Madeley Make It Hard For Fenton

Madeley gave Fenton a stern test in their latest friendly match. The score of 3.5 - 1.5 doesn't reflect the closeness of the match, with boards 1 and 2 for Madeley both losing on time. The Fenton team was of Division 3 strength so Madeley can be very pleased with their performance. They will be a very welcome addition to the league next season, should they decide to join. Click here for the match score card.

Madeley Chess Club Friendly Matches

Madeley Chess Club are looking for friendly matches against teams of Division 4/5 strength. If you are able to give them a match then please contact them here.

U120's Finish All Square

Despite defaulting a board, the County U120's drew 6-6 with Worcestershire yesterday. With only one match remaining, away against Leicestershire on the 9th March, qualification for the next stage of the competition now looks beyond us. Click here for yesterday's match score card.

Madeley Chess Club

Crewe hosted Madeley in a friendly match last night - resulting in a 4-1 win for Madeley. This was Madeley's first competitive match so well done to them on the result, albeit against a relatively weak Crewe team. Click here for the match score card. Some of you may recognise the Madeley board 2 - Chris Ford - as he used to play board 1 for Kidsgrove some years ago. Madeley's next match is another friendly next week at home against Fenton.

Join In The Debate

Join the English Chess Forum, which is completely independent of the ECF, to join debates about all chess related topics in England. You can click here to join.

New Chess Club

There is a new chess club in Madeley Heath, who will probably be applying to join the NSDCA from next season. They are based at the Crewe Arms Hotel and meet on Wednesday evenings. They are playing friendlies against Crewe this coming Wednesday and Fenton the following week.

Junior Chess Tournament

Jonathan Blackburn is organising a chess tournament for children of primary school age on Saturday 2nd March at Smallwood C of E Primary Academy. Please click here for further details.

ECF Grading Proposals

The ECF are proposing to move to monthly, rather than 6 monthly, grading lists from 2020 and have produced a consultation paper that you are invited to comment on. This can be viewed here. They are also proposing that we move to the 4 digit ELO grading system from the 3 digit ECF system currently in use. This would mean, for example, that an ECF grade of 140 would become an ELO grade of 1750, using the current conversion algorithm. Personally I think that monthly grading would add an unnecessary level of confusion but you may have other thoughts. In any event, please make your views known to the ECF via the link on the document.

The ECF Grading Manager has laid out the plans in more detail in a document that can be viewed here.

4NCL Rounds 5 & 6

It was a good weekend for Cheddleton in this weekend's 5th & 6th Round 4NCL Division 3 North matches. They beat Bradford DCA Knights 'C' by 4.5 - 1.5 in the 5th Round and White Rose '2' by 4 - 2 in the 6th Round.

Unfortunately it wasn't such a good weekend for Holmes Chapel, who lost both of their matches. They were beaten 5.5 - 0.5 by Shropshire '1' in the 5th Round and by 4 - 2 against White Rose '2' in the 6th Round.

The 5th Round scorecards can be found here and the 6th Round scorecards here.

Withnall (County U121) Trophy

Stafford are into the Semi-Final of the Withnall Trophy following a 3-1 win against Walsall Kipping in the 1st Round. Click here for the match scorecard. They will now play Rushall from the Cannock League on the 18th March.

2nd Crewe Rapidplay Congress

The 2nd Crewe Rapidplay Congress is being held on Sunday 19th May. Click here for full details.