News

Dates for your diary

The club will continue to meet for social chess on tuesday evenings throughout the Summer

Annual General Meeting 20/5/2025

The club held the  AGM at the end of the season at the Queen's Head on Tuesday 20th May.

The following awards were made. 

• The Presidents Cup, awarded for services to the club, is awarded to Tony Shaw. Despite living in Malvern, Tony has travelled to a large number of matches, captained our successful Wolverhampton division 2 team and helped out with our Birmingham division 3 team.
• The Denis Fernihough Trophy is for the most improved player. This year there was one player who really stood out and that is Adam Ware. Adam has played a large number of matches for the club and his ECF rating has improved by nearly 100 points.
• The Sydney Willets trophy is awarded to the most reliable club player. This year it is awarded to Eric Horwill who at the age of 92 has played in the most club matches this season. Including county matches he has played 30 competitive games.

The following officials were elected:

• President : Julie Wilson
• General Secretary :Dan Billingham
• Treasurer: Steve Alcock
• Website: Julie Wilson
• Publicity :Julie Wilson
• Social Secretary: Julie Wilson
• Safeguarding Officer :Adam Ware
• Birmingham division 2 team captain: Adam Ware
• Birmingham division 4 team captain: Vacant
• Wolverhampton division 1 team captain:Vacant
• Wolverhampton division 3 team captain:Steve Alcock
• Dudley division 3 team captain: Steve Alcock

The club needs moreteam captains. If you are interested in becoming a team captain or would like to help out, please contact Dan Billingham or Julie Wilson.

The club's venue was discussed at the AGM and it was decided to continue to meet on Tuesday evenings at the Queen's Head.

The club safeguarding policy was formally approved and has now been adopted.

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End of Season report

The 2024/25 chess season has now finished and was a very successful season.

BDCL3

We got off to a bad start with a default against Mercia when through a strange mix of circumstances we could not get enough players. However, after that there was no stopping us. We won 8 matches and lost only to South Birmingham who tied with us for first place. We then beat them in the play-off to take the title. John Wrench put in a good performance to score 4.5 out of 6. Vice captain tony Shaw scored 7 out of 10. The team’s performance was boosted by 2 new members Adam Ware and Dan Jones who were useful reserves and won most of their games.

BDCL4

The second team did well to finish third in this division. The top player was Dan Jones with a perfect 5 out of 5. Adam Ware also played well to score 4 out of 6.

WDCL2

Stourbridge finished 3rd in division 2 and have decided to accept a promotion into division one after second placed Stafford declined promotion. Next season our team will be boosted by the return of Jeremy Fallowfield to the club. Nic and Jeremy Fallowfield both finished on 75% and Julie Wilson scored 64%.

WDCL3

This team was used to provide games for some of our less experienced players. We finished mid table. John Loynes played well to score 4 out of 4.

Worcester and district

Stourbridge finished second with 10 points from 8 matches. We would have won the league but we were deducted 2 match points for paying an incorrect board order in their match with Kidderminster. Adam Ware did well to score 6 out of 7. Daniel Billingham and Steve Alcock both scored 4 out of 6.

The club is hoping for good results next season and already has several new members who are keen to play league chess.

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Birimingham League Title

In their last league match of Birmingham division 3, our first team beat Coleshill 5½-½. This made us joint first with South Birmingham and sure of promotion to division 2. We then had a play-off against South Birmingham to determine the division champions. We won the play-off 4½-1½ with wins for John Wrench, John Foxall, Adam Ware and Dan Jones. The team was captained by Paul Sharratt.

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Staffordshire Congress

The Staffordshire Chess Congress is returning in August. The Congress will be held at King’s Hall, Kingsway, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 9SB on Saturday 16th and Thursday 17th of August 2025. This is a prestigious venue, and its use has been generously donated by the City of Stoke-on-Trent as part of the City’s centenary celebrations. Entry forms and further information may be found on the congress website.

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BDCL rapidplay

In the 40th BDCL rapidplay tournament, Ben Doran played well to score 4 out of 7. All his games were against higher rated opponents.

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Venue

With much regret, the club decided unanimously at it's AGM to leave it's long term venue - the Stourbridge Institute. This was because the high membership fees were deterring chessplayers from joining the club. On the 2nd July we moved to the Talbot Hotel which suited us perfectly and was free.
Unfortunately, the owners had other ideas and sold the the hotel behind the manager's back.! There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the new owners' intentions and we had to take the difficult decision to move again.

On the 26th November the club moved to it's new venue the Queens Head on Enville St. The staff there and the landlady Vicky have been very welcoming. We now meet there every Tuesday in the skittles room. 

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Pre-season blitz

An internal blitz tournament was held to kick-off the 2024/25 season on 27th August. 8 of us played altogether in a round robin format with a time control of game in 7 minutes. There was a friendly atmosphere throughout with new and old members all mixing in and taking part. New member Dan Jones won the tournament with a perfect 7 out of 7. John Foxall came second with 5 points.

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Online Chess

Stourbridge has an online club on chess.com. Any local chess players are welcome to join us online. We hold monthly tournaments and play "daily matches" against other clubs. 

There is a BDCL meta club which organises events for players associated with the BDCL.

In order to join either club, you need to be a member of chess.com which is free.

Useful links

(Each link opens in a separate window)

• How to join chess.com.
• How to join a club

Stourbridge Chess Club is now an affiliate of chess.com. If you use one of our links to access chess.com and then take out a premium subscription it will benefit the club. Being an affiliate enables us to offer diamond memberships as prizes in our online tournaments.

Terrill Trophy

Stourbridge chess club have won the prestigious Terrill trophy.

This is a knock-out team competition organised by the Birmingham chess league based on handicap. In the final, the division 3 Stourbridge team faced the division 1 champions South Birmingham A at Warley Quinborne’s neutral venue. The match culminated in a 5 - 4.5 points win for Stourbridge. Stourbridge started with a 3.5 points handicap in their favour, as they are in division 3. It was a great team performance, with a win for club president Julie Wilson on board 3 and a hard-fought draw for team captain Paul Sharratt on board 4. This was enough to see SCC emerge victorious. The rest of the team John Wrench, John Foxall, Tony Shaw and Steve Alcock all put in good performances but lost to much higher rated opposition.

It was a great end to a good season! Thanks to all the players who have played in the Terrill trophy.

BDCL

Congratulations to club secretary Paul Sharratt on being elected president.

Jeremy Humphries

Stourbridge chess club member Jeremy Humphries passed away on Friday 26/01/2024. He had been battling cancer for a number of years. Jeremy joined the chess club in 2006 and quickly became a club stalwart. He was always one of the first to respond to any club emails. He always supported internal tournaments and regularly turned out for Stourbridge teams. He was also very supportive of our on line club and some of you may know him as cyclemath on chess.com.

Jeremy was everyone's pal, so friendly and obliging. He will be sadly missed.

Mid season Report 2024

The chess season is now half way through and it has brought mixed results for Stourbridge. In the last match before Christmas on Wednesday 20th December, the first team played at home against Warley Quinborne. On board 4, team captain Tony Shaw won by default when his opponent failed to turn up. It was followed by an excellent win by Julie Wilson on board one against a higher rated opponent. This meant Stourbridge only had to draw one of the two remaining games to win the four board match. John Foxall obliged with a draw on board 2 to give Stourbridge a 2½-1½ win. Stourbridge are now 4th in the table with 3 wins and 2 losses. They need some better results in the second half of the season to be in contention for promotion.

In the same league. the second team are currently mid table in division 3, with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss. With the majority of their fixtures in the second half of the season anything could happen.

In division 3 of the Birmingham league the first team are in second place having won 3, drawn 2 and loss 1. They have a game in hand over leaders Lichfield on the same number of points. Stourbridge won their most recent match 3½-2½ against South Birmingham. The second team are doing even better in division four. They are also in second place behind leaders South Birmingham with both teams on 10 points but Stourbridge have 2 games in hand and are unbeaten. They also won their most recent match with a score of 3½-1½ against Rushall

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Staffordshire junior championships.

Congratulations to Joe Conway-Lees on winning the Staffordshire junior championships with a perfect 6 out of 6. A fantastic achievement. View the full results here.

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Tony Evers Match

This annual friendly match against Halesowen was held at the Townsend club on 29th July 2024. . There was a really nice friendly atmosphere throughout the evening and Halesowen put ona great spread!. Stourbridge fielded a weak team and had to borrow 2 players from Halesowen who won the match 9-2.

Tony Evers Memorial Match Results

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Eric Horwill's 90th birthday

Eric turned 90 on Thursday March 9th and is still an incredibly good chess player, turning out regularly for Stourbridge's first team. His imaginative attacking style of play continues to bring him many victories.

On Saturday a few of the club’s long standing members were privileged to attend Eric’s 90th birthday tea ! Club president Julie Wilson presented Eric with a collection of “Eric’s greatest games” and a birthday card from the club. The games had been contributed by players in local leagues including Stourbridge members. Thanks to everyone who contributed a game. A .pgn file of the games can be downloaded here. Club secretary Paul Sharratt presented Eric with birthday greetings from members of other clubs and a print-out of the games from the 2016 under 140 County final where Eric played board 2 for the victorious Worcestershire team.

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Mayfair club

The Mayfair club is a new games lounge and cocktail bar in Amblecote where adults can go to play indoor games such as chess, backgammon, bridge, darts, monopoly, draughts and poker.

We will be working with the Mayfair club in the future to promote chess playing in the Stourbridge area.

The club will be open from 4:30pm to midnight Monday to Thursday and noon to 2:00am Friday to Sunday. The address is:

The Mayfair Club Unit 4, Wedgbury Wy., Brierley Hill DY5 3JT

You can find out more about the club at https://themayfairclubuk.com/about/

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ECF Membership

Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy

During school term-time the club meets on most Saturday mornings 10:00 am to 11:45 am at King's School Worcester, next to the Worcester Cathedral. Enter from Castle Place WR1 2NB. Most sessions are supervised by Ray Collett.

If you would like to join us, please contact Ray Collett by e-mail or by telephone Worcester 454 754 before your child's first attendance.

See Worcester Junior Chess Academy for more information.