We started last night's game at Rugeley in 4th & last place in Cannock League Division 1. However a close victory moved us right up to 1st place & ensured that we still have hopes of winning the league. Stephen lost to Rugeley's rapidly improving board 1, but the scores were tied when John won on board 2. With Cosmin ahead in a Pawn endgame, when I got offered a draw in a slightly better position, I was happy to take it. Cosmin soon converted his advantage & we came away with a 2.5-1.5 win.

We have 2 Cannock League Division 1 games remaining - at home to Lichfield & Rugeley - & know that we need victory in both to ensure we take the title. Anything less & our hopes will be over.

Disaster struck in last night's Cannock League Division 1 match at Wolverhampton. Stephen got a creditable draw on Board 1, but John, myself & Cosmin all had the advantage in our openings but our positions slowly disintegrated leading to 3 defeats.  We now sit bottom of the table, but things are so tight that victory at Rugeley next week will put us top. 

With no league matches yesterday Steve Wilcox organised another club Rapidplay evening. It was very well supported with a total of 23 players taking part, including the majority of our first team, making it a very competitive & enjoyable evening. Cosmin was the overall winner with 4.5/5, followed by Alex, Stephen & John Staniforth all with 4/5. Prizes were awarded based on finishing position, over 60s, under 18s & slow starters. The under 1640 rating prize was shared by John Grant, Craig, Stefan & Liam who all achieved 3/5. Congratulations to all of the winners.

All games played between current ECF members will be rated.

Thanks to Steve for organising a great evening & to everyone who kindly donated their cash prizes back to the club.

Our Semi Final match versus Tamworth has been arranged for Tuesday 4th February, with the game being played at Norton Canes due to the lack of free Mondays we have available.

The first round game at Stafford last night saw us go through to the semi finals after a 3.5-0.5 victory. Due to a family bereavement Stafford's board 1 was unable to attend so Stephen had a default victory. Shane then agreed a draw on board 4 leaving Cosmin & Peter just needing a draw between them for us to progress. Cosmin was the exchange up when his opponent's time expired to give him & us the win & shortly after Peter sacrificed a Knight on h7 that was incorrectly taken by his opponent. Peter's Queen & Rook then combined to threaten checkmate & with no escape his opponent graciously resigned.

Final score: Stafford 0.3 Rushall 3.5

In the semi finals Stephen drew us out to play at home to Tamworth - a repeat of last year's final. The date is yet to be agreed. Wolverhampton & Rugeley will contest the other semi final.

Our Birmingham League Division 2 home game set for 4th November has now been moved to 6th January at the request of Walsall Kipping.

We won our latest Birmingham League Division 2 game at Oscott last night. 3 players won their games & 3 drew. Making his Birmingham League season debut, Shane finished first with a drawn game that ended with a level Queen & Rook position. Cosmin won his game after a clever sacrifice forced a trade down to a Queen v Rook endgame. Stephen totally swamped his opponent in the middle game & a multi-piece attack resulted in another win, closely followed by Peter who converted his level piece endgame into a win with some clever maneuvers. Me & John then drew our games with victory already assured.

Final score Oscott 1.5 Rushall 4.5

There was no luck involved in our Cannock League Division 1 game versus Wolverhampton - just some quality chess. Although John lost & I drew, superb play from Cosmin who defended well then took his slight advantage (2 Knights v Rook & extra Pawn) forward to victory, took us to a 1.5-1.5 score with just Stephen to finish. He had a Queen versus Rook & Knight in a very complicated end game. Eventually he sacrificed his Queen for the 2 pieces with both players Queening Pawns at the same time. Stephen however, had 3 Pawns remaining to his opponent's 1. That became 2-1, but he cleverly swapped off a Pawn each & eventually his last Pawn pushed on to get a 2nd Queen. His opponent played accurately to stop him & looked to have held on for a draw at one point. However, Stephen's tenacity paid off & an inaccuracy allowed him to fork his opponents King & Queen, leading to the swapping off of both Queens & allowing his last remaining Pawn through untouched. A fantastic victory that earned us both points.

Final score: Rushall 2.5 Wolverhampton 1.5

Well our luck certainly changed in our latest game. We took on an extremely strong Central Birmingham team in our first Birmingham League Division 2 match of the season. We were out-rated by around 800 ECF points across the 6 boards, but managed a terrific 3-3 draw. I lost early & then John drew. Peter played very aggressively & won after his opponent had to give up a minor piece to prevent being mated. Alex then lost after a clever combination overwhelmed his defences, leaving Stephen & Cosmin to finish with us 2.5-1.5 behind. Stephen eventually agreed a draw as the end game position became blocked, but at the same time Cosmin's opponent got behind his defences. Sadly for him, just as he was about to win material, his time expired & Cosmin was able to claim the win & a draw for the team.

Final score: Rushall 3 C Birmingham 3

It was deja vu all over again in our latest Wolverhampton League Division 1 match. We visited West Bromwich & lost narrowly for the 2nd time in 8 days. This time myself, Stephen & John S got creditable draws on the top 3 boards - Stephen after a brave Bishop sacrifice, John after a sharp French Defence & me after a rare Queen's Gambit Accepted. However, Cosmin sadly lost concentration after his opponent offered a draw, which he politely declined, only to go & lose a piece for nothing on the next move. This was the turning point in the game & led to his eventual defeat & a therefore narrow team defeat.

We now have a break from Wolverhampton League play for a while, but start our Birmingham League Division 2 season next Monday hoping for a bit better luck.

Final score West Bromwich 2.5-Rushall 1.5

Our first Cannock League Division 1 game ended in a narrow defeat to Lichfield. Stephen blundered in the middle game & lost to his 2000+ rated opponent. Me & John S then drew fairly quickly leaving Cosmin on board 4 to hopefully take victory to tie the match. He was looking good, being the exchange ahead, but unfortunately missed a Knight fork & lost his Rook. After a tense finish he managed to get 2 passed Pawns against an extra piece, but a draw was finally agreed with all Pawns taken to hand Lichfield the 2 points.

Final score: Lichfield 2.5 Rushall 1.5

new tournament organiser craig cowley has done the draw for two internal competitions

The under 15 trophy is an all-play-all. last years winner stephen gaskell is now too old so we will be looking for a new winner.

The les wilcox trophy is a knockout for under1640 rated players

The draw was made last night for the Club Championship. 20 players have entered, so 8 players will play in the 1st round with the other 12 getting a bye into the 2nd round. The draw was made randomly by Steve Wilcox:

Stefan Winman v Zach Bennett

John Grant v Alex Pready

Matthew Blackwell v David Jarvis

Liam Parsons v Stephen Gaskell

Games need to be played before the end of October.

After a few weeks of negotiating with Phil Bull, we have agreed to play a WolRush Cup match each season against Wolverhampton. The match will take place as a standard play preseason game & as I won the toss we will be at home on Monday August 4th next year. It will be 7 boards with each board having a maximum rating limit so that players of all abilities can compete.

I tried to reinstate the Walrus Trophy against Walsall Kipping with the idea of playing at the end of last season, however their committee did not want to get a team together to play us at that time.

We welcomed Wolverhampton in our first home Wolverhampton League Division 1 game of the season last night. I took away an early draw, after which Cosmin earned a full point defeating his opponent with his trademark opening. John S was a piece down to his opponent while Stephen looked equal with his. Stephen managed to secure the draw, but his opponent felt that Stephen had the best winning chances in the Pawn endgame. Meanwhile John had fought back from a piece down to a Bishop for a Pawn ahead! With the score 2-1 to us, he offered a draw to ensure a team victory & his opponent accepted knowing that he could only realistically draw at best. Final score - Rushall 2.5 Wolverhampton 1.5.

Our Wolverhampton Division 3 team also played at home against Warley Quinborne & won convincingly with Alex, Peter, John G & Shane all winning their games to take a 4-0 victory.

We started our Wolverhampton League Division 1 season with a trip to Warley Quinborne on Thursday. Against a slightly higher rated team we managed 3 draws - John on 2, myself on 3 & Cosmin on 4. However, on board 1, Stephen sadly lost in a double Bishop & Pawn endgame after his opponent managed to get a Passed Pawn & Stephen was forced to sacrifice one of his Bishops for 2 Pawns. Eventually the extra minor piece paid off. Final score: Warley Quinborne 2.5 Rushall 1.5.

Although we played a couple of Cannock League games in August, our season officially kicked off with our Rapidplay competition yesterday evening. We had a wonderful turn out with a total of 23 players competing in 5 swiss rounds of 15 minute games. Stephen Gaskell came out on top with 5 wins followed by Craig Cowley & me on 4. Top junior was Zach Bennett (3 points), top under 1640 rated players were Shane Cooksey & Matthew Blackwell (3.5 points), top oldies were Alex Pready & John Grant (3 points) & top performer after a slow start was Pradeep Shankar. Thanks as ever to Steve Wilcox for organizing an enjoyable evening.

Our AGM has been arranged for Monday 12th August at the club - we hope to see as many members there as possible. In the Birmingham Summer Rapid Play League our u6600 team & u5800 B team have struggled a little against some really strong opposition. However, our u5800 A team, captained by David Gaskell, finished in a fantastic 2nd place in their division, narrowly behind South Birmingham. Our Club Championship was won for a second time by Steve Whatmore who just pipped Stephen Gaskell in the Final.  All of our 2024-2025 fixtures have now been agreed in the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Cannock Leagues. As well as our normal Chase Trophy entry, we have also entered 2 teams in the Cannock League's Chase Shield - a new knockout competition for Division 3 & 4 teams.

The Birmingham League have accepted too many new teams for next season to fit them all into their divisions 4 & 5, so have decided to ‘bump up’ a team from Division 4 to Division 3. After the top 2 teams were promoted, 4 teams were tied in 3rd place last season in Division 4, but they decided that our B team would be the only one to be ‘bumped up’. We queried this decision as we clearly do not have the strength of playing squad to compete at the higher level, however we were told that the decision was final & we have no right of appeal. With the likely prospect of our players being unfairly matched against significantly stronger opponents in every game, we have therefore decided to withdraw our B team from the Birmingham League. Instead, we will enter 2 extra teams in the Cannock League Divisions 3 & 4. This will allow our mid-rated & developing players to play in games where they will have the opportunity to enjoy their chess by competing on a level playing field against similarly rated players. All of our other league entries will remain the same as last year.

Stephen Gaskell won the Cannock League's premier individual competition - the Robert Ward Trophy last night. After 2 drawn games he won the toss for colours in the armageddon tie-breaker & chose white. In a tight game his opponent - Tony Preece - ran out of time & Stephen won the game. Congratulations to Stephen - the work & dedication he is devoting to his chess is really paying dividends & his improvement this season has been outstanding.

After a narrow defeat to champions Tamworth in the Cannock League Division 1 we have now finished our 2023-2024 season. We have had a remarkably consistent mid table performance across all of our 7 league teams. In the Birmingham League we finished 6th out of 12 teams in Division 2 & 5th out of 13 in Division 4. In the Wolverhampton League we finished 5th out of 9 in Division 1 & 6th out of 11 in Division 3. In the Cannock League we finished 3rd out of 6 in Division 1, 4th out of 9 in Division 3 & 3rd out of 6 in Division 4. Our season did have 1 big highlight - when we won the Cannock League's knock out competition - the Chase Trophy. In total, 29 players competed for us in the various leagues & several others took part in our in house mini league competition. Membership is up on this time last year & we have seen some significant improvement in many players, whether just competing in friendlies on club nights or challenging themselves in rated matches. Long may it continue!

We have entered 3 teams in the Birmingham Summer Rapidplay League. All match dates have now been confirmed & are loaded onto LMS.

The Jaguars won our inaugural internal mini-league with 5 points out of 6. Luke starred with 3 wins from 3 games, closely followed by Cosmin, Vladimir & Zach who gained 2 points from their 3 games. For the other teams, Alex starred with 2 wins (against Peter L & Cosmin) & a draw against Stephen for the Lions. Thank you to everyone who competed & in particular Steve Wilcox for organising the tournament.

We played teams from Mercia, Lichfield & Wolverhampton in the Wolverhampton League's Pittaway Cup Jamboree format on Tuesday. Having won the trophy last year we were keen to retain it. Wins for Stephen & Peter weren't enough though as despite having strong winning chances John S & Steve couldn't convert them to wins & drew, Cosmin was a Pawn up in the endgame but also couldn't convert & John G also drew his game to give us 4 points out of 6. Sadly, Alex & Roger lost (Alex also had strong winning chances) so it wasn't to be our night. Like us, Lichfield also finished with 4 points, while Wolverhampton had 5 points. Bizarrely, despite having arguably the strongest team of the 4 competing, Mercia were given a massive 2.25 point advantage as a Division 2 team (they won it easily with 9 wins & a draw from their 10 games) competing against 3 Division 1 teams. So, despite winning only 1 game & drawing 4 on the night, their 3 points out of 8 became 5.25 to give them the trophy. 

We suffered defeat in our final Wolverhampton League Division 1 match last night away at Kidderminster. Stephen & John earned draws, but sadly Cosmin & Alex lost to give a score of 3-1 to our opponents. We have finished in a creditable 5th place with 3 wins & 5 defeats.

We won our latest Cannock League Division 1 game yesterday - a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory at Wolverhampton. John managed a quick draw, but with Cosmin losing, the pressure was on Steve & Stephen. Thankfully both managed to win & ensure that we still have some hopes of finishing in 2nd place with 2 games still to play. In Cannock Division 3 a home win against Rugeley gave us a 4th place finish, just a point off top spot, while in Division 4 we have 1 match remaining & again still have hopes of a runners-up finish.

Congratulations to Stephen Gaskell who defeated John Grant in his Semi Final to reach his first Club KO Final. He will face the winner of Steve Whatmore & John Staniforth, who are yet to play their Semi Final.

We played our final 2nd team game in Birmingham League Division 4 yesterday. A draw with Redditch ensured that we also finished in the top 6 in this Division - an improvement on 8th place last year. Aarav deserves a special mention for winning all 3 of his games, including against an opponent last night rated over 1500 ECF.

We concluded our Birmingham League Division 2 season with an away fixture at promotion chasing Halesowen. All 6 players battled hard to get results with John S, Steve, Cosmin, Alex & Roger taking home draws & Stephen earning an outstanding win on board 1 against a player rated in excess of 2050 ECF. This gave us a 3.5-2.5 victory and a top half finish in the Division. Stephen's game has developed beyond all recognition & he's surely on the way to exceeding 2000 ECF before the end of the season.

Roger Bray has very kindly donated a set of 6 digital clocks to the club. Everyone at the club is very grateful for Roger's extremely generous & thoughtful gift & I'm sure we'll all enjoy using them in matches to come. Thanks Roger!

Warley Quinborne's Birmingham League Division 2 B team visited us yesterday. After being soundly defeated by their A team 10 days ago we were pleased to get some revenge with a 5-1 victory. Wins for Stephen, Steve, Cosmin & Alex + draws for John & Peter ensured that we will finish comfortably mid-table - a great achievement after winning promotion from Division 3 last year.

For the 2nd time in 3 years we have won the Cannock League's Knock-Out Cup called the Chase Trophy. We narrowly defeated Tamworth in the Final with a mix of good team tactics, brave attacking play & a spot of luck. Captain Steve Whatmore shuffled his team from the semi-final & added Stephen Gaskell. We expected Tamworth to play with one of their 2000+ ECF players on board 1 so were looking for a volunteer to 'take one for the team' - knowing that getting any kind of result was going to be tough. Steve offered but Cosmin thought he was the best person for the job - sadly he lost, but acquitted himself very well. Steve's plan was for Stephen to take on their board 2 - who we expected to be similarly rated - but felt confident that with Stephen in a strong run of form, he could deliver a victory. That's exactly what he did - after pressuring his opponent into an erroneous Rook move he politely resigned with a forced loss of material inevitable. Being out-rated on board 1, we knew that the rating advantage would switch back to us on the lower 2 boards. Alex was rated 200 ECF points above his opponent & had a back & forth battle on board 3. After declining a draw offer knowing that he had to win, Alex had to take some risks & got lucky as his opponent missed a discovered check opportunity which would have won his Queen & Tamworth the match. Alex went on the attack & despite his Pawns dropping all over the board & both players under 30 seconds left on their clocks, he managed a brilliant checkmate with Rook & Knight to grab victory for himself & the team. Roger eventually lost on board 4 (again in a very interesting hard-fought game), but we had already won the match at this point - a 2-2 draw meant that the result went down to board count - which was also level at 5-5. The next tie-breaker is board elimination & with board 4 being a Tamworth victory this was removed from the score to hand Rushall the trophy. 

We travelled to Warley Quinborne's Birmingham League Division 2 A team last night. Our squad were seriously out-rated pretty much across all 6 boards & the result went against us by 5.5-0.5 - just Steve Whatmore managed to claim a draw with the other 5 team members all losing against stronger opponents. We remain comfortable in 6th place in the Division & will aim to reverse the result in a couple of weeks time when their B team visit us, before our last Birmingham League match away to promotion chasing Halesowen.

We welcomed local rivals Lichfield last night for our penultimate Wolverhampton League Division 1 game of the season. With the prospect of relegation still very possible a result was vital. We were considerably out rated on the top 2 boards but Stephen is always keen to test himself against the best opposition & John can virtually always be guaranteed to get a draw. John was first to finish with his 1/2 a point & then Steve followed with another draw on board 3, as although he felt he was slightly ahead, he could see that Cosmin had a strong chance of a win on board 4. This is indeed what happened to leave us 2-1 ahead with just Stephen to finish. He had several opportunities to repeat moves to claim a draw, but with both players in time trouble he kept taking the initiative to his opponent & played superbly to get another terrific win. We therefore took the match 3-1 & with Telford & West Bromwich sitting below us in the table having completed their seasons we are safe from relegation - a tremendous achievement with the lowest rated squad in Division 1. Bizarrely, we lost to both earlier in the season, but have managed 3 wins against some of the stronger teams! We just have unbeaten Kidderminster away now to come to end our Wolverhampton League season.

Lichfield's Cannock League Division 1 A team provided our latest opposition last night. We managed to come away with a 2.5-1.5 victory with wins for Steve & Alex & a draw from John. 

South Birmingham's league leading A team visited us in Birmingham League Division 2 last night. Stephen once again volunteered to take board 1 & scored a stunning victory over a player rated over 1950 ECF. He cleverly sacrificed the exchange in the end game to leave himself a Bishop & 2 connected passed Pawns versus a Rook. With his opponent's King on the other side of the board & unable to help, he managed to skillfully push both Pawns to the 7th rank leading to resignation. This is Stephen's biggest ever win & a clear sign of his abilities going forward. Well done to him. Sadly, the rest of the team were unable to bring home the points - Alex had a good win & Steve a creditable draw, but John, Cosmin & Peter all came away with losses leaving the score a 2.5-3.5 defeat.

We have played 2 Cannock League Division 1 games in the past week - winning 1 & losing 1. At Rugeley, we lost 3-1 with draws by Steve & John, but both Stephen & Alex were defeated. A much improved performance against Lichfield B saw us earn the points with an unbeaten team performance - draws from Stephen & John (obviously!) & wins from Cosmin & Alex saw us reverse the score, winning 3-1. Although Tamworth are well ahead of the pack, we are in with a shout of emulating last season's performance of claiming the runners-up spot with 4 games still to go.

Alex made the semi final draw last night - the matches to be played are John Grant v Stephen Gaskell & John Staniforth v Steve Whatmore. 

Our latest Birmingham League Division 2 game saw us travel again to South Birmingham, this time to play their top of the table B side. With 7 wins out of 7 we knew that we would be up against it. Our hopes weren't helped when, on Stephen's board 1 debut, a 9 year old 2100 rated player sat down opposite him. Sadly, Stephen lost along with Steve Wilcox on board 6 - again against a higher rated opponent. The other 4 boards were pretty evenly matched however, & John managed a strong draw on board 2 - his record for this season is now an astonishing - played 15, won 2, drawn 13! To our delight, we won on all 3 of the remaining boards with Cosmin, Steve Whatmore & Alex all now returning to a bit of form after each enduring a sticky patch. A 3.5-2.5 victory therefore means that we have achieved one of our main season objectives - consolidating our Birmingham League Division 2 status - & with 4 fixtures still to play. Our record is now won 2, drawn 4, lost 1 & we stand 4th of 12 teams.

2 Birmingham League Division 2 games against higher rated opponents gave us a challenging start to 2024. However, we gave a strong account of ourselves & managed a narrow 2-5 to 3.5 defeat at Walsall Kipping & a terrific 3-3 draw versus Sutton Coldfield. Stand out performances were from Stephen 2/2, Steve 1.5/2 & John 2 draws. Stephen has now overtaken Steve & Cosmin in the ratings as he has now surpassed 1900 ECF - a fantastic achievement for such a young player who has only been coming to the club around 3 years. Look out for his results in the Shropshire Congress over the weekend - he is in the Major Section this year after winning a rating prize in the Intermediate in 2023. Several of the higher board games can be followed on line so hopefully Stephen's games will feature. Good luck also to Ray who has entered the Intermediate Section. 

Our final match of 2023 saw us welcome Warley Quinborne's A team in Wolverhampton League Division 1. We were pretty evenly matched on paper, but sadly 2 draws from John S & Alex weren't enough to get as any points, as we lost on the other 2 boards. A 3-1 defeat resulted therefore. We now have a break for over 2 weeks until we get back underway with 3 Birmingham League Division 2 games to start off January.

Congratulations to Steve Wilcox who has been appointed a Life Vice President of the Staffordshire Chess Association. Steve and Rushall Chess club are synonymous, he has played over 1,000 games for his club. He has been the secretary of Rushall since the 1980s and although he has relinquished the post twice, he has always found himself back in harness after a short break.Steve is part of a dynasty at Rushall Chess Club, his father Les was one of the founders, his mother Enid provided tea and coffee to members and visitors on club nights for many years. His son Joseph played for Rushall and Staffordshire, and he coached his daughter Charlotte to be British Girls Champion.Steve was the Tournament Secretary of the Association for many years and he represented the County when there were teams to suit his rating or grade. Once again congratulations to one of the nicest people in Staffordshire Chess.

Our Wolverhampton League Division 1 season continued last night. We visited local rivals Walsall Kipping & without our highest rated player, Cosmin, we were still able to come away with a narrow victory. It was our first win against their first team that Steve Wilcox can ever remember. Tremendous wins by Stephen & Alex & a draw from John S (all against higher rated opponents) were enough to win 2.5-1.5 - our 5th consecutive result by the same score line in this Division - with us losing the first three & now winning the last two. Our position in Division 1 now seems pretty secure, a tremendous achievement considering we have the lowest rated team in the Division.

Congratulations to Stephen Gaskell who won through the 1st Round last night. After drawing twice with his opponent he managed a win in the Armageddon game to progress into Round 2. He will now face Steve Whatmore, so Rushall is guaranteed a player in the semi finals.

Steve Whatmore narrowly defeated Alex in the last game of Round 1 last night. The draw for Round 2 is: Roger Bray v John Grant, Stephen Gaskell v Cosmin Arapu, John Staniforth v David Jarvis & Steve Wilcox v Steve Whatmore.

On Monday we travelled to Wolverhampton for this game. Sadly we lost 2.5-1.5. Roger battled well but was outplayed on board 4, Steve drew on 1, while Cosmin had a terrific win on 2 - trapping his opponent's Rook so that he could go the exchange up. Alex was a Pawn down & facing defeat in his endgame when he lost on time. After the game, it was noticed that Roger's opponent was stronger than the rating his captain had used - accidently using a P rating from August instead of his first full rating from October. As a result, Wolverhampton's team was stronger than allowed so they conceded the game, putting us through to the final. We will now host last year's winners Tamworth in the new year.

It was an evening of blunders & missed opportunities last night in our Birmingham League Division 2 home fixture v Oscott. John S & Peter drew comfortably & Cosmin won a tense Rook & Pawn endgame to give as a 2-1 lead. However, the 3 other boards all flipped with critical mistakes. Steve had a dominant position on board 1 but misplaced a Knight looking for a mating attack, & went from winning to losing in one fell swoop. Alex had a strong position & with his opponent in time trouble he felt confident of victory, but he placed his Rook & King on the same diagonal & they were forked by his opponents Bishop effectively ending his game. Stephen on 4 had the opposite fortune. He checked his opponent, who totally missed it when in time trouble, & was forced to move his piece to block the check. With it not being protected Stephen took it & won his game as a result. So the final match score was a 3-3 draw, when we could have been looking at a convincing win at one point, & then possibly a narrow loss later on. In the Birmingham League Division 2 we have now played the majority of the lower rated teams & are unbeaten having won 1 & drawn 3 games. Tougher tasks are ahead when we play again in the New Year....

Congratulations to Aarav Sohi who won the Under 14 section with 6 wins out of 6. Stephen Gaskell also had a good tournament, coming 3rd equal in the Under 18s section with 4 out of 6.Also Sehej Sohi was 7 th in the under 10s with 4 put of 6And Amraya Kaur Johal was best under 14 girl with 3 1/2 out of 6

We have many enthusiastic juniors who play on Monday evenings alongside our adult members. As a club we offer some informal advice & coaching. We also invite juniors to play in our league teams & organise several internal competitions on club nights. However, some players have gone a little further than this & Aarav Sohi recently entered the Dolan Trophy - a Cannock League individual competition. Aarav organised both of his matches - one at home & one way at Lichfield & although he lost both, he learnt a lot from his games & the experience. He also competes for Staffordshire Juniors, & for his school he had the opportunity to play in a competition at Eton College, which he absolutely loved. In the past 12 months his standard rating has shot up from 973 to 1348, while his rapid rating recently peaked at 1533 (helped by his 83% win record in one of our 2023 Birmingham Summer League teams). Stephen Gaskell (our first team regular) is another club junior who too entered a Cannock League individual tournament. He also competes individually in various tournaments in the Midlands area alongside his club commitments. If you are a junior or an adult, have a decent knowledge of chess & would like to develop further, then please contact us (see the link from the home page) & we'll make arrangements for you to come & play some friendly games on Monday evenings. That's exactly what Aarav & Stephen did - who knows what it could lead to......

After breaking our Cannock League Division 1 duck, we did the same against Wolverhampton last night in the Wolverhampton League Division 1. After John S & Alex had drawn, Stephen won a brilliant attacking game against his opponent to leave us 2-1 ahead. Steve then had the task of bringing home a draw on board 1 & after a tense Knight & Pawn end game he managed it, to give us a 2.5-1.5 victory.

At the fourth attempt we finally managed a win in the Cannock League Division 1, against visitors Rugeley. Stephen was first to win, defeating his more experienced opponent, who despite trying to sacrifice his way into mating Stephen, was eventually forced to resign in a lost position. Steve then drew - after being outplayed in the opening his opponent swapped a Knight for 3 Pawns, but Steve defended well & had the advantage in the endgame. Unfortunately, deciding to swap off Rooks was a mistake & when he also ended up swapping his own Knight for 3 Pawns, the game was drawn. Cosmin was offered a draw several times, but despite an opposite coloured Bishop endgame, he took the attack to his opponent & eventually pushed a Pawn to the 7th rank where only the fatal loss of material would have stopped it Queening. As ever, Alex was last to finish - but it was worth the wait as he won with a clever Rook, Bishop & Knight checkmate to make the result Rushall 3.5 - Rugeley 0.5.

After 2 months of the season we sit 3rd in Birmingham League Division 2 after gaining promotion last season, while our Division 4 team is doing fantastically to be equal 1st. Things aren't looking quite so good elsewhere though - in the Wolverhampton League our Division 1 team is presently bottom with 0 points from 3 games, and our Division 3 team is 7th out of 11. Over in the Cannock League our Division 1 team is again struggling in 5th place out of 6 teams, but our teams in Divisions 3 & 4 are both comfortably in mid table. 

We had another narrow defeat at home to Wolverhampton in the Cannock League Division 1 last night. John S had a great win on board 3, while Cosmin lost on board 2 soon after. Steve accepted a draw offer on board 1 with his opponent regretting offering it after a bit of analysis afterwards led us to believe that Steve would have had to be extremely accurate in his play to avoid defeat had the game continued. With the score level at 1.5-1.5 it was left to Alex to conclude his game. Unfortunately, he ran out of time in a Queen v Rook & Pawn endgame that probably would have been drawn had his time not expired.

After a nightmare journey to South Birmingham's Birmingham League Division 2 C Team last night, we eventually got underway at about 7.45pm. The 2 teams were extremely well matched with just 20 rating points difference between them. A 3-3 draw was therefore no surprise. 4 of our team drew, with Roger unfortunately losing a Rook & Pawn ending on board 6. Our star player was undoubtedly Cosmin, who made several sacrifices to overwhelm his opponent on board 2, taking home our only win of the evening. Thank you to everyone who drove, in what turned out to be a very difficult journey. Happily, we stay unbeaten in the Division with a win & 2 draws from our 3 Birmingham League games so far.

At the same time as our First Team were losing their 3rd consecutive Wolverhampton League Division 1 game 1.5-2.5, we held a 9 board rated friendly, with David Gaskell's Cannock League squad playing against a Steve Wilcox development team. The final score was 5-4 showing the strength in depth we have at that level in the club now. Everyone enjoyed the experience & it's something that we definitely intend to build upon as the season progresses. Hopefully, a few of these players can make their way into the First Team in the future - the sooner the better!

With the pleasing increase in membership numbers recently, Steve Wilcox has set up a challenge match between our newcomers & our lower league players. It gives everyone the opportunity to gain some valuable experience in a match setting, and will take place next Monday. The match will follow the Cannock League Division 4 rules & the games will be forwarded to the ECF for rating.

The first of our Club Knockout matches took place last night. John Grant defeated Stefan to book his place in the Quarter Finals.

Another Wolverhampton League Division 1 game was played last night. For the second time in two games we suffered defeat by the narrowest of margins - 2.5-1.5. Alex achieved our only victory, with John Staniforth adding the half point. Sadly, neither Steve Whatmore or Stephen could add to the score after both suffering defeats.

Our 2nd Birmingham League Division 2 game saw us travel to Longbridge yesterday. Steve Whatmore & John Staniforth soon agreed draws in their games. John Grant then took home a full point after a dangerous Knight check led to a discovered attack. Sadly, Stephen walked into a Knight fork & the scores moved to 2-2. Cosmin & Alex both had really topsy-turvy battles, with both experiencing potential winning & losing positions every few moves or so. Crazily, neither managed to win or lose in the end. Both took home half a point & we achieved a creditable 3-3 draw away from home against another mid table team from last year. 

Our 2nd Cannock League Division 1 game went much better than our 1st away at Lichfield B last night. John Staniforth jumped ahead of Stephen onto board 3 & soon took home half a point, while Stephen won his board 4 game after winning a piece in the middle game. Steve Whatmore then drew on board 1 to give us a 2-1 lead. Sadly, Cosmin couldn't get a result on board 2 & with his exposed King extremely vulnerable, he had no choice but to resign.A 2-2 draw with a strong Lichfield B team therefore at least gets our points tally going with some home games now to come in the Division.

11 players have entered the Club KO. 6 players will enter round 1 with the 3 winners progressing to meet the other 5 in the Quarter Finals. The draw was: Roger Bray v Sam, Steve Whatmore v Alex & John Grant v Stefan. Steve Wilcox, Cosmin, John Staniforth, David Jarvis & Stephen received the byes in a random draw.Ties are to be played on or before Monday 27th November.

We played 2 games this week - sadly losing both. On Thursday we travelled to Tamworth in Cannock Division 1 & despite some heroics from Cosmin on board 1 who drew with a much higher rated player, we lost 3-1. John Staniforth achieved our other half point. Then on Monday we travelled to play a strong Halesowen side in Wolverhampton Division 1. We were outrated on every board, but draws from Steve Whatmore, Cosmin again (who both played players rated over 2000) & Alex meant that we lost by the smallest of margins 1.5-2.5.

the draw was made on monday 4th september for round one of this trophy for under 1640 rated plshyersPairings are on the notice board in the clubroomm

After yoyoing between Birmingham League Divisions 2 & 3 in recent years, we began our new season at home in Division 2 to a strong Shirley & Wythall side, who had finished mid table last season. We performed brilliantly with Steve Whatmore, Alex & Peter Leary all winning with aggressive attacking play. John Staniforth then ground out a win on board 4, after the only loss of the evening by Stephen on board 3. Cosmin's game on board 2 was the most interesting, with what seemed like winning chances for both players. Thankfully, Cosmin came out on top, narrowly queening his pawn before his opponent had the opportunity to queen his. A 5-1 win was therefore the final score. Will this be the season that we finally consolidate our status as a Birmingham League Division 2 team?

Our season officially got underway yesterday with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory against Norton Canes in the Cannock League Division 4. Our team had a mixture of youth & experience with old hands David drawing on board 1 & (last minute substitute) Stefan winning on 2. The 2 youngsters won their games, with both playing some exciting attacking chess. Amraya came out on top on 4 & Sam won in his first ever rated Classical game on 3. Well done to everyone involved. Our Cannock League Division 1 game against Lichfield scheduled for the same night, was sadly postponed until April as our opponents could not raise a full team. 

After discussions at last night's AGM some tweaks are being made to this season's Club KO. All club members will receive an email soon with the new rules/guidelines & an opportunity to enroll in the tournament.

Rushall have won the prestigious Pittaway cup for the first time.

The trophy is contested by W'ton league first teams in a jamboree pairings event.

Rushall scored 6 points from the 8 board team.

Our team was Cosmin-Constantin Arapu, Steve Whatmore, Stephen Gaskell, John Staniforth, Alex Pready, Peter Leary, Steve Wilcox and John Grsnt.

Mayday Rapidpla

First stephen gaskell. 5 out of 5

Second steve whatmore 4 out of  5

15 players took part

Our first team in the Birmingham League, division 3, captained by Steve Whatmore, have won the Championship with a match still to play.

13 year old Stephen was equal first in the minor section ( under 1700 rating ) at the massive Blackpool congress, 10th to 12th February 2023. His score was 4 1/2 out of 5

• Half season, best percentages in league so far
•                                        played    won   drawn   lost     points    percentage
• Joseph Wilcox                        4      3         1         0       3 1/2        87.5%
• Cosmin-Constantin Arapu        9      6         1          2       6 1/2        72.2
• Steve Whatmore                    14     8         4         2         10           71.4
• Stephen Gaskelll                   12     7         3         2         8 1/2        70.8
• David Jarvis                           6      2         4         0         4             66.6
• Pradeep Shankar                    3      2         9         1         2             66.6
• Alex Pready                          12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5     
• Samuel Baugh                       12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5 
• Stefan Winman                      12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5 
• Peter Leary                           12     6          2         4        7              58.3
• John Staniforth                      15     4          9         2       8 1/2         56.6
• Shane Cooksey                     10     3          5         2       5 1/2         55.0

19/12/22 equal first with 4 / 5 were peter leary and steve whatmore

Steve Wilcox played his 1,000th Rushall team game on Monday 24th October V Rugeley.

Steve wants to thank everyone for the generous gift to mark the occasion

Rushall's 13 year old Stephen Gaskell won the Crewe under 1500 section with a perfect 5 out of 5 for the weekend. Cogratulatios Stephen.

8 teams. Lichfield win with 3 1/2 out of 4

A warm welcome to our first Romanian player. Cosmin-Constantin Arapu came along tonight and played some entertaining games

At the AGM on 15/8/2022 Stephen Gaskell was named Most Improved Player Of The Season

Manpreet Sangha 4 1/2 / 5

Adrian Dibble / Alex Pready 4 / 5

best u/1630 gtade also Adrian

best over 60 y o also Alex

best under 18 Stephen Gaskell 2 1/2 / 5

best score from player with slow start Aryan Shankar 2 / 5

David Jarvis Played 12 - 62.5%, Stephen Gaskell Played 8 - 62.5%, Shriya Pillay Played 14 - 60.7%,

Adrian Dibble Played 7 - 57.1%, Joseph Wilcox Played 9 - 55.5%, John Grant Played 22 - 54.5%,

Alex Pready Played 21 - 52.3%,  Roger Bray Plated 19 - 52.6%.

16/5/22 We win final Cannock league division two match V Rugeley, Winning Championship. Played 6, scoring 9 points.

Top scorer for the ream was Stefan Winman with 3 out of 3

CDCL's Cup Final, Drawn 2 - 2 , but Rushall win on board count.

It is sad to report the passing of Walsall Kipping's David Anderton, who died on 1st April, 2022.

David was a brilliant player for Walsall and Staffordshire. He had been past President of the County as well as first team captain for many years. He had many roles with the English Chess Federation including captain of their international team.

Condolences go to David's widow Doreen, a past member of Rushall Chess Club.

Good News. Steve has decided to play ror us in the WDCL as well.

               RESULTS

Joint Winners ( 4/5 ) Alex Pready, Steve Whatmore, Steve Wilcox(also best over 60 )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     best under 18 y o  ( 3/5 ) Stephen Gaskell

best under 1640 grade ( 3 1/2/ ) Stefan Winman 

best slow starter ( 3/5 ) Pradeep Shankar

sixteen entered

                                    

                                    

 

On our Links page you can navigate to the ECF ratings page. Here are shown the half season (January) ratings. Only five of our players have increased their grades since the start of the season (July 2021). They are Joe Wilcox +23, Shriya Pillay +22, John Staniforth +17, Peter Turner +6, Steve Whatmore +5.

Please let Webmaster David Jarvis know of any newsworthy items.