Welcome to the Cannock & District Chess League website

The CDCL was set up by 4 members of St Mary's Chess Club in Cannock - Ray Dolan, Robin Lewis, Brian Lynam & Robert Mayne - to "... promote the game of chess within its area (now designated as within 20 miles of Cannock) and to organise league matches and competitions between the participating clubs...". The inaugural AGM on 14th April 1999 was also attended by Lee Greaves (St Mary's CC), John Montague (Rugeley CC), Pete Collins (Lichfield CC), Robert Ward (Wolverhampton CC) & Steve Wilcox (Rushall CC). It was decided that the League was to be organised into 2 Divisions to start in the Autumn of 1999. Teams from Brewood, Bushbury & Tamworth also participated in that first season. Division 3 was then added in 2001 & Division 4 has been played regularly since 2022.

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Before the pandemic CDCL seasons ran from September until April. After lockdown was lifted in 2021, we were the first local league to restart playing over the board chess, but with a shorter Autumn 2021 Season from October until December. This then allowed clubs to review the number of team entries for our Spring 2022 Season which ran from January until the end of May.

In our 2022 AGM, clubs voted to return to the traditional schedule with effect from the 2022-2023 Season – the current details of which can be found in the League Rules section of this site. We have 11 member clubs with over 30 teams in total competing across our 4 Divisions & the Chase Trophy – our major club knockout competition, which has been held continually since 2011 (barring covid). In the 2024 AGM clubs also agreed to add a 2nd club knockout competition - the Chase Shield.

Divisions are assembled to allow a good mixture of 4 rated players to play in each team, with their combined rating within a set limit for each division. There is no promotion/relegation in the league - clubs choose which division(s) to enter each season based on the rating strength of their members & means that big & small clubs alike can compete on a level playing field. Having similar strength teams playing in each division means that matches are extremely competitive with the result on every board vital.

The CDCL caters for all abilities. Alongside experienced players competing in all 4 divisions, Division 1 teams also include some of the most talented players in the local area, many with ECF ratings around the 2000 mark, while often lower boards in Division 3 & many Division 4 boards contain developing players who are either new to chess or returning to it after an absence.

Individual competitions are also held - these are called the Robert Ward Trophy (our primary individual competition), Robert Ward Plate (for medium/lower rated first round Robert Ward Trophy losers) & Dolan Trophy (unrated & under 1500 ECF rated players). 

We use the English Chess Federation's League Management System website to record & show all of our league, cup & individual fixtures, results, standings etc. This means that every game is rated automatically by the ECF. All of the information can be found on https://ecflms.org.uk - just scroll down to the Cannock & District Chess League section or click the link on our main menu.