For all those not finding a summer league or playing at the death of the County Season, it has been a long lay off since the KO final on the 18th June. Many finished at the end of May.
So, kids can lay down their cricket bats (u15s ends Monday and u17s Wednesday) and parents can breathe a sigh of relief as the season is almost here. It is time to do battle.
What is the position?
Overall, we have lost Belgrave in the Watkinsons, Keddie Cup and Bill Lumley. This is mitigated through M&DD entering the Keddie Cup and Holmfirth putting a second team into the Examiner, now the bulk of juniors have done their GCSEs. Huddersfield were within a whisker of more teams but needed another season to solidify.
Numbers appear to be up and the Individual KO returns after a decade.
Competitions
·The Watkinson’s League: A team event with board by grade order. All the top club pls compete. Teams are Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Honley and Meltham & Denby Dale.
·The Examiner League: Handicap rated to encourage the top graded players to step out. Teams are Belgrave, Holmfirth (x2), Huddersfield, Honley and Meltham & Denby Dale (x2).
·The John Newsome Cup: A very popular individual swiss over 6 rounds. This is for u1500 and u1200 graded players. Ideal for introducing players for chess.
·The Keddie Cup: Rapidplay featuring Holmfirth, Honley, Huddersfield and Meltham & Denby Dale.
·The Bill Lumley Trophy: Rapidplay featuring Honley, Huddersfield and Meltham & Denby Dale (x2).
·The Knockout: Handicap rated team knockout. Teams TBA.
·The Individual Knockout: A standard play individual KO, usually under three grading categories. Currently with 25 entries and growing.
Fixtures can be found: Organisation Fixtures | ECF League Management System
Club nights
Club nights are continuing across the following Clubs:
Holmfirth at the Stumble Inn near Holmbridge on Wednesdays:
·Juniors 6-7
·Adults 7.30+
Huddersfield: Wednesday 7.30 from Linley Liberal Club
Meltham & Denby Dale
·Meltham Mondays at the Traveller’s Rest with Juniors from 6:45 and adults from 7:45.
·Denby Dale Thursdays at the Forester’s Arms from 6:45
·Vanilla Bean Café from 5:30 on a Friday in Slaithwaite.
County
The HDCA has a proud history of supporting out County teams, boasting one YCA member and one county Captain. Members are involved with the ECF and Northern Counties. If you want to play County, please let me know.
Teams are picked according to grades (so Open team, u2050s, u1850s, u1650s and u1450s), so please put your name down.
Yorkshire League
This commences on the 4th October and we have teams across the League in Divisions 2-4. Let’s hope Huddersfield and Holmfirth can ensure we have a team in division one as well!
Calderdale League
Commences 22nd September on a Monday night. This is a very strong league, quite often having 2150s on top boards. The standard is high and Honley, Huddersfield and Holmfirth down rivalries to combine into three teams to take on some of the best players in the region. Fancy a challenge? Let me know.
Events
The 4NCL returns to Huddersfield in the New Year. This is alongside the Huddersfield Congress 28th – 29th March 2026. The latter is part of an impressive new chess circuit: White Rose Chess.
…and finally
Best wishes all and enjoy the chess we have ahead of us. Let’s go win some trophies, play lots of games and have an enjoyable time. Come join us at Holmfirth and join in.
See you over the board.
