Essex County Chess
Essex teams play in the County Championships for chess players of a wide range of standards to compete against opponents of similar playing strengths, initially from other Southern Counties and, if a qualifying place is secured, nationally. Any player who does not have a published rating can be allocated a tournament rating by the respective championships controllers on the submission of an indication of playing strength. Matches for teams of 12 or 16 players are usually played with a 4½ or 5 hour playing session on a Saturday afternoon.
Eligibility conditions for representing Essex are any one of:
(i) Birth in the County;
(ii) Five years’ residence in the County at any time;
(iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to the County;
(iv) One month’s immediately previous and present residence in the County;
(v) Present attendance as a student at a school, college or university in the County.
The boundaries of Essex are defined in the west by the River Lea, in the north by the River Stour and in the south by the River Thames.
Players who would like to represent Essex in the County Championships, but who are not yet involved in the County Match Programme, are invited to contact the appropriate Captains as listed below to indicate their availability.
For 2025-26 Essex has once more entered four teams in the SCCU Counties Championships, under each of the rating-limited sections: U2050, U1850, U1650 and U1450. The SCCU Championship is a qualifier for the ECF national stage.
Once again,there was insufficient support to run an Open team, so only the rating-limited sections have been entered.
Essex County Match Officials
ECA Match Captain
Vacant
ECA Assistant Match Captain
Mark Murrell
Essex team captains for 2025-26
U2050 – Michael Spurr; Deputy Captain James Robinson
U1850 – Alan Riddoch
U1650 – Mark Murrell Acting Captain
U1450 – Ben Harte
To contact any of these captains, use the Contact Form under the Directory menu above (sub item ECA Officials/Contact ECA Officials) and select from the dropdown the appropriate team captain as the official to contact. For ease of access, follow the link below. Or to contact all the team captains in one hit, use the ‘Essex Team Captains’ email link.
ECA Contact Form | Essex Team Captains
Match details and player statistics
There is a page for each team. These carry all fixtures, match cards, reports and games, etc., together with player stats. The Aggregate Stats (Website Trophy) are given on this page, below.
2025-26 Team navigation: U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 | County Classical | SCCU on ECF LMS
Essex Overall Fixture List 2025-26
Each column of the fixture list below is repeated on the relevant team’s page linked above.
| Date | U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04-Oct-2025 | Kent 7-9 Essex | Middx 13-3 Essex | ||
| 11-Oct-2025 | Essex 7½-4½ Middx | |||
| 25-Oct-2025 | Essex 8-8 Middx | |||
| 01-Nov-2025 | Essex 8½-7½ Middx | |||
| 08-Nov-2025 | Essex v Surrey | |||
| 15-Nov-2025 | Surrey v Essex | Surrey v Essex | ||
| 22-Nov-2025 | Middx v Essex | |||
| 29-Nov-2025 | Essex v Kent | Essex v Herts | ||
| 06-Dec-2025 | Essex v Surrey | Essex v Herts | ||
| 17-Jan-2026 | Essex Surrey | |||
| 24-Jan-2026 | Surrey v Essex | Essex v Kent | ||
| 31-Jan-2026 | Middx v Essex | Kent v Essex | ||
| 28-Feb-2026 | Essex v Kent | |||
| 07-Mar-2026 | Kent v Essex |
Aggregate statistics – Website Trophy
The Website Trophy is awarded to the player with the highest score from matches for the County, embracing all matches played in the Season.
The winner of the Website Trophy for 2024-25 was Mridul Sharma of Thurrock. Many congratulations Mridul! 6 games, 4 wins 2 draws and no defeats for 5/6.
Website Trophy conditions: The Website Trophy shall be awarded to the player with the highest aggregate score in matches for the County and is open for annual competition. All games played for the County, from the first SCCU match to the last ECF stage match, count towards the trophy. Points gained by default during a match count as if gained by play over-the-board, provided that the player travelled to and was present at the match . Default points conceded by the opposition in advance, including whole match concessions, for which the player(s) were not required to travel, do not count towards the trophy. In the event that two or more players tie for the same highest total at the end of the season, the player with the higher percentage performance (i.e. having gained his/her points from fewer appearances) will be awarded the trophy. Should two or more players have the same highest score and identical performance percentage, the trophy shall be shared.
Aggregate Player Stats for 2025-26
| Aggregate stats @ 01 Nov 2025 | Rtg | P | W | D | L | Pts | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashwin GopiKrishna | 1826 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2½ | 83.33 |
| Robert Killeen | 1955 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.00 |
| Malcolm Kingsley | 1842 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 66.67 |
| Ivan Myall | 2040 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| Martin McCall | 1900 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| John Hodgson | 2036 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| Steve Rix | 1994 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| Anthony Whitaker | 1421 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Colin Li | 1714 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Daniel Whetham | 1439 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Emilio Navarro | 1370 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Ibrahim Ali | 1326 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Jake Maguire | 1799 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Jeffrey Page | 1652 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Maadesh Manikanda | 1330 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Mandar Mane | 1383 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Peter Burgoyne | 1656 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Peter Jaszkiwskyj | 2009 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Trevor Dickerson | 1680 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Wilf Giles | 1164 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Edgar Wilson | 1964 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Madison Bowden | 1896 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Philip Staniland | 1838 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Ian Hunnable | 1833 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33.33 |
| Cennydd Bowles | 1546 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 100.00 |
| Chenthuran Narasimman | 1509 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 100.00 |
| Daniel Fajuyitan | 1599 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 100.00 |
| Mridul Sharma | 1489 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 100.00 |
| Russell Terry | 1604 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 100.00 |
| Alan Riddoch | 1761 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Arjun Kumaran | 1327 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Byon Meyer | 1440 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Paul Barclay | 1767 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Paul Kenning | 1797 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Mark Murrell | 1860 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| George Hillman | 1700 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 25.00 |
| Neville Twitchell | 1809 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 25.00 |
| Almas Dohon | 1553 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dan Mugridge | 1386 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| David Battiscombe | 1336 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Eitan Eisen | 1370 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Howard Berlin | 1516 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ian Morgan | 1805 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ian Reynolds | 1827 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ian Smith | 1486 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| James Walsh | 1513 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lalitranjan Vigneswaran | 1302 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lyn Stiffel | 1637 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Michael Spurr | 1859 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Muhammad Faheem | 1606 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nigel White | 1392 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Rayyan Asif | 1724 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Richard Ball | 1445 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Salim Kriman | 2000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Vladimir Chtym | 1448 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Zebedee Jones | 1550 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| John Moore | 1998 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Colin Ramage | 1897 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 58 Players | 76 | 26 | 20 | 30 | 36 | 48.98% |