Essex U2050 Team for 2025-26

Team Captain

Michael Spurr

To contact Michael use the site Contact Form and select U2050 Captain from the dropdown.

2025-26 Team navigation

U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 | SCCU on ECF LMS

Team fixtures

DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamStart
04-Oct-2025Kent7-9Essex12:30
01-Nov-2025EssexMiddx13:30
22-Nov-2025MiddxEssex
06-Dec-2025EssexSurrey13:30
24-Jan-2026SurreyEssex
28-Feb-2026EssexKent13:30

Match cards

U2050
Player Stats

…will appear here.

U2050
Played Saturday, 4 October 2025, at St Mary Cray
  Kent v Essex
Kolomvas, Dimitrios 2049 (2049) (B) ½-½ Hodgson, John H 2036 (2047) (W)
Wheatley, Wilfred 2019 (2019) 0-1 Myall, Ivan J 2040 (2009)
O’Donovan, Paul J 2010 (2010) 0-1 Jaszkiwskyj, Peter 2009 (2009)
Hartley, Luke 2005 (2005) 1-0 Kriman, Salim 2000 (2000)
Keenan, Brendan 1991 (1991) ½-½ Rix, Steven JL 1994 (1993)
Swiatkowski, Aram 1932 (1932) 0-1 Killeen, Robert T 1955 (1955)
Swiatkowski, Dominik 1930 (1930) 0-1 McCall, Martin 1900 (1900)
Jiang, Freddy 1907 (1907) 1-0 Spurr, Michael 1859 (1859)
Brown, John 1903 (1933) 0-1 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1844)
10  Allen, John P 1850 (1850) 0-1 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1842)
11  Nevols, Keith 1851 (1850) 0-1 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1836)
12  Sands, Alan VH 1838 (1844) 1-0 Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1827)
13  Anstead, Jerry 1831 (1832) ½-½ Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1825)
14  Brennan, Henry 1804 (1862) 1-0 Twitchell, Neville H 1809 (1809)
15  Lane, Robert E 1803 (1803) ½-½ Hillman , George 1700 ()
16  Beavis, Barrington 1766 (1766) 1-0 Faheem, Muhammad 1606 (1606)
  Average: 1906 7-9 Average: 1880

Report by skipper Michael Spurr

Our first match of the season was a tricky away tie against Kent. Unfortunately, a number of players were unavailable and I had some trouble finding 16 players! Thankfully, a full team did form in the week before the match and I’d like to thank everyone who was able to play (shout-out to the U2050 debutants, Ashwin, George and Muhammed, who helped to make up the team).

I was also worried about the impact of Storm Amy on travel to Kent (particularly the Dartford Crossing), but conditions were not as bad as I feared and everyone made it to St Mary’s Cray.

Last season, there was a recurring theme of Essex making a good start and then falling away to lose the match. The match away to Kent started in a similar fashion, with Philip’s mating attack gaining the first point. A draw for Ian Hunnable, followed by wins for Rob (sacrificial attack) and Ashwin on his debut (piling up on the h-file) gave Essex a 3 point lead early on. The Kent fightback began with wins on Boards 16 and 4, but Essex still held a 1 point lead.

Rather than losing further, as tended to happen last season, the Essex 3 point lead was restored with wins for Ivan (almost perfectly matching the words of wisdom on his t-shirt!) and Pete. With draws for George and John, Essex moved up to 6½ points with only two more required. Despite Kent victories on Boards 12 and 14, Essex success was secured by wins for Malcolm and Martin. A draw for Steve took us to 9 points with my game the final one to finish. Although better on the board, my opponent had seconds left on the clock. I then absent-mindedly made an illegal move! The penalty was 2 minutes added to my opponent’s clock and I resigned shortly afterwards (knowing that the match was already won).

So, after the disappointment of losing our first three matches last season, we started this season with an excellent win away to a Kent team which outgraded us on average by ~30 points.

U2050
To be Played Saturday, 1 November 2025, at Wanstead
  Essex v Middx
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U2050
To be Played Saturday, 22 November 2025, Away
  Middx v Essex
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U2050
To be Played Saturday, 6 December 2025, at Wanstead
  Essex v Surrey
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U2050
To be Played Saturday, 24 January 2025, Away
  Surrey v Essex
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U2050
To be Played Saturday, 28 February 2025, at Wanstead
  Essex v Kent
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