opponent played on. He didn’t quite see the end was inevitable and when he grabbed a pawn he completely missed it allowed mate in 1. Stourbridge were ahead. Meanwhile the Stafford board two player had still not arrived. His clock ticked down until after 80 minutes his flag fell and Stourbridge’s lead in the match doubled. Next to finish was Hossam Aboushady on board 3. Having played well he managed to win a pawn with an invading rook. He also had a central pawn mass ready to rumble forward. Clearly ahead, he then pressed too hard and had to settle for a draw when his opponent defended well. Stoubridge now needed just 1 point to win the match. Board 5 Sam Bradley tried hard to make something out of a drawn position but in the end had to settle for a draw. On board one, the queens had been exchanged and the Stafford IM had a slight advantage against Nic Fallowfield in a rook, bishop and 3 pawns versus rook, knight and 3 pawns endgame. On board 4, John Foxall, who had been comfortable all game with several positional plusses, suddenly had some bit of defending to do as his opponent attacked on the queenside. John’s pieces became uncoordinated and his position fell apart forcing him to resign, so it was now 3-2 to Stourbridge. On board one, with both players activating their rooks Nic was able to trade his knight for the bishop to reach a rook and pawns ending. Both players had passed pawns and both players had to give up their rook for the passed pawn to leave the two kings as the only pieces on the board. The game was therefore a draw and a great result for Nic against an IM.

The result was 3½-2½ and two very valuable points for Stourbridge.

On Tuesday, Stourbridge lost 2½-1½ against Mercia in Dudley division 3 with team captain Steve Alcock getting a good draw against a higher graded opponent.

This was a busy week for Stourbridge Chess Club with 4 matches in 4 days.

On Monday Stourbridge played host to Telford in a Pittaway Cup semi-final (8 boards). It turned out to be a very tense and extremely close contest.

Paul Sharratt was first to finish, agreeing a draw in a rather pedestrian Sicilian; some time later Martin Berridge and Sam Bradley also agreed draws. At this stage the other boards were all fairly even, with Nic Fallowfield and Dave Scriven holding slight advantages.

The first decisive blow was struck by Hossam Aboushady , who is in good form at present, so Stourbridge now led 2.5-1.5. Board one, Zibi Koncki agreed a draw to make it 3-2, but then the Stourbridge board 6 got caught in a mating net to bring the scores level at 3-3.

Nic had contemplated offering a draw, but decided to press on with a pawn advantage in a tricky position. He eventually converted it to give us a precious 4-3 lead, and a guaranteed match win on board count.

Dave Scriven was also winning - but suffered a second disastrous and devastating loss of a rook within a week - a bitter pill after all his hard work to establish an advantage... So, the result was 4-4 and a place in the final on board count.

On Tuesday SCC’s Wolverhampton division 4 team played at Birmingham and managed a 2 - 2 draw thanks to wins for Colin Woodall and Steve Alcock.

On Wednesday SCC’s Wolverhampton Division 2 hosted Lichfield. Stourbridge lost 2½ - 3½ with a good win for team captain Sam Bradley and draws for Julie Wilson, Eric Horwill and Ron Evans. This could be a tough season following SCC’s relegation and subsequent re-instatement in this division.

On Thursday the Birmingham division 2 team travelled to Shirley and Wythall, without a point in this league to date, and with a weakened team. Things began badly with boards 5 and 1 losing quickly. Hossam Aboushady continued his good run of form to pull us back to 1-2, but then board 4 went wrong and it was quickly 1-3. Dave Scriven had established a pawn advantage and then had to negotiate a very tricky endgame of knight and 4 pawns versus Knight and 3 but played it well to bring the score to 2-3. Meantime Julie Wilson had been struggling valiantly but to little avail and was 2 pawns down, so it looked like another match loss for us...until suddenly her opponent went wrong and left himself open to attack! Julie seized the opportunity gratefully and Stourbridge equally gratefully grabbed SCC’s first match point of the season in this division.

On Tuesday Stourbridge travelled to Mercia for a match in Worcester and District chess league Division 2. Not knowing what to expect from a Mercia team who had yet to play in this league, Stourbridge arrived with a mixed strength team which happened to be outgraded on all boards when Mercia included two of their first team players.

The Stourbridge top two boards put up a good fight and their positions looked OK well into the middle game but they eventually both lost. This was followed by a loss on board 3. Trevor Tenant saved Stourbridge from a whitewash, getting his first win for the club. So the final match result was a 3 – 1 win for Mercia.

On Wednesday West Bromwich visited Stourbridge for the BDCL Division 2 match. Stourbridge are desperate for points in this division, but with their top two players unavailable, it was going to be a tough match.

First to finish was Greg Dyett on board one with an excellent draw on board one against a higher rated player. Meanwhile, team captain Dave Scriven sacrificed a pawn on board 3 to gain a good positional advantage and the bottom three boards all looked good for Stourbridge.

Then the Stourbridge board 2 lost but this was followed by wins for John Foxall and Hossam Aboushady and a draw for Martin Berridge so it was 3-2 and Stourbridge only needed a draw to win the match. Dave Scriven was now well ahead on time with a won endgame position. Eventually his opponent was forced to resign so the final result was 4-2 to Stourbridge.

Several new members also came down on Wednesday, played friendlies and got some advice from other club members who were not playing in the match.

This week Stourbridge Chess Club had two away matches in the Dudley league division 2. This league is for teams of 4 players graded under 145. Stourbridge enters this league to provide extra match practice and shared the two matches between 8 players. On Tuesday they played at Mutual circle and lost 3½-½. Hossam Aboushady got the draw that avoided the whitewash. On Wednesday they played at Kidderminster and drew 2-2 with a good win for Richard Wilkinson and draws for Martin Berridge and Jeremy Humphries.

On Saturday, four Stourbridge players played for the Worcestershire under 140 team. This was their last match in the Midlands Counties chess union championships and was the championship decider. The 16 board match was very close. It was 7-7 with 2 games still remaining. Worcestershire won the last two games to win the match 7-9 and clinch the Midlands u140 championship. Stourbridge players Sam Bradley and Steve Alcock both won and Eric Horwill drew. Steve’s win was particularly impressive as his opponent out- graded him by over 20 points. Worcestershire now progress to the national quarter-finals.

Stourbridge Chess Club have now completed all their games in the main Wolverhampton and Birmingham leagues. The first team finished mid table in both Wolverhampton division 1 and Birmingham division 2, while the second team had 8 points from 10 matches in Birmingham division 4 and were relegated from Wolverhampton division 2. The third team narrowly missed promotion from Wolverhampton division 4. The club’s attention has now turned to the few remaining matches in the Dudley, Worcestershire and Worcester and district leagues.

The Worcestershire Division 2 team travelled to Greenlands on Tuesday and faced surprisingly weak opposition, out grading their opponents by a considerable margin. Stourbridge won ½-4½ with wins for Dave Scriven, Hossam Aboushady, Paul Sharratt and John Foxall. In the same division,

Stourbridge travelled to Droitwich on Wednesday with a different team and won 1-4 with wins for Hossam Aboushady, and Julie Wilson plus a win by default and draws for and Eric Horwill and Zibby Koncki. On the same evening, Stourbridge also played at home versus Kidderminster Rooks in Worcester and District Division 2. Stourbridge lost ½ - 3½ with James Treasure drawing on board 3.

On Monday 13th May 2019 Stourbridge beat a strong Mercia team to win the Pittaway cup.

The first division team had to overcome a 2.25 point handicap against second (but now promoted) division Mercia.

Well done to everyone who played, especially Nic and Greg who defeated higher graded opponents.

The last round of the summer tournament was held on 7th of August. The deciding game was played between the club’s top player Zibby Koncki and former Welsh international Julie Wilson who were both on 3.5. points. Having come out of the opening with a slight advantage, Julie took a poisoned pawn which resulted in Zibby playing an overwhelming and winning attack. In the battle for second place, Eric Horwill launched a decisive attack against John Foxall to win. So Zibby is the overall winner on 4.5 with Eric in second place on 4. The best junior prize goes to Ethan Chan Smith.

This annual friendly match against Halesowen was won by Halesowen (with some loaned Stourbridge players) on 17th July 2019

Tony Evers Memorial Match Results

Stourbridge Chess Club held the second Brian Dudley memorial blitz chess tournaments in memory of the club’s former president and county champion Dr Brian Dudley on August 21st 2019. Players were invited from neighbouring clubs to participate in either a junior or an adult tournament. Both tournaments had a fast time control of 10 minutes per person per game.

 Twenty-eight players played in the main tournament had which was a 7 round Swiss tournament. Worcestershire champion Jeremy Fallowfield was the clear winner with a perfect 7 out of 7. Zibi Koncki ( Stourbridge), David Anderton (Walsall Kipping) and Simon Smith (Warley Quinborne) tied for second on five points Halesowen's Peter Banks won the under 120 price and Ray Hall (Warley Quinborne) the under 150 prize.

 The junior tournament was a five round round robin and was won by Calum Glendinning of Ulster chess club but currently visiting his grandfather in Hagley. Tony Williams came second.

In the first match of 2019-2020 season on Tuesday, Stourbridge second team faced Mercia away in Wolverhampton division 3. On paper Stourbridge look like dead certs for promotion in this division and significantly outgraded their opponents. However, Stourbridge only just squeaked home 2-3 with wins for Sam Bradley, John Foxall and Richard Wilkinson.

Stourbridge’s first home match of the season on Wednesday was the Humphreys Cup quarter-final against Wolverhampton. Stourbridge were not quite at full strength, but with teams restricted to fielding players graded below 130, it would probably be an even match. The score would indicate it was indeed a very even match. Richard Wilkinson and Jeremy Humphries drew on the top two boards and Steve Alcock won on board 4, but SCC lost board 3 to give a final score 2-2 with Stourbridge losing on board count.

The club then had to get two teams to Lichfield on Thursday. A depleted first team faced Lichfield in division 2 of the Birmingham league. On paper the teams were evenly matched and the final result was a 3-3 draw with a win for new member Peter Seeley on board 4 and draws for Dave Scriven, Hossam Aboushady, Sam Bradley and Tony Shaw.

A fairly weak third team also faced Lichfield but in division 4 of the Wolverhampton league. Fortunately, Lichfield also use this league to give games to their weaker players, so Stourbridge were not badly outgraded. In the end Stourbridge lost a closely fought match 2½-1½ with a second win for Steve Alcock and a draw for Richard Wilkinson. So in the first week of the season, Stourbridge played 4 won 1 drew 2 and lost 1.

This week, Stourbridge Chess Club had 3 matches. On Wednesday, they played away against Kidderminster in division 2 of the Worcestershire league and won 2-3. Paul Sharratt and Steve Alcock both won their games. On the same night there was a home match versus Wolverhampton in division 2 of the Dudley league. Stoubridge lost 1½-2½ despite an early win for Julie Wilson on board 1 in 12 moves. On Thursday, Stourbridge played away against Worcester in division one of the Worcester and district league. Worcester drew first blood with a win on board 2. This was followed by a win for Stourbridge’s board 1 Dave Scriven who defeated a much higher rated opponent. The match was then decided in the closing seconds of the remaining two games. Steve Alcock won on time and Paul Sharratt who had been a piece up for most of the game managed to repel his opponent’s attack and win to give Stourbridge the match 1-3.

In the Midland Counties under-140 Championships, Worcestershire defeated Derbyshire 13-3. Four Stourbridge players represented Worcestershire – Sam Bradley, Tony Shaw, Eric Horwill and Jeremy Humphries and all 4 won their individual games. Worcestershire have now won their first three matches and have 2 matches left to play.

Following the Christmas break, Stourbridge Chess Club only had one match this week when the second team faced Halesowen’s third team in division 4 of the Birmingham chess league. Stourbridge won 5½-½ and remain top of the division with 9 points from 6 wins and 3 draws. They are 4 points clear of Sutton Coldfield who have 2 matches in hand. The match result was:

This week, Stourbridge Chess Club first team put in two good performances which will significantly improve their chances of escaping relegation. On Monday they played away against West Brom in division two of the Birmingham league. The result was a 3-3 draw. Stourbridge’s John Foxall won on board 6 and Dave Scriven, Julie Wilson, Paul Sharratt and Hossam Aboushady all drew. Stourbridge are now mid table with 8 points from 10 matches.

On Wednesday they had a home match against Warley Quinborne in division one of the Wolverhampton. On paper Warley Quinborne were favourites to win and outgraded their opponents on the top 4 boards. On board two, Dave Scriven played a fantastic game where he sacrificed a rook for a bishop to beat Simon Smith. On board six, Chris Evans also won. Nic Fallowfield, Julie Wilson and Paul Sharratt all drew to make the final result an excellent 3½-2½ win for Stourbridge.

On the same night, the second team faced Kidderminster in division 2 of the Worcestershire league. They were unable to repeat the first team’s success and lost 1½-3½. Sam Bradley, Eric Horwill and Richard Wilkinson all drew their games.

In a recent county match, the Worcestershire team for players graded under 140 beat Lincolnshire 6-10. Stourbridge’s Eric Horwill won his game while Tony Shaw, Sam Bradley, Steve Alcock and Jeremy Humphries all drew. Worcestershire have now won the Midlands title with 100% record in their 5 matches and will proceed to the national knock-out stages.