WORCESTERSHIRE I chess team suffered another heavy loss against Staffordshire I in a Midland Counties match played at Winyates Barn, Redditch.

An unsurprising result when it is considered that Worcs players were outgraded on every single board. The only local winner was Geoffrey Boyce who led the Droitwich club for some years but then moved to live in South Wales.

STAFFS 13, WORCS 3 (Blackburn 1, Kitson 0; Anderton , Cromblehome ; Wallace 0, Boyce 1; Wheeler 1, Myers 0; Margwengwende 1, Wrench 0; Allen , Bethel ; Richardson , Herbert ; Acey 1, Bissell 0; Grinsell 1, S Collett 0, Armstrong 1, Jukes 0; Pritchard 1, Jackson 0; Standforth 1, Wiggins 0; Gregg 1, Horwill 0; Westwood 1, Hadley 0; Suzie Blackburn , Riley ; Pedder 1, Default 0).

In Division One of the County League Worcester defeated Malvern.

Due credit to Worcester who rarely win this particular fixture; they were grateful to see Eric Myers twin out for the first time this season where at top board playing his favourite Vereson opening he succeeded in drawing with his strong opponent Brian Turner.

No 2 was pretty equal until Andy Taylor broke through; likewise at No 3 in a Nimzowitch deferred where Steve Mellor also turned the tables.

An English opening on the next board which lasted 40 moves; here John Knee appeared to have a big space advantage but concentrated on blocking the position.

No 5 was a short draw in a Scandinavian defence and on bottom board Nesbit won a piece.

WORCESTER 3, MALVERN 2 (Myers , Turner ; Taylor 1, Herbert 0; Mellor 1, Clarke 0; Collett , Knee ; Spittle , Spencer ; Barber 0, Nesbit 1).