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Competitive Chess

Bob Perry, Club Chair, presented David with the Championship Cup at our AGM.

The Club Championship

All members of the Club are invited to enter our internal championship. Each player plays the others twice - once as white and once as black. We play the Championship under the same rules as for League games.

David Fuller, one of our members, donated the cup to the Club. In the first year it was won by Martin Chadwick and in the second year by David Hackney. At the presentation of the cup it was great to hear David tell us that, during a period of ill health, he had found pleasure and encouragement from thinking through some of his games in the Championship.

At 15 October, the top of the Championship table had:

Ken - played 6, with 3.5 points
Stuart - played 3, with 3 points
Gwyn - played 5, with 2.5 points

North Staffordshire 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. Meir currently enters a team in Division 5 of the league. Much of the detail of fixtures and results appears on the League Management System run by the English Chess Federation. There is a brief report on the "News" page and links to more information via LMS on the "Links" page.

South Potteries Challenge Cup

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

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. On 28 September, Martin won, Roger, Bob and Gwyn lost against Derbyshire Under 1650, with a draw overall. On 11 October, Martin drew, Roger and Bob lost and Gwyn won against Lincolnshire Under 1650, with an overall win for Staffordshire, 9-7

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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