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North Staffs and District Chess Association (The "Stoke League")
North Staffs and District Chess Association (The "Stoke League")
The NSDCA, sometimes known simply as the Stoke League, is the league covering a radius of 25 miles from Hanley bus station. It is affiliated to the English Chess Federation and to the Staffordshire Chess Association. For the season 2026-27, we will enter two teams. Meir A will play in Division 4 and Meir B in Division 6. Much of the detail of fixtures and results appears on the League Management System run by the English Chess Federation. The links take you to the current pages of LMS for both divisions, showing all of the season's fixtures. With our club's expanding membership, running two teams ensures that all our members who enjoy competitive chess have plenty of opportunities to play.
South Potteries Cup
South Potteries Cup
A team from Fenton visited us on our recent club night, 19 August, for this long-standing precursor to a new season. Enjoyable chess, but not a good result for the Meir as we lost 1.5 - 2.5. Meir and Fenton play this match every year, alternating venues. Jac secured a win on board 4 after a long and careful game, Dave achieved a draw on the top board.
The South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup is an annual pre-season friendly between Meir and Fenton. The first match was held in 2004 when the current Meir Chess Club was known as Creda Chess Club. We became Caverswall Chess Club in 2006 and Meir Chess Club in 2007.
The trophy was donated by the landlord of the New Penny pub in Fenton, which is where we played the first match on 20 September 2004. The Cup has been contested every year since then, with the exception of 2020, when it was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
The venue alternates between the two clubs and the number of boards varies according to the availability of players from both clubs.
Meir won the trophy 4 - 2 (in a match with 6 boards in 2023/4. Fenton was judged the winner in 2024/5 after the match ended drawn on 2-2.
County Chess - the national Quarter Finals
County Chess - the national Quarter Finals
Meir players regularly turn out to play for Staffordshire teams. The games are longer than local league games, have 12 or 16 boards, and can involve quite long journeys.
Martin, Gwyn, Roger and Bob are off to Peterborough on Saturday, 9 May. This is a national quarter final between Staffordshire under 1450 and Norfolk, held at a venue roughly half way between the counties. Meir are proud to send a third of the team - brilliant support for the County team from one of the smaller clubs.
A note about grades
A note about grades
The English Chess Federation (ECF) maintains a database of all the players registered with them. Each time a registered player takes part in an "official" game, the result is reported to the ECF. The ECF regularly updates the grade of each player. To play social chess at the Meir Club or to take part in our Club Championship, players need not register with the ECF, but to continue to play in League, County, or Congress games, registration is required. The database is open for anyone to view; there is a link on our "Links" page.
Other nations have their own databases. The international organisation similar to the ECF is FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Higher rated players, in particular, will often have a FIDE rating as well as an ECF grade. See our "Links" page.
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