BUCA Championship Winners

This page outlines all the winners of the BUCA Championship there have ever been. As much information as possible has been added. It is believed that all winners are known, but not all venues or individual winners. Any information that you have to add to this page would be greatly received.

British Universities' Chess Association Founded

Between 1947 and his death in 1989, Baruch Harold Wood (BH Wood) was the President of the British Universities' Chess Association. He Presided over events until his death. The peak period was in the early 1970s, during the Fischer boom. The Association lapsed in 1991, shortly after BH's death. In this era, the various London colleges competed as a united "University of London" team. The triumvirate of Cambridge, London and Oxford dominated this period, coming first or first equal on 34 occasions between them. It was also possible to have shared winners; there being no tie-break in the event of a share of first place. There was no competition in 1989 due to BH Wood's death, and 1991 allowed Polytechnics to compete, but none entered!

Year Winner Venue
1947 Leeds
1948 Oxford
1949 Manchester
1950 Oxford
1951 Oxford
1952 Durham, Oxford
1953 Birmingham
1954 Cambridge
1956 Cambridge
1957 London
1958 Cambridge, Glasgow, London
1959 Oxford
1960 London
1961 Cambridge
1962 Cambridge
1963 London Leicester
1964 Oxford Manchester
1965 London Sheffield
1966 Cambridge Oxford
1967 London York
1968 Oxford Swansea
1969 Cambridge Liverpool
1970 London Manchester
1971 Cambridge Leeds
1972 Cambridge Imperial
1973 Cambridge Leeds
1974 Cambridge Birmingham
1975 London Sheffield
1976 Glasgow Edinburgh
1977 Sheffield
1978 Leeds Leeds
1979 London Southampton
1980 Edinburgh Lancaster
1981 Leeds Leeds
1982 Oxford Imperial
1983 Cambridge
1984 Oxford Birmingham
1985 Oxford Cardiff
1986 London Manchester
1987 Leeds Leeds
1988 Cambridge Bristol
1990 Cambridge Birmingham
1991 Nottingham Swansea

Independent Events

The Association had lapsed, but many Universities took on the mantle of organising inter-University events between 1991 and 2008. These were held on an infrequent basis. BUCA was briefly revived in 2007, but had lapsed again by 2008.

Year Winner Venue
1998 Oxford Birmingham
2001 Cambridge Cambridge
2002 Warwick Warwick
2003 Oxford Birmingham
2004 Oxford Warwick
2007 Sheffield Warwick
2008 Sheffield Nottingham

British Universities' Chess Association Reformed

The Association was refounded in 2010. Rather than be organised by Universities, it was organised by the Association.

Year Championship Plate Bowl Shield Venue
2010 Bath Oxford
2011 Oxford Oxford
2012 Edinburgh High Wycombe
2013 Imperial High Wycombe
2014 Imperial Imperial West Bromwich
2015 Cambridge Cambridge Aberystwyth Birmingham
2016 Cambridge Imperial Imperial Birmingham
2017 Warwick Warwick Warwick Warwick Hinckley
2018 Warwick Warwick Aberystwyth Warwick Telford
2019 Imperial Imperial UCL UWE Telford
2020 Oxford UCL UCL Warwick Birmingham
2021 Cambridge chess.com
2022 Warwick chess.com
2023 Cambridge Cambridge Tournelo
2024 Oxford Cambridge LSE Bristol Leicester

Individual Blitz

After the association, the tournament's popularity and size grew quickly and within a few years the now traditional midnight blitz tournament became an official part of the weekend.

Year Winner University Score Venue
2016 P U Midhun Imperial 8/9 Birmingham
2017 Dong Bao Nghia, Matthias Gantner Loughborough, Leeds 7½/9 Hinckley
2018 Marcus Harvey Southampton 8/9 Telford
2019 Ferran Gonzalez Hernandez UCL 8/9 Telford
2020 Jonathan Tayar, Thomas Goldie Cambridge, LSE 8/9 Birmingham
2021 Kim Yew Chan LSE 3/3 tornelo.com
2024 Koby Kalavannan Cambridge 8/9 Leicester