Team Captain: Malcolm Crane
Teams navigation
Teams page | U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 | Aggregate stats | SCCU on ECF LMS
Team fixtures
| Home Team | Result | Away Team | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middlesex | 5-11 | Essex | Sat 15th Oct 2022 | 14:00 |
| Essex | 9½-6½ | Kent | Sat 12th Nov 2022 | 13:30 |
| Surrey | 6½-9½ | Essex | Sat 26th Nov 2022 | 14:00 |
| Essex | 10½-5½ | Surrey | *Sat 10 Dec 2022 | 13:30 |
| Essex | 10½-5½ | Middlesex | Sat 21st Jan 2023 | 13:30 |
| Kent | 7½-8½ | Essex | Sat 18th Feb 2023 | 12:15 |
| Yorks | 9-7 | Essex | Sat 10th Jun 2023 | 13:30 |
* Essex v Surrey postponed from 1 October 2022.
Match cards
| U1650 @ 10 Jun 2023 | P | W | D | L | Pts | % |
| Ryan Colclough 1624 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5½ | 78.57 |
| Mangalaram Sadhasivam 1645 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 100.00 |
| Sean Horan 1519 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 66.67 |
| Jeffrey Page 1644 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3½ | 58.33 |
| David Smith 1602 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3½ | 50.00 |
| Vladimir Chtym 1513 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3½ | 50.00 |
| Krishna Raikundalia 1542 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 75.00 |
| Joshua Davis 1493 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 75.00 |
| Taha Undre 1575 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 42.86 |
| Cennydd Bowles 1509 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2½ | 83.33 |
| John Jestico 1469 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2½ | 83.33 |
| Mihaita Blagianu 1626 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ | 62.50 |
| Derek Reynolds 1499 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2½ | 50.00 |
| Kenneth Jardine 1440 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.00 |
| Malcolm Crane 1488 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 50.00 |
| Matt Garwood 1312 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| Huzaifa Baig 1522 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1½ | 50.00 |
| Sergey Pereslavtsev 1587 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1½ | 37.50 |
| Harvey Garfield 1518 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1½ | 37.50 |
| Mathew Wilson 1550 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Nolan Pereira 1457 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Rudi Van Litsenborgh 1423 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Howard Berlin 1428 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Zain Qureshi 1394 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Banky Akinyosoye 1484 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Joshua Swead 1569 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 |
| John Figgins 1637 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Jay Demetriou 1477 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Aradhya Mukherjee 1502 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| David Filer 1619 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Colin Li 1596 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Tomas Eastwood 1550 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Zebedee Jones 1628 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 25.00 |
| Myles Brunger 1523 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Andrew Offord 1644 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 35 players | 108 | 47 | 35 | 26 | 64½ | 59.72% |
Played 15 October 2022
at Phoenix Academy, The Curve, Shepherds Bush W12 0RQ
| Board | Middx | v | Essex |
| 1 | Costeloe, C Andrew J 1645 (1648) (W) | 0-1 | Sadhasivam, Mangalaram 1645 (1644) (B) |
| 2 | Farrell, Joseph B 1626 (1623) | 0-1 | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1642) |
| 3 | Ainscow, Faye 1625 (1608) | ½-½ | Blagianu, Mihaita 1626 (1629) |
| 4 | Parfett, Gerald F 1627 (1637) | 0-1 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1653) |
| 5 | Morton, Alistair T 1562 (1546) | ½-½ | Smith, David 1602 (1621) |
| 6 | Pusapadi, Vibhush 1542 (1538) | ½-½ | Baig, Huzaifa 1522 (1546) |
| 7 | Jayakumar, Bharath 1514 (1514) | 1-0 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1572) |
| 8 | Nardecchia, Nicholas 1507 (1490) | ½-½ | Swead, Joshua 1569 (1569) |
| 9 | Humphry, Phil S 1423 (1423) | 0-1 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1519) |
| 10 | Miraghaie, John 1419 (1424) | 0-1 | Reynolds, Derek J 1499 (1510) |
| 11 | Salussolia, Louis 1252 (1252) | 0-1 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1498) |
| 12 | Osseiran, Nadim 1209 (1207) | 0-1 | Crane, Malcolm K 1488 (1491) |
| 13 | Not contested | ½-½ | Not contested |
| 14 | Not contested | ½-½ | Not contested |
| 15 | Not contested | ½-½ | Not contested |
| 16 | Not contested | ½-½ | Not contested |
| 5-11 |
Report by Malcolm Crane
A good start to the season for the U1650 team after a nightmare of a journey to get to the new Middx venue (M25 problems). Middx were weaker than normal, especially on the lower boards.
With three of the Essex team arriving about 45 minutes late the match results started to come in about 30 minutes later with two quick wins for Vladimir and Sean. After that it was just wins, including the top two Boards – seven in all – with four draws and just one loss to give us a 9-3 win over the contested boards (a “Covid” 12-boarder).
Played 12 November 2022, at 13:30
| Board | Essex | v | Kent |
| 1 | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1668) (B) | ½-½ | Dovey, Andrew JW 1647 (1682) (W) |
| 2 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1686) | 1-0 | Blundell, Peter LT 1642 (1634) |
| 3 | Blagianu, Mihaita 1626 (1632) | 0-1 | Farahmandpour, Ehsan 1637 (1620) |
| 4 | Wilson, Mathew 1550 (1636) | 1-0 | Sherriff, Alan J 1634 (1633) |
| 5 | Smith, David 1602 (1623) | ½-½ | Newman, Martin E 1612 (1640) |
| 6 | Pereslavtsev, Sergey 1587 (1602) | ½-½ | Gilbert, David J 1607 (1573) |
| 7 | Brunger, Myles 1523 (1542) | 0-1 | Hall, Conrad 1564 (1557) |
| 8 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1564) | ½-½ | Glanvile, Nicholas 1561 (1575) |
| 9 | Swead, Joshua 1569 (1460) | ½-½ | Brockwell, Lee 1555 (1536) |
| 10 | Raikundalia, Krishna 1542 (1537) | ½-½ | Langley, Anthony M 1553 (1545) |
| 11 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1526) | 1-0 | Gillard, Andrew L 1534 (1524) |
| 12 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1493) | ½-½ | Clifford, Gary R 1504 (1497) |
| 13 | Reynolds, Derek J 1499 (1544) | 1-0 | Mills, Ian F 1474 (1457) |
| 14 | Bowles, Cennydd 1509 (1509) | ½-½ | Morrison , Lee 1461 (1439) |
| 15 | Crane, Malcolm K 1488 (1507) | 1-0 | Popa, Alin 1456 (1484) |
| 16 | Jestico, John V 1469 (1435) | ½-½ | Hunt, Iain 1348 (1360) |
| Average: 1553 | 9½-6½ | Average: 1550 |
Report from Malcolm Crane
Essex won a well-fought match today, sharing the points on the top seven boards where Kent held the ratings advantage.
The early results underlined there being nothing between the teams on paper: the first three games to finish, on Boards 1, 12 and 6, were draws. Essex then had a “draw” of a different kind when Mathew Wilson on Board 4 drew first blood, but Kent pulled level with their first win on Board 7.
It stayed like that until the seventh result, Sean Horan winning on Board 11 to restore the Essex one point advantage.
After draws on 8 and 9, wins from Derek Reynolds and the skip, on Boards 13 and 15 respectively – both with black – extended the Essex lead to three points. Two further wins were exchanged on Boards 3 (for Kent) and 2 (Ryan) – the winning point – before the last two games ended peacefully to wrap up the Essex victory by 9½-6½.
Thankyou to all the players giving up their time to play for Essex today and special thanks to the three new players to the 1650 squad: Mathew, Myles and Cennydd.
And a big thanks to Mark Murrell for doing all the arrangements and putting the equipment away as I had to leave to go to work.
Played 26 November 2022, at Cheam
| Board | Surrey | v | Essex |
| 1 | Flewellen, David 1635 (1630) (W) | 0-1 | Sadhasivam, Mangalaram 1645 (1660) (B) |
| 2 | Gunn, Michael J 1633 (1617) | 0-1 | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1658) |
| 3 | Wright, Benjamin 1615 (1615) | ½-½ | Figgins, John A 1637 (1648) |
| 4 | Mackenzie, Alistair 1610 (1603) | 0-1 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1706) |
| 5 | Tillett, Richard 1597 (1599) | ½-½ | Smith, David 1602 (1610) |
| 6 | Hunter, Anthony 1560 (1525) | 1-0 | Pereslavtsev, Sergey 1587 (1621) |
| 7 | Collis, Paul S 1537 (1540) | 0-1 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1575) |
| 8 | Kuzmanoski, Oliver 1537 (1544) | 1-0 | Brunger, Myles 1523 (1540) |
| 9 | Goodings, Phillip 1488 (1518) | 0-1 | Raikundalia, Krishna 1542 (1544) |
| 10 | Kumar, Arnav 1445 (1546) | 1-0 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1536) |
| 11 | Archer, David J 1437 (1470) | ½-½ | Garfield, Harvey 1518 (1487) |
| 12 | Kumar, Sachin 1368 (1475) | 1-0 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1500) |
| 13 | Boozorginia, Zoya 1260 (1366) | 1-0 | Reynolds, Derek J 1499 (1549) |
| 14 | Dale, H Martin 1249 (1255) | 0-1 | Davis, Joshua 1493 (1479) |
| 15 | Belton, Tony 1202 (1209) | 0-1 | Jardine, Kenneth 1440 (1495) |
| 16 | Sood, Kamaljit 1158 (1138) | 0-1 | Garwood, Matt 1312 (1391) |
| Average: 1459 | 6½-9½ | Average: 1543 |
Played 10 December 2022, at Wanstead House
| Board | Essex | v | Surrey |
| 1 | Offord, Andrew 1644 (1650) (B) | 0-1 | Mehendale, Krishna N 1645 (1645) (W) |
| 2 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1705) | 1-0 | Flewellen, David 1635 (1620) |
| 3 | Blagianu, Mihaita 1626 (1636) | 1-0 | Gunn, Michael J 1633 (1608) |
| 4 | Smith, David 1602 (1616) | 0-1 | Romeril, Alan P 1623 (1623) |
| 5 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1588) | 1-0 | Wright, Benjamin 1615 (1617) |
| 6 | Raikundalia, Krishna 1542 (1557) | 1-0 | Mackenzie, Alistair 1610 (1602) |
| 7 | Demetriou, Jay 1477 (1525) | 0-1 | Bassa, Hugo 1588 (1629) |
| 8 | Davis, Joshua 1493 (1506) | ½-½ | Chamberlain, Ken R 1602 (1572) |
| 9 | Pereira, Nolan 1457 (1610) | 1-0 | Tillett, Richard 1597 (1603) |
| 10 | Garfield, Harvey 1518 (1482) | ½-½ | Hunter, Anthony 1560 (1537) |
| 11 | Mukherjee, Aradhya 1502 (1558) | ½-½ | McCauley, Paul 1466 (1479) |
| 12 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1487) | 0-1 | Lee, Robin 1461 (1471) |
| 13 | Bowles, Cennydd 1509 (1501) | 1-0 | Boozorginia, Zoya 1260 (1379) |
| 14 | Van Litsenborgh, Rudi 1423 (1534) | 1-0 | Dale, H Martin 1249 (1257) |
| 15 | Jardine, Kenneth 1440 (1486) | 1-0 | Belton, Tony 1202 (1206) |
| 16 | Berlin, Howard J 1428 (1351) | 1-0 | Sood, Kamaljit 1158 (1131) |
| Average: 1524 | 10½-5½ | Average: 1494 |
Report by Mark Murrell
At the start of play skipper Malcolm was bemoaning the loss of some of his top players who were available for the original match date back on October 1st but not for the rescheduled match. The replacements however did not disappoint, with two Essex juniors making their county match debuts; a win for Nolan who had travelled from Colchester and a draw for local Aradhya.
With the luxury of being non-playing skip this time round, there was time to fret over the Live ratings of the Surrey middle order that suggested domination, however those fears were soon assuaged with early wins from Krishna and Undre, overturning Survey’s early lead.
Thereafter Essex steadily increased their lead opening up an impressive five point winning margin that did not look remotely possible given the closeness of the respective start of season average team ratings.
The U1650s finish 2022 matching the U2050s as section leaders with four wins out of four. However, for the U1650s qualification for the nationals is not yet assured as both Kent and Middlesex can also reach 8 points, when game points will decide all. Everything still to play for then in the two remaining SCCU matches in 2023.
Progressive scores
| To go | Bd | Ex | Sy |
| 16 | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| 13 | 8 | 2½ | 1½ |
| 12 | 13 | 3½ | 1½ |
| 11 | 4 | 3½ | 2½ |
| 10 | 3 | 4½ | 2½ |
| 9 | 11 | 5 | 3 |
| 8 | 9 | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| 6 | 14 | 7 | 4 |
| 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| 4 | 15 | 8 | 5 |
| 3 | 16 | 9 | 5 |
| 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 |
| 1 | 10 | 10½ | 5½ |
Played 21 January 2023, at Wanstead
| Board | Essex | v | Middx |
| 1 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1739) B) | ½-½ | Costeloe, C Andrew J 1645 (1644) (W) |
| 2 | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1689) | ½-½ | Sturt, Charles A 1632 (1679) |
| 3 | Sadhasivam, Mangalaram 1645 (1642) | 1-0 | Farrell, Joseph B 1626 (1629) |
| 4 | Figgins, John A 1637 (1656) | ½-½ | Ainscow, Faye 1625 (1623) |
| 5 | Blagianu, Mihaita 1626 (1651) | 1-0 | Ransome, Wilson 1590 (1589) |
| 6 | Jones, Zebedee 1628 (1624) | ½-½ | Bonn, Doug M 1580 (1580) |
| 7 | Smith, David 1602 (1609) | ½-½ | Whitfield, Joseph 1570 () |
| 8 | Baig, Huzaifa 1522 (1617) | 1-0 | O’Caolaidhe, Cormac 1544 (1538) |
| 9 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1590) | 0-1 | Jayakumar, Bharath 1514 (1671) |
| 10 | Raikundalia, Krishna 1542 (1578) | ½-½ | Nardecchia, Nicholas 1507 (1473) |
| 11 | Davis, Joshua 1493 (1504) | 1-0 | Chivers, Aidan 1504 (1528) |
| 12 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1526) | 1-0 | Nevison, Mark 1479 (1470) |
| 13 | Garfield, Harvey 1518 (1497) | ½-½ | Humphry, Phil S 1423 (1375) |
| 14 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1467) | 0-1 | Miraghaie, John 1419 (1420) |
| 15 | Bowles, Cennydd 1509 (1430) | 1-0 | Salussolia, Louis 1252 (1238) |
| 16 | Jestico, John V 1469 (1440) | 1-0 | Smith, Michael J 1251 (1271) |
| Average: 1567 | 10½-5½ | Average: 1511 |
Report from ECA Match Captain, Mark Murrell
Another thumping performance from the U1650 team, with a 5 point winning margin for the second match in succession.
Essex took the lead early on and kept on building. Unusually, all four top boards concluded in quick time, though ever-present newly promoted to board 1, Ryan Colclough could not maintain his 100% record, though 4½/5 in a rating-limited competition is still impressive. It fell to Essex Junior, Hazaifa Baig, to secure the win for the match and the SCCU Championship.
Played 18 February 2023, at St Mary Cray
| Board | Kent | v | Essex |
| 1 | Dovey, Andrew JW 1647 (1691) (B) | 0-1 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1757) (W) |
| 2 | Blundell, Peter LT 1642 (1615) | ½-½ | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1683) |
| 3 | Sherriff, Alan J 1634 (1596) | 1-0 | Offord, Andrew 1644 (1652) |
| 4 | Newman, Martin E 1612 (1648) | 1-0 | Jones, Zebedee 1628 (1581) |
| 5 | Gilbert, David J 1607 (1608) | ½-½ | Smith, David 1602 (1619) |
| 6 | Allen, Nick 1598 (1561) | 0-1 | Pereslavtsev, Sergey 1587 (1604) |
| 7 | Mourant, Malcolm P 1581 (1589) | 1-0 | Baig, Huzaifa 1522 (1645) |
| 8 | Hall, Conrad 1564 (1522) | ½-½ | Undre, Taha 1575 (1597) |
| 9 | Glanvile, Nicholas 1561 (1561) | 1-0 | Crane, Malcolm K 1488 (1507) |
| 10 | Langley, Anthony M 1553 (1539) | ½-½ | Davis, Joshua 1493 (1515) |
| 11 | Gorskovs, Andrejs 0000 (1514) | 0-1 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1538) |
| 12 | Gillard, Andrew L 1534 (1547) | 1-0 | Garfield, Harvey 1518 (1494) |
| 13 | Mills, Ian F 1474 (1450) | ½-½ | Reynolds, Derek J 1499 (1543) |
| 14 | Popa, Alin 1456 (1458) | 0-1 | Demetriou, Jay 1477 (1503) |
| 15 | Hunt, Iain 1348 (1440) | 0-1 | Qureshi, Zain 1394 (1443) |
| 16 | Daplyn, Joshua James 1343 (1249) | 0-1 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1456) |
| Average: 1448 | 7½-8½ | Average: 1456 |
Report by Mark Murrell
Dog fight
Kent hoped to make their last home fixture count in the three-way battle for the last qualifying place for the ECF national stage of the Counties Championship, for the visit of this season’s SCCU champions. With hardly anything between the teams on September ratings a close battle was only to be expected.
A match-on-the-edge was epitomised by the first game to finish with Vladimir matching his junior opponent in break-neck speed (but not position) in well less than an hour’s play. Fortuitously it was his opponent who played the last blunder to give ever-present Vladimir his second win of the campaign. As with the swinging fortunes of the bottom board, so the match then followed suit, always too close to call.
The early Essex lead did not last long as Huzaifa suffered a rare defeat in this competition before Sean added his fourth win to restore the Essex advantage, followed swifty by four draws. Approaching the third hour of play Kent hit a purple patch as they took out the Essex boards 3 and 4 to grab the lead, only for Essex top scorer Ryan (only half a point conceded in all 6 matches) to bring the scores level once more. This was the start of an Essex run with further wins by Jay and Sergey establishing a two point lead with just three games still in play. Essex defences on boards 9 and 12 were then breached bringing the scores level yet again leaving it to debutant Zain, the exchange to the good, to convert and secure the team’s sixth win from its six matches; worthy champions indeed. It remains to be seen whether Kent can qualify for the national stage too.
As it happened
By Mark Murrell
| To Play | Board | Kent | Essex | Result |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | 1 | W |
| 15 | 7 | 1 | 1 | L |
| 14 | 5 | 1½ | 1½ | D |
| 13 | 11 | 1½ | 2½ | W |
| 12 | 8 | 2 | 3 | D |
| 11 | 13 | 2½ | 3½ | D |
| 10 | 10 | 3 | 4 | D |
| 9 | 2 | 3½ | 4½ | D |
| 8 | 4 | 4½ | 4½ | L |
| 7 | 3 | 5½ | 4½ | L |
| 6 | 1 | 5½ | 5½ | W |
| 5 | 14 | 5½ | 6½ | W |
| 4 | 6 | 5½ | 7½ | W |
| 3 | 9 | 6½ | 7½ | L |
| 2 | 12 | 7½ | 7½ | L |
| 1 | 15 | 7½ | 8½ | W |
Played 10 June 2023, at Syston, Leics
| Boards | Yorks | v | Essex |
| 1 | Butts, Jeremy 1646 (1719) (B) | 1-0 | Colclough, Ryan 1624 (1807) (W) |
| 2 | Gorrell, Elinor 1472 (1693) | 1-0 | Page, Jeffrey 1644 (1695) |
| 3 | De Beco, Pierre 1510 (1659) | 0-1 | Sadhasivam, Mangalaram 1645 (1651) |
| 4 | Meredith, Daniel 1453 (1658) | ½-½ | Filer, David 1619 (1622) |
| 5 | Howorth, Jack 1615 (1652) | 1-0 | Pereslavtsev, Sergey 1587 (1621) |
| 6 | Smith, Jacob 1553 (1629) | ½-½ | Li, Colin 1596 (1615) |
| 7 | Burke, Alex 1588 (1624) | 1-0 | Undre, Taha 1575 (1585) |
| 8 | Dennington, Robert 1567 (1614) | 0-1 | Smith, David 1602 (1570) |
| 9 | Strickland, Ian D 1646 (1606) | ½-½ | Eastwood, Tomás 1550 () |
| 10 | Frank, Colin 1510 (1563) | 1-0 | Horan, Sean 1519 (1547) |
| 11 | Fossey, Isaac 1530 (1545) | 1-0 | Reynolds, Derek 1499 (1535) |
| 12 | Tate, John 1479 (1511) | 0-1 | Akinyosoye, Banky 1484 (1523) |
| 13 | Forbes, Stephen 1492 (1508) | 1-0 | Crane, Malcolm K 1488 (1466) |
| 14 | Taylor, John G 1524 (1496) | 0-1 | Chtym, Vladimir 1513 (1459) |
| 15 | Shaw, Nicholas J 1470 (1466) | 0-1 | Jestico, John V 1469 (1457) |
| 16 | Galloway, Peter 1435 (1445) | ½-½ | Garwood, Matt 1312 (1302) |
| Average: 1531 | 9-7 | Average: 1546 |
A very close match. The points were shared in the bottom half, but Yorks shaded the top eight by 5-3, where Ryan and Jef each suffered their first loss of the season for this team. The reversal of one outright result to make it 8-8 would not help, with Board Count favouring Yorks (of course).
Games to follow.