17th September 2011: The County first team had a convincing victory over Greater Manchester at Newcastle under Lyme on Saturday, winning by 12½ - 3½. There were wins for Graham Sharpe, Ray Burgess, John Denton, Tom Reynolds, Brian Galligan, Chino Nwachukwu, Dave Farrall, Alfonso Jiminez, Jim Bingham, Sean Hewitt and Mike Cowley - the full scoresheet can be found here. The next match is away against Shropshire at Shifnal on November 5th - we can expect fireworks!

The Midlands intercounty championships are controlled by the Midlands Counties Chess Union (MCCU).  The best-performing teams in each section qualify for the ECF national championships. The 2011-12 fixtures are as follows:

1st Team
15/10/11 vs. Greater Manchester (home) ***
05/11/11 vs. Shropshire (away) ***
03/12/11 vs. Lincolnshire (home)
28/01/12 vs Worcestershire (home) ***
10/03/12 vs Derbyshire (away)

U-160 Team
22/10/11 vs. Warwickshire (away)
26/11/11 vs. Greater Manchester (away) ***
07/01/12 vs. Nottinghamshire (home)
24/03/12 vs. Staffordshire (home)

U-140 Team
08/10/11 vs. Nottinghamshire (home)
29/10/11 vs. Staffordshire (home)
19/11/11 vs. Worcestershire (home) ***
10/12/11 vs. Shropshire (away) ***
21/01/12 vs. Warwickshire (away)
10/03/12 vs Derbyshire (away)

Matches marked with *** may be played at a neutral venue – see captains for details.

1st team captain: Graham Booley, 01509 816974, graham@acecleaningcompany.co.uk

U160 jointt captains: Pete Harrison,01455 285579, peterkevanharrison@googlemail.com
and David Reynolds, 01530 411710, david@ashbychess.eclipse.co.uk

U140 captain: Cyril Johnson, 0116 2609012, cyriljohnson@yahoo.co.uk