The first ever half-year grades are out. Have a look at the Members page for all our members, or the link to the whole database in the Links section. Note that the July 2011 grades still decide eligibility for Dudley leagues and the Humphreys cup.

We are into a cup final! The wdcl Humphreys Cup, to be precise. Opponents and date to be advised.

Pete finally takes the lead of the Reg Beasley, by dint of not playing any games in December! He has to play at least 11 in the season, though, to lift the trophy.

We have a new leader in the Reg Beasley. At the end of November Pete has a splendid 80% score but is only second, just behind Jorge. Still a long way to go yet, of course. See TABLES for full details. Well over half the club has a score over 50% so we must be having a good season!

Following the sale of most of Derek's chess books a sum of £65 has been raised and will be donated to Parkinsons research. All unsold books will be added to the library and are avilable to borrow.

The first round draw for the Humphreys Cup required us to travel to last year's champions, Wolverhampton, so a tough match might have been expected. On the contrary, we won all 4 games. Bring on the semi-final!

It is with much sadness that we report the death of Derek Digger, our treasurer for the last 25 years. He will be very much missed. The funeral on 14/10 was very well attended, including a quarter of our club.

The 'A-team' met the 'B-team' in the Wolverhampton league this week. The A-team won, as expected, but a good win for John S and a draw by Richard W meant it wasn't all one-way traffic.

We have a new member. A warm welcome to Jorge Zavaleta, please!

John Edge has retained the Summer Knock-out, beating Windsor in the final. That is 3 wins in a row and 6 wins in the last 8 years. Quite a record!

The Reg Beasley table at the end of the Summer League shows Paul Evans in the lead. Only another 9 months to stay ahead, Paul!

Mark Bethel won the buzzer tournament on August 9, dropping just one draw from the 5 rounds. Adrian Priest was second with 4/5. Winners of the U140 and U100 prizes were Andy Ambrose and Logan Gregory with 3.5 and 2.5 respectively.

A Quick Pete Banks finish. Black to play. How should the game finish?

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Answer: Black mates in 3 with Nf2+, Nd1+ and Rf1 (or Qe1) mate. Much more artistic, however, is the mate in 4 known as Philidor's Legacy with Nf2+, Nh3+, Qg1+ and Nf2 mate. You choose - speed or artistry.

The Summer knock-out final will be between Windsor Peck and defending champion, John Edge. Let the best man win!

The new grades are out! Check out the Members section to see them all.

Stewart Fishburne's simul on 26 July attracted 11 opponents. Stewart conceded a draw to Bob Grimes but the best performance of the night was by Don Curry, who won in fine style.

The inaugural club blitz pairs tournament was held on July 19. Eight players were formed into 4 pairs by way of a random draw and played an all-play-all tournament on the night. Winners with a perfect 3/3 were Adrian Priest and Paul Evans. Club secretary John Southcote has persuaded the webmaster to report this as "Good Evans, Priest wins!" Ouch! Runners up with 2/3 were Pete Banks and Dayl Martin.

The Tony Evers memorial match against Stourbridge was held at Stourbridge on July 6. Stourbridge ran out winners by 7.5 to 2.5 but we always say that it's the camaraderie that counts (unlesss we win, of course!). A number of photographs were taken and should be available soon. Watch this space.

John Edge played 13 games in his simul on July 5th, winning all but one game. Dayl Martin was the one winner. Well done to them both!

The buzzer night on 29 June was contested by 14 members. Stewart Fishburne won with 5/5 from Mark Bethel with 4. Pete Banks was clear winner of the U-150 prize with 3.5. Tony Taylor, John Southcote and Julian Taylor shared the U-100 with 2/5.

We have taken a stall at the Victorian Market in Somers Square, Halesowen Town Centre on Saturday 11 June. Everyone is welcome for some chess fun. Victorian dress optional! Update. The event was very succuessful with several people showing interest in the club. Fingers crossed!

The AGM was held on 17 May with an excellent turn-out of 19 members, including Mark Bethel who has returned from his year off from chess. Welcome back, Mark! Draft minutes are available here. Prize winners were Windsor Peck (Quickest win - see below for the moves); John Edge (Player of the Year and Summer Knock-out); Stewart Fishburne (Reg Beasley Trophy); and the wdcl div 2 team (Kevin Ryder Trophy).

Will all club members please remember that the AGM will be held at the club on Tuesday May 17. And please attend, too!

The Reg Beasley race has finally been decided. Stewart won his last game of the season and with other results also going his way, can no longer be caught. See the tables section for more details.

John Llewlyn has drawn against Mike Groombridge of walsall in the final of the Bidgood Cup. A replay will take place later in the month. Let's hope that John can replicate his vicory (albeit playing for his other club, Olton) in the bdcl division 4 individual trophy. Well done, John!

Congratulations are due to John Edge for winning the bdcl division one individual title. Well done, John! And thanks, too, for annotating the winning game, which can be found in the games section. Enjoy!

To accommodate a rearranged match the club will be open on Wednesday 13 April in addition to the normal Tuesday of that week.

The Reg Beasley race is still far from decided. Stewart has regained the lead from John Edge (who has no more league games to play) but will lose it back to him if he loses in his last game of the season. But there are plenty of Worcetser division 2 and Dudley fixtures left. Can Pete Banks, currently lying 3rd, or former winner Jon Asbury mount a challenge?

John Llewelyn has reached the final of the Bidgood Cup, where he will face Walsall's Mike Groombridge. And John Edge has reached the final of the bdcl division 1 individual, too. Good luck, Johns!

The AGM will be held on Tuesday 17 May. Put the date in your diary. Rumour has it that the treasurer is considering reinstating our old custom of buying a drink for every member in attendance.

To accommodate rearranged matches the club will be open on Thursday 10 March and Wednesday 16 March in addition to normal Tuesdays.

The Reg Beasley race continues to get closer, with no-one seemingly keen to win this year! Table now updated to the end of February.

We have yet another leader, the fourth this season, in the Reg Beasley trophy. Can John Edge keep ahead to the end of the season? The table now shows the position at the end of January.

Has Windsor won the quickest ever game in the club's history? Against Kidderminster's Maurice Bissell the game went 1.d4 f5 2. Bg5 e6 ??? (apparently Maurice just 'forgot' to play Nf6 first) 3. Bd8 Black resigns. Is this the shortest ever game in midlands league chess? Or any league chess? It might just be. One for the historians. We could get the Quickest Win trophy engraved now!

New games from Pete Banks and Don Curry to enjoy. See the games section.

Four Halesowen members played in the bdcl rapidplay congress. The best performance was by Jon Asbury who finished 3rd= in the minor with 4.5/6. Well done, Jon!

Some good results already this season! Well done to the Pittaway Cup team in beating Stourbridge in the first round.

The Winter league season has started. Only just over 100 matches to go!

We have another new member. Or, more corectly, an old friend has rejoined. A warm welcome back to Steve Hawkins.

A few members grades have changed in the updated ECF grading list. See Members.

Ten members enjoyed an evening of banter and fun at the Tandem simultaneous given by Malcolm Hunt and Stewart Fishburne on August 24th. Don Curry and Andy Ambrose secured draws but the performance of the night was by Tony Taylor who was the only winner.

Congratulations to John Edge who has won the Summer Knock-Out. Congratulations also to the tournament controller, Pete Banks in getting it completed during the Summer!

We have a new member. A warm Halesowen welcome to Andy Baruch, please.

The final of the Summer K-O will be between John Edge and Windsor Peck. To be played by 31 August.

The buzzer tournament on 10 August attracted 14 club members. The A Group was won by John Edge with a perfect 5/5. Stewart Fishburne was alone in second with 4. Richard Woolley also scored 4 to win the B Group, ahead of Logan Gregory and Julian Taylor, both with 3.

We have another new member. A warm welcome to Richard Woolley!

The new grades are out! Have a look in the Members section. And to look up friends from other clubs use the link to the grading database in the Links section

John Edge took on 10 club members on July 20th in his annual simultaneous display. He won 8, drew with Maureen and lost only to "birthday boy Don Curry".

We have a new member. A warm welcome to Logan Gregory!

The first round of the Summer knock-out hs been completed to schedule, all but one game. UPDATE. The second round deadline of July 20th has also been achieved.

The Tony Evers memorial match against Stourbridge was held at Stourbridge. A brief report can be found Here.

The first Summer Event was a quickplayer tournament on June 15. John Edge won with a perfect score of 6/6. Tony Taylor scored an excellent 5/6 to be runner up and Julian Taylor took the grading prize with 3/6.

A challenge match against a Warley Quinbourne team of juniors was played on 3 June. An honourable draw resulted. Full results can be seen here.

Congratulations to Tony Taylor who drew the final of the division 5 league individual and so is joint champion for the year.

The 2010 Summer knock-out draw has been made. Click on the tab in the menu. Please note the dates that each round will be completed by and try to play games before then!

The 2009 Club knock-out tournament has been completed (at last!), and resulted in a win for John Edge over Maureen Clark. The final was a very interesting game which could have gone either way. John has annotated it here.

The AGM was held on 18 May. Draft minutes are available here. Prize winners were Pete Banks and Bob Grimes (Quickest win, jointly). See the Games section for both games; Derek Digger (Player of the Year); John Llewelyn (Reg Beasley Trophy); Maureen Clark (Best at Monmouth); and the wdcl div 3 team (Kevin Ryder Trophy). The Summer knock-out final would be between John Edge and Maureen Clark.

It's official! The Winter season is over and John Llewelyn has won the Reg Beasley Trophy with an excellent score of over 70%. Malcolm and Windsor tied second, with identical records. Don was the 4th player to exceed 60%. See the Tables section for full details.

There is still time to play some ladder games before the AGM. See the Ladder section.

The bdcl division 5 side faced a relegation play-off with Westminster on 5th May. Unfortunately they were disadvantaged by the unavailability of players who had become tied to the division 4 team at the end of the season, and lost.

The Reg Beasley table is now up-to-date to the end of April. And it looks a certainty that congratulations and the trophy will go to John Llewelyn with a score of over 70%. Well played, John!

Another promotion! The BDCL div 4 team have secured promotion to division 3 next year. Well done to Don and the team.

Congratulations are due to Tony Taylor's WDCL div 3 team who have won their last match of the season to become champions of the division. Well done to all!