U1850 Team 2021-22

Team Captain: Peter Nickals

ECA Teams navigation: U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 | SCCU U1850 on ECF LMS

  • Fixtures
    eDate Home Team v Away Team Time
    Sat 6th November 2021 Surrey 7½-8½ Essex 14:00
    Sat 4th December 2021 Essex 7½–8½ Middlesex 13:30
    Sat 22nd January 2022 Kent 6–10 Essex 12:15
    Sat 5th February 2022 Essex 9–7 Surrey 13:30
    Sat 26th February 2022 Middlesex 8–8 Essex 14:00
    Sat 12th March 2022 Essex 9½–6½ Kent 13:30
    N/A Essex
    		 16-0 Hants  
    Sat 11th Jun 2022 Essex
    		 5½-10½ Yorks  
  • Surrey (A)

    Played 6 November 2021

    Board Surrey v Essex
    1 Alcock, Graham P 1803 (1793) (B) ½-½ Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809) (W)
    2 Grey, Nicholas D 1795 (1795) 0-1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1809)
    3 Sedgwick, David R 1788 (1788) 1-0(def) Moth, Simon C 1788 (1788)
    4 Lazarevic, Ljubica 1728 (1728) 1-0 Karacsony, Istvan 1589 ()
    5 Jones, H Trevor 1720 (1723) 0-1 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1754)
    6 Horlock, Peter J 1705 (1705) 0-1 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1705)
    7 Lawrence, Peter A 1683 (1683) 0-1 Bartal, Shir 1338 ()
    8 Wickham, Michael 1675 (1672) 1-0 Hatilov, Pavlo 1700 ()
    9 Miles, Barry S 1668 (1651) ½-½ Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1697)
    10 Chamberlain, Ken R 1660 (1660) ½-½ Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1696)
    11 Kaddu, Mukasa (Fred) 1660 (1660) 1-0 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1651)
    12 Gunn, Michael J 1623 (1623) ½-½ Cook, Keith B 1673 (1661)
    13 Kothari, Jai 1563 (1626) 0-1 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1638)
    14 Garrood, Anthony 1514 () 1-0 Smith, David 1637 (1622)
    15 Welch, Stephen T 1503 (1531) 0-1 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1590)
    16 Guo, Jintian J 1473 (1473) ½-½ Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1427)
      Average: 1661 7½-8½ Average: 1648

    Selection of games

  • Middx (H)

    Played 4 December 2021

    Board Essex v Middx
    1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1858) (W) 1-0 Breed, Greg J 1833 (1849) (W)
    2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809) ½-½ Jones, Keith S 1840 (1814)
    3 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1791) 0-1 Jhooti, Rajinder 1803 (1803)
    4 Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1780) 0-1 Shah, Kian 1780 (1798)
    5 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1713) 1-0 Padam, JJ 1765 (1781)
    6 Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1713) ½-½ Price, Michael C 1743 (1746)
    7 Karacsony, Istvan 1589 (1707) 1-0 Gurjar, Roshan 1720 (1741)
    8 Hatilov, Pavlo 1700 (0) ½-½ Cross, Ian K 1728 (1721)
    9 Parker, Robert 1705 (0) 1-0 McNish, David 1728 (1718)
    10 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1698) 1-0 Grant-Ross, Peter 1705 (1713)
    11 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1654) 0-1 Mackellar, Laurie 1690 (1707)
    12 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1624) 0-1 Balatoni, Richard A 1698 (1700)
    13 Smith, David 1637 (1604) 0-1 Zurstiege, Frank 1690 (1699)
    14 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1584) 0-1 Scowen, Roger S 1668 (1681)
    15 Jestico, John V 1471 (1489) 0-1 Moore, Chris J 1660 (1628)
    16 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1427) 1-0 Gurjar, Siena 1578 (1561)
      Average: 1660 7½-8½ Average: 1727

    Blow-by-blow by Mark Murrell

    Middlesex took first blood with the scalp of the Essex skipper Peter (4) but Essex had fought back with a two point lead by two hours in, with a trio of wins from Trevor (10), Robert (9) and Madison (1). Ten minutes later the Essex lead had doubled with wins from Istvan (7) and Alan (5). Something of a recovery at 6-2!

    On the stroke of 4.00 pm Middlesex stem the run and reduce the lead as Peter Burgoyne falls. Essex 3 up with 6 to play including all of the bottom five where Middlesex have a significant rating advantage. Within minutes though, Rida restores the 4 point lead with 5 to play. One more win needed. After three hours’ play the Essex lead has narrowed to 3 and on board 15 there are shades of the decisive game 6 in yesterday’s World Championship match with Q+N v 2R+B!! Same result, unfortunately for Essex and a double rooks ending on 14 could not be held either. 1 up 2 to play! 5.15 and Middlesex have levelled!! Zebedee is trying to hold on in a rook and pawn ending with a deficit of pawns… Not to be, a straight five wins steals the match, a great recovery by Middlesex.

  • Kent (A)

    Played 22 January 2022

    Board Kent v Essex
    1 Padovan, Rodolfo 0000 (1926) (W) ½-½ Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1878) (B)
    2 Packham, Tony B 1826 (1818) 0-1 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809)
    3 Batchelor, Roy 0000 (1826) 1-0 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1810)
    4 Cook, John 1825 (1876) 0-1 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1764)
    5 Cox, Charles 1825 (0) 0-1 Harte, Ben 1735 (1735)
    6 Bernard, Chris PJ 1817 (1799) ½-½ Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1703)
    7 Beavis, Barrington 1795 (1806) ½-½ Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1766)
    8 Lane, Robert E 1774 (1800) 0-1 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1737)
    9 Childs, Peter L 1773 (1798) ½-½ Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1708)
    10 O’Mara, Patrick K 1758 (1741) 0-1 Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1670)
    11 Thompson, Robert G 1702 (1667) 0-1 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1660)
    12 Helps, David 1686 (1668) 1-0 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1644)
    13 Dovey, Andrew JW 1675 (1669) ½-½ Smith, David 1637 (1610)
    14 Wiltshire, Michael R 1668 (1715) ½-½ Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1560)
    15 Hart, George 1635 (1881) 1-0 Bartal, Shir 1338 (1468)
    16 Gilbert, David J 1612 (1632) 0-1 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1475)
      Average: 1524 6-10 Average: 1668

    SCCU on ECF LMS

  • Surrey (H)

    Played 5 February 2022

    Board Essex v Surrey
    1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1898) (B) ½-½ Eckert, Jonathan M 1818 (1822) (W)
    2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1819) ½-½ Alcock, Graham P 1803 (1794)
    3 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1802) 1-0 Soriano, Pablo 1800 (1787)
    4 Moth, Simon C 1788 (1787) ½-½ Sedgwick, David R 1788 (1791)
    5 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1785) 1-0 Grey, Nicholas D 1795 (1786)
    6 Nigrelli, Vittorio 1745 (0) 0-1 Shah, Meet 1756 (1761)
    7 Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1724) ½-½ Jones, H Trevor 1720 (1731)
    8 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1710) 0-1 Wickham, Michael 1675 (1685)
    9 Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1706) 1-0 Kaddu, Mukasa (Fred) 1660 (1685)
    10 Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1689) ½-½ Slonczuk, Pawel 1668 (1698)
    11 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1676) ½-½ Crosswell, Neil 1698 (1716)
    12 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1635) 1-0 Carpenter, David 1658 (1617)
    13 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1629) ½-½ Armiger, Paul 1616 (1660)
    14 Smith, David 1637 (1587) ½-½ Garrood, Anthony 1583 (1860)
    15 Haddock, Paul 1591 (1543) 0-1 Hutchence, Gregg SH 1548 (1540)
    16 Baig, Huzaifa 1216 (1328) 1-0 Lencses, Levente L 1525 (1564)
      Average: 1678 9-7 Average: 1695

    Surrey brought a strong team to Wanstead, though the average ratings are misleading, given the large difference on Board 16, where critically Huzaifa produced an excellent result for Essex. This was one of the two points that divided the teams at close of play.

    The other was on Board 12, where Peter not only survived a mate in one against, but a second opportunity to re-establish that mate was missed by the opponent. The game is given in the game board below, with our light notes.

    Peter comments about this dramatic game “The game comes with a health warning as viewers will suffer severe shock when examining Black’s 28th. Not in time trouble and after a long think he played QxB instead of Qg1 mate!! What is even more shocking is that I missed it as well, so not suitable for the Essex website except as a horror show, though having said that there is a nice finish to the game. I owe Mike Cresswell an apology. He said to my opponent ‘I think you had mate in one’ and we both told him that was never on.”

    Well, we’re not so bound only to publish “best games” as to pass up a good story. Every match is a collection of separate results and when the point at issue had such an effect on the result, it deserves an airing to give readers the full value of understanding how the match ended as it did. If Black had taken his chances, the score would have been 8-8, but he didn’t. This is just one “if and but”; there are doubtless others. So thank you to Peter for forwarding the game, bringing to life the cold facts of the match sheet on paper.

  • Middx (A)

    Played 26 February 2022

    Board Middx v Essex
    1 Fleming, Liam 1803 (1866) 0-1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1909)
    2 Shah, Kian 1780 (1877) 1-0 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809)
    3 Breed, Greg J 1833 (1812) 0-1 Barclay, Paul R 1803 (1810)
    4 Harper, V Ray 1825 (1818) 0-1 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1836)
    5 Madden, Steve 1803 (1820) 1-0 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1765)
    6 Ivan, Austin 1758 (1753) ½-½ Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1745)
    7 Colter, Nigel 1780 (1784) 1-0 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1756)
    8 Price, Michael C 1743 (1726) ½-½ Harte, Ben 1735 (1744)
    9 Cross, Ian K 1728 (1725) ½-½ Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1680)
    10 Padam, JJ 1765 (1705) 0-1 Buckingham, Michael J 1581 (1649)
    11 Mackellar, Laurie 1690 (1676) ½-½ Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1642)
    12 Zurstiege, Frank 1690 (1709) ½-½ Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1631)
    13 Balatoni, Richard A 1698 (1682) 0-1 Smith, David 1637 (1603)
    14 Grant-Ross, Peter 1705 (1696) 1-0 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1563)
    15 Oh, Julie 1580 (1633) 1-0 Colclough, Ryan 1500 (0)
    16 Ward, Cian 1570 (1616) ½-½ Jestico, John V 1471 (1455)
      Average: 1735 8-8 Average: 1688

    Commentary by Peter Nickals

    With thanks to John Jestico for stepping in at the last minute (draw) our team drew yesterday against Middlesex. Excellent wins by Maddison, Paul Barclay, Andy Swales, Mike Buckingham and David Smith.

    This result keeps Essex top of the table with just one more match remaining – home to Kent on 12 March – prior to the National knock-out stages (more details to follow once published).

  • Kent (H)

    Played 12 March 2022

    Board Essex v Kent
    1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1956) ½-½ Waters, Andrew C 1848 (1871)
    2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1794) ½-½ Packham, Tony B 1826 (1838)
    3 Barclay, Paul R 1803 (1802) ½-½ Bernard, Chris PJ 1817 (1745)
    4 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1683) 1-0 Beavis, Barrington 1795 (1778)
    5 Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1726) ½-½ Lane, Robert E 1774 (1766)
    6 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1777) ½-½ Childs, Peter L 1773 (1772)
    7 Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1722) ½-½ Bishop, Geoffrey L 1735 (1729)
    8 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1700) 1-0 Thompson, Robert G 1702 (1629)
    9 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1668) 0-1 Helps, David 1686 (1674)
    10 Rahaman, Mustapha 1660 (1667) ½-½ Dovey, Andrew JW 1675 (1656)
    11 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1660) 1-0 Hart, George 1635 (1893)
    12 Smith, David 1637 (1619) ½-½ Gilbert, David J 1612 (1617)
    13 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1583) 1-0 Jefferies, Tyrone R 1555 (1606)
    14 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
    15 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
    16 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
        9½-6½  
  • Hants - ECF QF

    Was to be played 7 May 2022

    Hants conceded, unable to raise a full team.

  • U1850 stats
    U1850 P W D L Pts %
    Madison Bowden 1809 6 3 3 0 4½ 75.00
    Alan Riddoch 1705 6 3 2 1 4 66.67
    Peter McCarron 1751 7 4 0 3 4 57.14
    Ruqayyah Rida 1261 4 3 1 0 3½ 87.50
    Peter Burgoyne 1653 7 3 1 3 3½ 50.00
    Mark Rivlin 1705 5 1 4 0 3 60.00
    Trevor Dickerson 1692 5 2 2 1 3 60.00
    Ian Morgan 1810 7 1 4 2 3 42.86
    David Smith 1637 6 1 3 2 2½ 41.67
    Andrew Swales 1765 3 2 0 1 2 66.67
    Paul Barclay 1803 3 1 2 0 2 66.67
    Mike Cresswell 1688 4 1 2 1 2 50.00
    Zebedee Jones 1638 4 1 2 1 2 50.00
    Keith Cook 1673 5 1 2 2 2 40.00
    Ben Harte 1735 3 1 1 1 1½ 50.00
    Stephen Berkley 1683 4 0 3 1 1½ 37.50
    Krishna Raikundalia 1623 4 1 1 2 1½ 37.50
    Peter Nickals 1832 5 0 3 2 1½ 30.00
    Robert Parker 1705 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
    Huzaifa Baig 1216 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
    Michael Buckingham 1581 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
    Alexandr Pereslavtsev 0000 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
    Sergey Pereslavtsev 1110 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
    Shir Bartal 1338 2 1 0 1 1 50.00
    Istvan Karacsony 1760 2 1 0 1 1 50.00
    Moth, Simon 1788 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
    Mustapha Rahaman 1660 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
    Peter Laundy 1828 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
    Pavlo Hatilov 1700 2 0 1 1 ½ 25.00
    John Jestico 1471 2 0 1 1 ½ 25.00
    Vittorio Nigrelli 1745 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
    Paul Haddock 1591 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
    Ryan Colclough  1500 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
    Igor Naumov 1845 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
    Default 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
                 
    35 players 109 36 41 32 56½ 51.83%
eDate Home Team v Away Team Time
Sat 6th November 2021 Surrey 7½-8½ Essex 14:00
Sat 4th December 2021 Essex 7½–8½ Middlesex 13:30
Sat 22nd January 2022 Kent 6–10 Essex 12:15
Sat 5th February 2022 Essex 9–7 Surrey 13:30
Sat 26th February 2022 Middlesex 8–8 Essex 14:00
Sat 12th March 2022 Essex 9½–6½ Kent 13:30
N/A Essex
 16-0 Hants  
Sat 11th Jun 2022 Essex
 5½-10½ Yorks  

Played 6 November 2021

Board Surrey v Essex
1 Alcock, Graham P 1803 (1793) (B) ½-½ Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809) (W)
2 Grey, Nicholas D 1795 (1795) 0-1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1809)
3 Sedgwick, David R 1788 (1788) 1-0(def) Moth, Simon C 1788 (1788)
4 Lazarevic, Ljubica 1728 (1728) 1-0 Karacsony, Istvan 1589 ()
5 Jones, H Trevor 1720 (1723) 0-1 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1754)
6 Horlock, Peter J 1705 (1705) 0-1 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1705)
7 Lawrence, Peter A 1683 (1683) 0-1 Bartal, Shir 1338 ()
8 Wickham, Michael 1675 (1672) 1-0 Hatilov, Pavlo 1700 ()
9 Miles, Barry S 1668 (1651) ½-½ Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1697)
10 Chamberlain, Ken R 1660 (1660) ½-½ Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1696)
11 Kaddu, Mukasa (Fred) 1660 (1660) 1-0 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1651)
12 Gunn, Michael J 1623 (1623) ½-½ Cook, Keith B 1673 (1661)
13 Kothari, Jai 1563 (1626) 0-1 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1638)
14 Garrood, Anthony 1514 () 1-0 Smith, David 1637 (1622)
15 Welch, Stephen T 1503 (1531) 0-1 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1590)
16 Guo, Jintian J 1473 (1473) ½-½ Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1427)
  Average: 1661 7½-8½ Average: 1648

Selection of games

Played 4 December 2021

Board Essex v Middx
1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1858) (W) 1-0 Breed, Greg J 1833 (1849) (W)
2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809) ½-½ Jones, Keith S 1840 (1814)
3 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1791) 0-1 Jhooti, Rajinder 1803 (1803)
4 Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1780) 0-1 Shah, Kian 1780 (1798)
5 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1713) 1-0 Padam, JJ 1765 (1781)
6 Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1713) ½-½ Price, Michael C 1743 (1746)
7 Karacsony, Istvan 1589 (1707) 1-0 Gurjar, Roshan 1720 (1741)
8 Hatilov, Pavlo 1700 (0) ½-½ Cross, Ian K 1728 (1721)
9 Parker, Robert 1705 (0) 1-0 McNish, David 1728 (1718)
10 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1698) 1-0 Grant-Ross, Peter 1705 (1713)
11 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1654) 0-1 Mackellar, Laurie 1690 (1707)
12 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1624) 0-1 Balatoni, Richard A 1698 (1700)
13 Smith, David 1637 (1604) 0-1 Zurstiege, Frank 1690 (1699)
14 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1584) 0-1 Scowen, Roger S 1668 (1681)
15 Jestico, John V 1471 (1489) 0-1 Moore, Chris J 1660 (1628)
16 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1427) 1-0 Gurjar, Siena 1578 (1561)
  Average: 1660 7½-8½ Average: 1727

Blow-by-blow by Mark Murrell

Middlesex took first blood with the scalp of the Essex skipper Peter (4) but Essex had fought back with a two point lead by two hours in, with a trio of wins from Trevor (10), Robert (9) and Madison (1). Ten minutes later the Essex lead had doubled with wins from Istvan (7) and Alan (5). Something of a recovery at 6-2!

On the stroke of 4.00 pm Middlesex stem the run and reduce the lead as Peter Burgoyne falls. Essex 3 up with 6 to play including all of the bottom five where Middlesex have a significant rating advantage. Within minutes though, Rida restores the 4 point lead with 5 to play. One more win needed. After three hours’ play the Essex lead has narrowed to 3 and on board 15 there are shades of the decisive game 6 in yesterday’s World Championship match with Q+N v 2R+B!! Same result, unfortunately for Essex and a double rooks ending on 14 could not be held either. 1 up 2 to play! 5.15 and Middlesex have levelled!! Zebedee is trying to hold on in a rook and pawn ending with a deficit of pawns… Not to be, a straight five wins steals the match, a great recovery by Middlesex.

Played 22 January 2022

Board Kent v Essex
1 Padovan, Rodolfo 0000 (1926) (W) ½-½ Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1878) (B)
2 Packham, Tony B 1826 (1818) 0-1 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809)
3 Batchelor, Roy 0000 (1826) 1-0 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1810)
4 Cook, John 1825 (1876) 0-1 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1764)
5 Cox, Charles 1825 (0) 0-1 Harte, Ben 1735 (1735)
6 Bernard, Chris PJ 1817 (1799) ½-½ Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1703)
7 Beavis, Barrington 1795 (1806) ½-½ Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1766)
8 Lane, Robert E 1774 (1800) 0-1 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1737)
9 Childs, Peter L 1773 (1798) ½-½ Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1708)
10 O’Mara, Patrick K 1758 (1741) 0-1 Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1670)
11 Thompson, Robert G 1702 (1667) 0-1 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1660)
12 Helps, David 1686 (1668) 1-0 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1644)
13 Dovey, Andrew JW 1675 (1669) ½-½ Smith, David 1637 (1610)
14 Wiltshire, Michael R 1668 (1715) ½-½ Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1560)
15 Hart, George 1635 (1881) 1-0 Bartal, Shir 1338 (1468)
16 Gilbert, David J 1612 (1632) 0-1 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1475)
  Average: 1524 6-10 Average: 1668

SCCU on ECF LMS

Played 5 February 2022

Board Essex v Surrey
1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1898) (B) ½-½ Eckert, Jonathan M 1818 (1822) (W)
2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1819) ½-½ Alcock, Graham P 1803 (1794)
3 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1802) 1-0 Soriano, Pablo 1800 (1787)
4 Moth, Simon C 1788 (1787) ½-½ Sedgwick, David R 1788 (1791)
5 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1785) 1-0 Grey, Nicholas D 1795 (1786)
6 Nigrelli, Vittorio 1745 (0) 0-1 Shah, Meet 1756 (1761)
7 Berkley, Stephen W 1683 (1724) ½-½ Jones, H Trevor 1720 (1731)
8 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1710) 0-1 Wickham, Michael 1675 (1685)
9 Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1706) 1-0 Kaddu, Mukasa (Fred) 1660 (1685)
10 Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1689) ½-½ Slonczuk, Pawel 1668 (1698)
11 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1676) ½-½ Crosswell, Neil 1698 (1716)
12 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1635) 1-0 Carpenter, David 1658 (1617)
13 Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1629) ½-½ Armiger, Paul 1616 (1660)
14 Smith, David 1637 (1587) ½-½ Garrood, Anthony 1583 (1860)
15 Haddock, Paul 1591 (1543) 0-1 Hutchence, Gregg SH 1548 (1540)
16 Baig, Huzaifa 1216 (1328) 1-0 Lencses, Levente L 1525 (1564)
  Average: 1678 9-7 Average: 1695

Surrey brought a strong team to Wanstead, though the average ratings are misleading, given the large difference on Board 16, where critically Huzaifa produced an excellent result for Essex. This was one of the two points that divided the teams at close of play.

The other was on Board 12, where Peter not only survived a mate in one against, but a second opportunity to re-establish that mate was missed by the opponent. The game is given in the game board below, with our light notes.

Peter comments about this dramatic game “The game comes with a health warning as viewers will suffer severe shock when examining Black’s 28th. Not in time trouble and after a long think he played QxB instead of Qg1 mate!! What is even more shocking is that I missed it as well, so not suitable for the Essex website except as a horror show, though having said that there is a nice finish to the game. I owe Mike Cresswell an apology. He said to my opponent ‘I think you had mate in one’ and we both told him that was never on.”

Well, we’re not so bound only to publish “best games” as to pass up a good story. Every match is a collection of separate results and when the point at issue had such an effect on the result, it deserves an airing to give readers the full value of understanding how the match ended as it did. If Black had taken his chances, the score would have been 8-8, but he didn’t. This is just one “if and but”; there are doubtless others. So thank you to Peter for forwarding the game, bringing to life the cold facts of the match sheet on paper.

Played 26 February 2022

Board Middx v Essex
1 Fleming, Liam 1803 (1866) 0-1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1909)
2 Shah, Kian 1780 (1877) 1-0 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1809)
3 Breed, Greg J 1833 (1812) 0-1 Barclay, Paul R 1803 (1810)
4 Harper, V Ray 1825 (1818) 0-1 Swales, Andrew 1765 (1836)
5 Madden, Steve 1803 (1820) 1-0 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1765)
6 Ivan, Austin 1758 (1753) ½-½ Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1745)
7 Colter, Nigel 1780 (1784) 1-0 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1756)
8 Price, Michael C 1743 (1726) ½-½ Harte, Ben 1735 (1744)
9 Cross, Ian K 1728 (1725) ½-½ Cresswell, Mike J 1688 (1680)
10 Padam, JJ 1765 (1705) 0-1 Buckingham, Michael J 1581 (1649)
11 Mackellar, Laurie 1690 (1676) ½-½ Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1642)
12 Zurstiege, Frank 1690 (1709) ½-½ Jones, Zebedee 1638 (1631)
13 Balatoni, Richard A 1698 (1682) 0-1 Smith, David 1637 (1603)
14 Grant-Ross, Peter 1705 (1696) 1-0 Raikundalia, Krishna 1623 (1563)
15 Oh, Julie 1580 (1633) 1-0 Colclough, Ryan 1500 (0)
16 Ward, Cian 1570 (1616) ½-½ Jestico, John V 1471 (1455)
  Average: 1735 8-8 Average: 1688

Commentary by Peter Nickals

With thanks to John Jestico for stepping in at the last minute (draw) our team drew yesterday against Middlesex. Excellent wins by Maddison, Paul Barclay, Andy Swales, Mike Buckingham and David Smith.

This result keeps Essex top of the table with just one more match remaining – home to Kent on 12 March – prior to the National knock-out stages (more details to follow once published).

Played 12 March 2022

Board Essex v Kent
1 Bowden, Madison B 1809 (1956) ½-½ Waters, Andrew C 1848 (1871)
2 Morgan, Ian P 1810 (1794) ½-½ Packham, Tony B 1826 (1838)
3 Barclay, Paul R 1803 (1802) ½-½ Bernard, Chris PJ 1817 (1745)
4 McCarron, Peter DJ 1751 (1683) 1-0 Beavis, Barrington 1795 (1778)
5 Nickals, Peter A 1832 (1726) ½-½ Lane, Robert E 1774 (1766)
6 Riddoch, Alan E 1705 (1777) ½-½ Childs, Peter L 1773 (1772)
7 Rivlin, Mark 1705 (1722) ½-½ Bishop, Geoffrey L 1735 (1729)
8 Dickerson, Trevor A 1692 (1700) 1-0 Thompson, Robert G 1702 (1629)
9 Cook, Keith B 1673 (1668) 0-1 Helps, David 1686 (1674)
10 Rahaman, Mustapha 1660 (1667) ½-½ Dovey, Andrew JW 1675 (1656)
11 Burgoyne, Peter A 1653 (1660) 1-0 Hart, George 1635 (1893)
12 Smith, David 1637 (1619) ½-½ Gilbert, David J 1612 (1617)
13 Rida, Ruqayyah 1261 (1583) 1-0 Jefferies, Tyrone R 1555 (1606)
14 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
15 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
16 Not contested ½-½ Not contested
    9½-6½  

Was to be played 7 May 2022

Hants conceded, unable to raise a full team.

Played 11 June 2022

At Syston

Board Essex v Yorks
1 Naumov, Igor 1845 (W) 0-1 Hill, Daniel W 1917 (B)
2 Laundy, Peter R 1828 ½-½ Gostelow, Luke 1863
3 Barclay, Paul R 1802 ½-½ Westmoreland, Steve 1867
4 Morgan, Ian P 1794 0-1 Benzaira, Sammy 1861
5 Riddoch, Alan E 1782 ½-½ Tomlinson, Zak 1854
6 Berkley, Stephen W 1778 0-1 Strutt, Ben 1843
7 Harte, Ben 1734 0-1 Mason, Peter F 1822
8 Rivlin, Mark 1722 ½-½ Donahue, Randolph E 1802
9 Nickals, Peter A 1732 0-1 May, Paul 1817
10 Pereslavtsev, Alexandr 1718 1-0 Kryshtafor, Maksym 1781
11 Dickerson, Trevor A 1700 ½-½ Colledge, Dave 1769
12 Cresswell, Mike J 1679 0-1 Booth, David 1764
13 Cook, Keith B 1668 0-1 Catt, Peter 1760
14 McCarron, Peter DJ 1685 0-1 Holroyd-Doveton, Nathaniel 1706
15 Burgoyne, Peter A 1658 1-0 Grasham, John 1657
16 Pereslavtsev, Sergey 1599 1-0 Webster, Vivien 1627
  Average: 1733 5½-10½ Average: 1795

Out-rated on all but one board (which Essex won), Essex were well-beaten.

Yorks therefore reach the U1850 Final but are also the first holders of the Philpott-Braham trophy, an initiative of Peter Nickals (Essex) and Rupert Jones (Yorks) in memory of two stalwarts who were dedicated servants of their respective counties.

There had been media interest in the exploits of a newly-arrived young Ukranian chess-sponsored refugee, making his first county chess appearance through a further collaboration of the skippers. Fresh from winning the Durham Congress Minor he played Upminster’s young rising star who had the benefit of tough opposition in the Southend Congress Open. You can find their game below.

See Sergey’s Gallery below.

U1850 P W D L Pts %
Madison Bowden 1809 6 3 3 0 4½ 75.00
Alan Riddoch 1705 6 3 2 1 4 66.67
Peter McCarron 1751 7 4 0 3 4 57.14
Ruqayyah Rida 1261 4 3 1 0 3½ 87.50
Peter Burgoyne 1653 7 3 1 3 3½ 50.00
Mark Rivlin 1705 5 1 4 0 3 60.00
Trevor Dickerson 1692 5 2 2 1 3 60.00
Ian Morgan 1810 7 1 4 2 3 42.86
David Smith 1637 6 1 3 2 2½ 41.67
Andrew Swales 1765 3 2 0 1 2 66.67
Paul Barclay 1803 3 1 2 0 2 66.67
Mike Cresswell 1688 4 1 2 1 2 50.00
Zebedee Jones 1638 4 1 2 1 2 50.00
Keith Cook 1673 5 1 2 2 2 40.00
Ben Harte 1735 3 1 1 1 1½ 50.00
Stephen Berkley 1683 4 0 3 1 1½ 37.50
Krishna Raikundalia 1623 4 1 1 2 1½ 37.50
Peter Nickals 1832 5 0 3 2 1½ 30.00
Robert Parker 1705 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
Huzaifa Baig 1216 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
Michael Buckingham 1581 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
Alexandr Pereslavtsev 0000 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
Sergey Pereslavtsev 1110 1 1 0 0 1 100.00
Shir Bartal 1338 2 1 0 1 1 50.00
Istvan Karacsony 1760 2 1 0 1 1 50.00
Moth, Simon 1788 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
Mustapha Rahaman 1660 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
Peter Laundy 1828 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00
Pavlo Hatilov 1700 2 0 1 1 ½ 25.00
John Jestico 1471 2 0 1 1 ½ 25.00
Vittorio Nigrelli 1745 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
Paul Haddock 1591 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
Ryan Colclough  1500 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
Igor Naumov 1845 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
Default 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
             
35 players 109 36 41 32 56½ 51.83%

Gallery: U1850 Semi-Final v Yorks

Click on thumbnails for enlargement. All pictures: Sergey Pereslavtsev