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Comments by Ivor Smith:

A most disappointing result. This was a match that I had great hopes for, particularly when it became apparent that Kent were missing six of their top eight players.  Losing Russell White and Jeff Goldberg to illness hadn't helped but it was just as much to do with very heavy traffic and other factors that meant the late arrival for those receiving lifts. This apparently led to John Hodgson's disastrous early  blunder in a position with which he is quite familiar, whilst both Kevin White and Chris Fegan played badly against Kent's talented brothers (William [16] and Victor Jones [14]). 3-0 down by 4 p.m. was a disastrous start but at least we did manage 50% on the remaining 13 boards.

IBNS

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Report by Ivor Smith (pdf): Click here

Above Report includes two annotated games by Jonathan Rogers: his game from the above match and another from Herts v Essex last season.

Play both games in DGT Chess Theatre (minus notes): Click here

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Play 13 games from above match in DGT Chess Theatre: Click here

Games supplied by John Philpott
Annotations to Foley-Reynolds kindly supplied by John Foley

Comments by Ivor Smith:

Both teams were affected by the weather conditions yesterday. In our case it was extremely helpful that Ian Reynolds and Philip Gregory were able to cover for Jonathan Rogers and Jon Manley who were snowbound in Cambridge and Oxford respectively. It was a further blow when John White had to drop out on the morning of the match through illness and it was fortunate that a very experienced player, Jim Howson (4th in the British Championship in 1958!), was available at such short notice.

The days when we could look forward to one or two easy matches have long since gone. Our win yesterday, albeit by the smallest of margins, was an xcellent achievement against a County Association with no less than 34 registered players graded 180+ (we have 19).

Here, we were undefeated with the white pieces and two of the losses were extremely close and could perhaps have been saved. Unfortunately my own game was a disaster and left us one down at the half way point (seven draws and one loss). Soon after that the scores were level when Jim Howson gave his opponent a lesson in rook and pawn endings and when Tim Hebbes and Philip Gregory both won we secured an unexpected but welcome two point lead. However this lead evaporated when we lost on boards 2 and 14 and in an exciting finish it was left to Lawrence Trent to win us the match.

Our remaining fixtures are against Sussex (Hassocks, February 6th)  and Herts (Wanstead House, March 6th).

IBNS

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Comments by Ivor Smith (full report and games to follow):

Prior to this match we were aware that to guarantee third place a win by 11-5 or better was required and the determined way in which the members of the team set about the task was outstanding.

I have played for Essex for over fifty years and I find it difficult to recall such an impressive performance. Not simply the margin of the victory*, for that is by no means unique, but the way the members of the team set about achieving the result that had been asked of them.

In situations like this early draws are inappropriate and none were forthcoming. Indeed it was two and a half hours into the match before the first game finished - a win that saw us 2-0 up, adding to the board 16 default that we had received prior warning about. After that the wins kept coming and within a further hour we had achieved our first target, winning the match, as we led 8½-½.

With seven games still in play, reaching our target of 11 points seemed likely but at that stage not entirely certain. However, despite one setback, the remaining players responded magnificently, none more so than David Sands on board 1 who scored an outstanding win against IM Simon Knott in the last game to finish.

The other results in the day's matches:

Middlesex   9½-6½  Kent

Surrey       8-8   Sussex

Next Saturday, 13th March, the postponed match between Kent and Sussex will decide 1st and 2nd places - a match that Kent must win.

Essex, Herts and Middlesex finished equal third with 2 match points each. Middlesex beat Essex (10½-5½), Herts beat Middlesex (11½-4½) and  Essex beat Herts (13-3), so total game points (rather than match points) between these three teams became the deciding factor:

Essex 18½, Middlesex 15, Herts 14½

We now play a qualifying match on April 17th for a place in the quarter finals.  This match will be against the team finishing third in the Midland Counties Open Championship.

IBNS

* The Essex Open team has achieved a score of 13-3 or better on three previous occasions in the recent past but always against teams conceding multiple defaults. In 2003-4 (Essex 13-3 Bucks), 2002-3 (Essex 13-3 Cambs) and 1999-2000 (Essex 14½-1½ Berks). All these opposing teams were of course struggling at that time and indeed soon dropped out of the competition altogether.

It is interesting to note that no less than 12 members of our current squad played in that match against Berks ten years ago. (Jonathan Rogers, Andrew Lewis, David Sands, John Hodgson, Russell White, Jon Manley, Jeff Goldberg, John Moore, Lawrence Trent, Larry Marden, David Millward & Chris Fegan). At that time Philip Gregory was playing for Herts.

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