Chester had a pretty successful conclusion to the season. Unusually it was Chester 2 and Chester B captained by Steve Lloyd that managed to win the first division in each league.
In the open knockout competitions John Carleton’s Chester teams almost managed a clean sweep. In the Wirral league victory in the final against Atticus was achieved with a very tense 4-3 result. However, in the Chester & District league Colwyn Bay (with the benefit of a small handicap start) triumphed in the final critical match by a single second.
There were strong individual performances backing up these results. For example in the Chester league Chris Doran, Jack Walley and Ray Williams were very close to being players of the year. More results can be seen here Chester & District Chess League – Player Charts.
In the Wirral league the results are now presented using LMS but can be found by clicking around here Event: Division 1 | ECF League Management System. Once again Chris Doran scored highly in division 1.
On a broader stage new member Thalia Holmes won the BBC Chess Masters competition overcoming other players, fiendish problems and most scaringly taking on 9-year old Bodhana in the process. Episodes can be seen on iPlayer and there is a nice report here Thalia Clinches Trophy In BBC’s ‘Chess Masters’ Final Episode – Chess.com
Lastly your reporter captained England 2 to bronze medals in the European 50+ team championships behind England 1 and Germany. This was in spite of having a player hospitalised during the event. There is a report here England wins triple gold at European Senior Team Chess Championship 2025 – European Chess Union.