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NCCU History - The First One Hundred Years

It was the general feeling of the 1999 Annual General Meeting of the Northern Counties Chess Union that it would be wrong to allow the Centenary of the Union to pass by without some reminder to mark the occasion. It would be impossible to cover the entirety of this proud affiliation of eight Northern Counties (Cheshire & North Wales, Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire, Merseyside, Northumberland and Yorkshire) over the last one hundred years without a great deal of time and academic research.  

I hope instead this small history section goes some way to giving a flavour of the Union and what it has achieved for chess-playing throughout the North of England this century, and what it does now and hopes to do in the future. Further still, I would like to think it might also inspire other chess enthusiasts to get involved with the organisation of chess playing and administration in the North, be it through their club, county, local congress, local rapidplay, junior coaching or bulletin writing. Because one thing is very evident over the last 100 years - the game we love to play can only exist through the efforts of motivated volunteers. Here’s to the next 100 years.....

Bill O’Rourke,  NCCU General Secretary, July 1999

Part 1  1871-1901   How it all began

Part 2  1902-1916   Lancashire, Yorkshire & Cheshire dominate

Part 3  1920-1939     The North East enters the fray

Part 4  1945-1999     The NCCU to the present day

Part 5   County winners 1901-1999

Part 6   History of the individual counties who constitute the NCCU

Part 7   Junior chess within the NCCU

Part 8   Correspondence chess within the NCCU

Part 9   NCCU Individual Champions

Part 10  NCCU Individual Junior Champions

Part 11  Centenary County Championships

Part 12  Centenary Club Championships

Part 13  Centenary Congress and Rapidplay Grand Prix

Part 14  Report from the NCCU Centenary AGM June 1999

Part 15  The Centenary Dinner

Part 16  The Millennium year and the future for the NCCU

Histories of the Individual Counties

Cheshire & North Wales   Cleveland    Cumbria   Durham
Lancashire   Merseyside   Northumberland    Yorkshire