Team Captain
Alan Riddoch
To contact Alan use the site Contact Form and select u1850 Captain from the dropdown
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Teams 2025-26 page | U2050 | U1850 | U1650 | U1450 | County Classical | SCCU on ECF LMS
Team fixtures
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-Oct-2025 | Essex | 8-8 | Middx | 13:30 |
| 15-Nov-2025 | Surrey | 10-6 | Essex | 14:00 |
| 29-Nov-2025 | Essex | 8-8 | Kent | 13:30 |
| 17-Jan-2026 | Essex | 8-8 | Surrey | 13:30 |
| 31-Jan-2026 | Middx | 6½-9½ | Essex | 14:00 |
| 07-Mar-2026 | Kent | – | Essex | 13:30 |
Played: 5; Won: 1; Drawn: 3 Lost: 1; Points: 5/10; Games – For: 39½ Against: 40½.
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U1850 Player Stats
U1850
Player Stats
U1850 @ 31 Jan 2026 Rtg P W D L Pts % Philip Staniland 1838 4 4 0 0 4 100.00 Jake Maguire 1799 5 3 2 0 4 80.00 Ashwin GopiKrishna 1826 5 3 0 2 3 60.00 Malcolm Kingsley 1842 5 2 2 1 3 60.00 James Robinson 1848 2 2 0 0 2 100.00 Colin Li 1714 3 2 0 1 2 66.67 Ryan Colclough 1715 3 1 2 0 2 66.67 Ian Hunnable 1833 5 1 2 2 2 40.00 Shrishti Shiva 1688 2 1 1 0 1½ 75.00 Peter Burgoyne 1656 3 1 1 1 1½ 50.00 Ian Woodward 1743 4 0 3 1 1½ 37.50 Paul Kenning 1797 5 1 1 3 1½ 30.00 Trevor Dickerson 1680 1 1 0 0 1 100.00 Nilesh Upadhye 1838 1 1 0 0 1 100.00 Pete Meadows 1678 1 1 0 0 1 100.00 Alex Collyer 1819 1 1 0 0 1 100.00 Jeffrey Page 1652 2 1 0 1 1 50.00 Simon Moth 1747 2 0 2 0 1 50.00 Peter Nickals 1711 3 0 2 1 1 33.33 Alan Riddoch 1761 5 0 2 3 1 20.00 Ian Morgan 1805 5 1 0 4 1 20.00 Neville Twitchell 1809 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00 Paul Barclay 1767 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00 Rod Johnson 1800 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00 Adrian Billingsley 1782 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00 Stephen Berkley 1815 1 0 1 0 ½ 50.00 Rayyan Asif 1724 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 Ian Reynolds 1827 3 0 0 3 0 0.00 George Hillman 1700 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 Mark Rivlin 1707 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 Muhammad Faheem 1606 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 Grace Wilde 1750 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 32 players 80 27 25 28 39½ 49.38% -
Middx - H
U1850
Played Saturday, 25 October 2025, at Wanstead
Essex v Middx 1 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1842) [W] 0-1 Jayakumar, Bharath 1835 (1835) [B] 2 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1836) 1-0 Hazell, Peter 1825 (1825) 3 Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1827) 0-1 Sturt, Charles A 1797 (1815) 4 Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1825) 0-1 Kennelly, Paul 1807 (1800) 5 Twitchell, Neville H 1809 (1809) ½-½ White, David J 1771 (1764) 6 Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1805) 0-1 Thursby, Richard C 1711 (1711) 7 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1801) 1-0 Jones, Keith S 1709 (1701) 8 Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1797) ½-½ Zurstiege, Frank 1696 (1696) 9 Barclay, Paul R 1767 (1773) ½-½ Fincham, Leon HJ 1703 (1695) 10 Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1761) ½-½ Colter, Nigel 1694 (1694) 11 Asif, Rayyan 1724 (1724) 0-1 Padam, JJ 1687 (1687) 12 Li, Colin 1714 (1708) 1-0 Cooke, Charlie 1658 (1658) 13 Hillman , George 1700 () 0d1 O’Caolaidhe, Cormac 1656 (1656) 14 Dickerson, Trevor A 1680 (1680) 1-0 Balatoni, Richard A 1591 (1591) 15 Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1656) 1-0 Santosh Kumar, Darsh 1471 (1493) 16 Page, Jeffrey 1652 (1652) 1-0 Lewis, David 1404 (1380) Average: 1762 8-8 Average: 1689 Skipper Alan Riddoch found a welcome strengthening of the upper order for this team due to a raft of U2050 players, whose ratings had dropped below 1850, all making themselves available. These players, however, contributed just ½/4 – a baptism of fire! – yet their presence enabled the Essex tail to wag. Essex held a two point lead at 7½-5½ and needed just one point from the last three games in play. Middx pulled back one point on Board 4, which had looked dicey for Essex for some time, but the other two games held the prospect of two halves and a narrow Essex match win. Ian Reynolds’ N+P ending was level until two moves before the end when it fell Middx’ way; 7½-7½ with just Neville to come. This was a rook and minor piece ending, with an imbalance typical for Neville’s games, with both players in their last minute ‘playing on increments’. Neville went a piece up, but had to return it to relieve pressure on his cornered king, after which the tension in the position eased and a draw was agreed to finish the match all square.
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Surrey - A
U1850
Played Saturday, 15 November 2025, Away
Surrey v Essex 1 Pearson, Charlie 1842 (1853) [W] 1-0 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1913) [B] 2 Alcock, Graham P 1825 (1836) 0-1 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1884) 3 Boughen, Andrew 1815 (1820) 0-1 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1866) 4 George, Olufemi 1805 (1805) 0-1 Upadhye, Nilesh 1838 (1838) 5 Fox, James 1813 (1766) ½-½ Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1833) 6 Bredenoord, Conrad 1765 (1764) 0-1 Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1827) 7 Polanyk, John 1773 (1764) 1-0 Paul Kenning 1797 (1789) 8 Baker, Matthew JD 1720 (1743) 1-0 Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1782) 9 Crosswell, Neil 1739 (1737) 1-0 Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1763) 10 Abouchakra, Ibrahim 1742 (1736) 1-0 Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1724) 11 Markov, Alexey 1697 (1704) 0-1 Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1718) 12 Velikov, Georgi 1704 (1697) 1-0 Rivlin, Mark 1707 (1707) 13 Wickham, Michael 1690 (1682) ½-½ Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1699) 14 Garrood, Anthony 1688 (1682) 1-0 Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1674) 15 Bogerd, Ethan 1647 (1679) 1-0 Page, Jeffrey 1652 (1628) 16 Jones, H Trevor 1666 (1660) 1-0 Faheem, Muhammad 1606 (1600) Average: 1746 10-6 Average: 1758 Essex won over the top six boards by 4½-1½, but the story of the other 10 was a tale of woe, with eight losses against one lone win and a draw.
Game
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Kent - H
U1850
Played Saturday, 29 November 2025, at Wanstead
Essex v Kent 1 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1913) [B] 1-0 O’Mara, Patrick K 1846 (1851) [W] 2 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1884) ½-½ Madden, Steve 1844 (1835) 3 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1866) 1-0 Sands, Alan VH 1838 (1839) 4 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1833) ½-½ Waters, Andrew C 1826 (1837) 5 Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1827) ½-½ McAllan, Ian 1818 (1836) 6 Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1806) 0-1 Padovan, Rudy 1804 (1823) 7 Johnson, Roderick S 1800 (1800) ½-½ Childs, Peter L 1814 (1812) 8 Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1789) 0-1 Thorpe, Ashley 1742 (1783) 9 Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1782) 0-1 Sodeke, Boye 1736 (1771) 10 Billingsley, Adrian 1782 (1768) ½-½ Lane, Robert E 1803 (1770) 11 Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1763) 0-1 Farahmandpour, Ehsan 1791 (1767) 12 Moth, Simon C 1747 (1742) ½-½ Marshall, Chris 1747 (1749) 13 Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1724) ½-½ Lightbown, Sean M 1732 (1740) 14 Li, Colin 1714 (1710) 1-0 Mandelli, Federico 1689 (1705) 15 Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1699) ½-½ Bernard, Chris PJ 1687 (1660) 16 Meadows, Pete 1678 (1682) 1-0 Dovey, Andrew JW 1672 (1650) Average: 1782 8-8 Average: 1775 -
Surrey - H
U1850
Played Saturday, 17 January 2026, at Wanstead
Essex v Surrey 1 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1906) [B] ½-½ Alcock, Graham P 1825 (1835) [W] 2 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1915) 1-0 Pearson, Charlie 1842 (1829) 3 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1911) 1-0 George, Olufemi 1805 (1799) 4 Collyer, Alex 1819 (1851) 1-0 Polanyk, John 1773 (1793) 5 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1854) 1-0 Hortin, Matthew J 1804 (1782) 6 Walsh, James 1513 (1523) ½-½ Fox, James 1813 (1757) 7 Robinson, James M 1848 (1800) 1-0 Abouchakra, Ibrahim 1742 (1763) 8 Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1790) 0-1 Baker, Matthew JD 1720 (1778) 9 Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1760) 0-1 Eckert, Jonathan M 1764 (1759) 10 Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1770) ½-½ Duncan, Michael 1746 (1716) 11 Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1731) 0-1 Bean, David 1704 (1707) 12 Moth, Simon C 1747 (1720) ½-½ Jones, H Trevor 1666 (1728) 13 Li, Colin 1714 (1728) 0-1 Waldock, Adrian DP 1683 (1670) 14 Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1713) ½-½ Driver, Nicholas P 1670 (1659) 15 Shiva, Shrishti 1688 (1709) ½-½ Slonczuk, Pawel 1651 (1661) 16 Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1667) 0-1 Carpenter, David 1652 (1645) Average: 1761 8-8 Average: 1742 -
Middx - A
U1850
Played Saturday, 31 January 2026, Away
Middx v Essex 1 Bates, Hubert 1843 (1897) [B] 0-1 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1906) [W] 2 Dincer, Mehmet Alper 1848 (1879) 1-0 GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1915) 3 McGuinness, Andrew 1845 (1845) 0-1 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1911) 4 Hazell, Peter 1825 (1817) 0-1 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1854) 5 Jayakumar, Bharath 1835 (1834) ½-½ Berkley, Stephen W 1815 (1816) 6 Healeas, Simon 1797 (1867) 1-0 Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1794) 7 Breed, Greg J 1848 (1829) 0-1 Robinson, James M 1848 (1800) 8 Kennelly, Paul 1807 (1808) 0-1 Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1790) 9 Parakh, Shlok 1779 (1872) 1d0 Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1783) 10 Jhooti, Rajinder 1761 (1752) 0-1 Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1760) 11 Seaton, Daniel 1754 (1788) 1-0 Wilde, Grace 1750 (1746) 12 Thursby, Richard C 1711 (1735) ½-½ Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1770) 13 Colter, Nigel 1694 (1698) ½-½ Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1731) 14 Zurstiege, Frank 1696 (1727) ½-½ Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1713) 15 Fincham, Leon HJ 1703 (1686) 0d1 Shiva, Shrishti 1688 (1709) 16 Jones, Keith S 1709 (1692) ½-½ Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1641) Average: 1779 6½-9½ Average: 1784 A great result and no better time for the side’s first win, away to Middx, going from last to second. With one round to go, Essex finishes with a home date with Kent, the leaders, qualification for the national stages and the SCCU title on the line!
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Kent - A
U1850
Played Saturday, 7 March 2026, Away, at St Mary Cray
Kent v Essex 1 Padovan, Rudy 1804 (1839) [W] 0-1 Staniland, Philip 1838 (1952) [B] 2 McAllan, Ian 1818 (1829) 0-1 Maguire, Jake 1799 (1911) 3 Anstead, Jerry 1831 (1818) 1-0 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1850) 4 O’Mara, Patrick K 1846 (1817) ½-½ Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1822) 5 Sands, Alan VH 1838 (1812) ½-½ Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1793) 6 Madden, Steve 1844 (1809) 1-0 Berkley, Stephen W 1815 (1785) 7 O’Gorman, Brendan 1790 (1801) 1-0 Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1790) 8 Beavis, Barrington 1766 (1799) ½-½ Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1772) 9 Childs, Peter L 1814 (1796) 1-0 Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1732) 10 Lightbown, Sean M 1732 (1762) ½-½ Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1703) 11 Dorman, Orla 1773 (1757) 1-0 Cook, Keith B 1650 (1686) 12 Waters, Andrew C 1826 (1745) 1-0 Chtym, Vladimir 1448 (1370) 13 Rubin, Ilan 1731 (1743) 1d0 Default 14 Ward, Julian D 1795 (1741) 1d0 Default 15 Marshall, Chris 1747 (1740) 1d0 Default 16 Sodeke, Boye 1736 (1711) 1d0 Default Average: 1794 (16 Boards). 1806 (12 Boards) 12-4 Average: 1754 (12 Boards) What a sad end to the season. A win would take Essex into the ECF national stage, but skipper Alan Riddoch was unable to raise a full team. We do not have the background to this low take-up of match invitations, but we wonder whether this would have been the case were this a home fixture.
U1850
Player Stats
| U1850 @ 31 Jan 2026 | Rtg | P | W | D | L | Pts | % |
| Philip Staniland | 1838 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 100.00 |
| Jake Maguire | 1799 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 80.00 |
| Ashwin GopiKrishna | 1826 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 60.00 |
| Malcolm Kingsley | 1842 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 60.00 |
| James Robinson | 1848 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.00 |
| Colin Li | 1714 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 66.67 |
| Ryan Colclough | 1715 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66.67 |
| Ian Hunnable | 1833 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 40.00 |
| Shrishti Shiva | 1688 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1½ | 75.00 |
| Peter Burgoyne | 1656 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1½ | 50.00 |
| Ian Woodward | 1743 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1½ | 37.50 |
| Paul Kenning | 1797 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1½ | 30.00 |
| Trevor Dickerson | 1680 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Nilesh Upadhye | 1838 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Pete Meadows | 1678 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Alex Collyer | 1819 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Jeffrey Page | 1652 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Simon Moth | 1747 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Peter Nickals | 1711 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33.33 |
| Alan Riddoch | 1761 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Ian Morgan | 1805 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Neville Twitchell | 1809 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Paul Barclay | 1767 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Rod Johnson | 1800 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Adrian Billingsley | 1782 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Stephen Berkley | 1815 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 |
| Rayyan Asif | 1724 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ian Reynolds | 1827 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| George Hillman | 1700 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mark Rivlin | 1707 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Muhammad Faheem | 1606 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Grace Wilde | 1750 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 32 players | 80 | 27 | 25 | 28 | 39½ | 49.38% |
U1850
Played Saturday, 25 October 2025, at Wanstead
| Essex | v | Middx | |
| 1 | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1842) [W] | 0-1 | Jayakumar, Bharath 1835 (1835) [B] |
| 2 | GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1836) | 1-0 | Hazell, Peter 1825 (1825) |
| 3 | Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1827) | 0-1 | Sturt, Charles A 1797 (1815) |
| 4 | Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1825) | 0-1 | Kennelly, Paul 1807 (1800) |
| 5 | Twitchell, Neville H 1809 (1809) | ½-½ | White, David J 1771 (1764) |
| 6 | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1805) | 0-1 | Thursby, Richard C 1711 (1711) |
| 7 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1801) | 1-0 | Jones, Keith S 1709 (1701) |
| 8 | Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1797) | ½-½ | Zurstiege, Frank 1696 (1696) |
| 9 | Barclay, Paul R 1767 (1773) | ½-½ | Fincham, Leon HJ 1703 (1695) |
| 10 | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1761) | ½-½ | Colter, Nigel 1694 (1694) |
| 11 | Asif, Rayyan 1724 (1724) | 0-1 | Padam, JJ 1687 (1687) |
| 12 | Li, Colin 1714 (1708) | 1-0 | Cooke, Charlie 1658 (1658) |
| 13 | Hillman , George 1700 () | 0d1 | O’Caolaidhe, Cormac 1656 (1656) |
| 14 | Dickerson, Trevor A 1680 (1680) | 1-0 | Balatoni, Richard A 1591 (1591) |
| 15 | Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1656) | 1-0 | Santosh Kumar, Darsh 1471 (1493) |
| 16 | Page, Jeffrey 1652 (1652) | 1-0 | Lewis, David 1404 (1380) |
| Average: 1762 | 8-8 | Average: 1689 |
Skipper Alan Riddoch found a welcome strengthening of the upper order for this team due to a raft of U2050 players, whose ratings had dropped below 1850, all making themselves available. These players, however, contributed just ½/4 – a baptism of fire! – yet their presence enabled the Essex tail to wag. Essex held a two point lead at 7½-5½ and needed just one point from the last three games in play. Middx pulled back one point on Board 4, which had looked dicey for Essex for some time, but the other two games held the prospect of two halves and a narrow Essex match win. Ian Reynolds’ N+P ending was level until two moves before the end when it fell Middx’ way; 7½-7½ with just Neville to come. This was a rook and minor piece ending, with an imbalance typical for Neville’s games, with both players in their last minute ‘playing on increments’. Neville went a piece up, but had to return it to relieve pressure on his cornered king, after which the tension in the position eased and a draw was agreed to finish the match all square.
U1850
Played Saturday, 15 November 2025, Away
| Surrey | v | Essex | |
| 1 | Pearson, Charlie 1842 (1853) [W] | 1-0 | GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1913) [B] |
| 2 | Alcock, Graham P 1825 (1836) | 0-1 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1884) |
| 3 | Boughen, Andrew 1815 (1820) | 0-1 | Staniland, Philip 1838 (1866) |
| 4 | George, Olufemi 1805 (1805) | 0-1 | Upadhye, Nilesh 1838 (1838) |
| 5 | Fox, James 1813 (1766) | ½-½ | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1833) |
| 6 | Bredenoord, Conrad 1765 (1764) | 0-1 | Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1827) |
| 7 | Polanyk, John 1773 (1764) | 1-0 | Paul Kenning 1797 (1789) |
| 8 | Baker, Matthew JD 1720 (1743) | 1-0 | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1782) |
| 9 | Crosswell, Neil 1739 (1737) | 1-0 | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1763) |
| 10 | Abouchakra, Ibrahim 1742 (1736) | 1-0 | Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1724) |
| 11 | Markov, Alexey 1697 (1704) | 0-1 | Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1718) |
| 12 | Velikov, Georgi 1704 (1697) | 1-0 | Rivlin, Mark 1707 (1707) |
| 13 | Wickham, Michael 1690 (1682) | ½-½ | Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1699) |
| 14 | Garrood, Anthony 1688 (1682) | 1-0 | Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1674) |
| 15 | Bogerd, Ethan 1647 (1679) | 1-0 | Page, Jeffrey 1652 (1628) |
| 16 | Jones, H Trevor 1666 (1660) | 1-0 | Faheem, Muhammad 1606 (1600) |
| Average: 1746 | 10-6 | Average: 1758 |
Essex won over the top six boards by 4½-1½, but the story of the other 10 was a tale of woe, with eight losses against one lone win and a draw.
Game
U1850
Played Saturday, 29 November 2025, at Wanstead
| Essex | v | Kent | |
| 1 | GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1913) [B] | 1-0 | O’Mara, Patrick K 1846 (1851) [W] |
| 2 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1884) | ½-½ | Madden, Steve 1844 (1835) |
| 3 | Staniland, Philip 1838 (1866) | 1-0 | Sands, Alan VH 1838 (1839) |
| 4 | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1833) | ½-½ | Waters, Andrew C 1826 (1837) |
| 5 | Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1827) | ½-½ | McAllan, Ian 1818 (1836) |
| 6 | Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1806) | 0-1 | Padovan, Rudy 1804 (1823) |
| 7 | Johnson, Roderick S 1800 (1800) | ½-½ | Childs, Peter L 1814 (1812) |
| 8 | Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1789) | 0-1 | Thorpe, Ashley 1742 (1783) |
| 9 | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1782) | 0-1 | Sodeke, Boye 1736 (1771) |
| 10 | Billingsley, Adrian 1782 (1768) | ½-½ | Lane, Robert E 1803 (1770) |
| 11 | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1763) | 0-1 | Farahmandpour, Ehsan 1791 (1767) |
| 12 | Moth, Simon C 1747 (1742) | ½-½ | Marshall, Chris 1747 (1749) |
| 13 | Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1724) | ½-½ | Lightbown, Sean M 1732 (1740) |
| 14 | Li, Colin 1714 (1710) | 1-0 | Mandelli, Federico 1689 (1705) |
| 15 | Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1699) | ½-½ | Bernard, Chris PJ 1687 (1660) |
| 16 | Meadows, Pete 1678 (1682) | 1-0 | Dovey, Andrew JW 1672 (1650) |
| Average: 1782 | 8-8 | Average: 1775 |
U1850
Played Saturday, 17 January 2026, at Wanstead
| Essex | v | Surrey | |
| 1 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1906) [B] | ½-½ | Alcock, Graham P 1825 (1835) [W] |
| 2 | GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1915) | 1-0 | Pearson, Charlie 1842 (1829) |
| 3 | Staniland, Philip 1838 (1911) | 1-0 | George, Olufemi 1805 (1799) |
| 4 | Collyer, Alex 1819 (1851) | 1-0 | Polanyk, John 1773 (1793) |
| 5 | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1854) | 1-0 | Hortin, Matthew J 1804 (1782) |
| 6 | Walsh, James 1513 (1523) | ½-½ | Fox, James 1813 (1757) |
| 7 | Robinson, James M 1848 (1800) | 1-0 | Abouchakra, Ibrahim 1742 (1763) |
| 8 | Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1790) | 0-1 | Baker, Matthew JD 1720 (1778) |
| 9 | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1760) | 0-1 | Eckert, Jonathan M 1764 (1759) |
| 10 | Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1770) | ½-½ | Duncan, Michael 1746 (1716) |
| 11 | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1731) | 0-1 | Bean, David 1704 (1707) |
| 12 | Moth, Simon C 1747 (1720) | ½-½ | Jones, H Trevor 1666 (1728) |
| 13 | Li, Colin 1714 (1728) | 0-1 | Waldock, Adrian DP 1683 (1670) |
| 14 | Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1713) | ½-½ | Driver, Nicholas P 1670 (1659) |
| 15 | Shiva, Shrishti 1688 (1709) | ½-½ | Slonczuk, Pawel 1651 (1661) |
| 16 | Nickals, Peter A 1711 (1667) | 0-1 | Carpenter, David 1652 (1645) |
| Average: 1761 | 8-8 | Average: 1742 |
U1850
Played Saturday, 31 January 2026, Away
| Middx | v | Essex | |
| 1 | Bates, Hubert 1843 (1897) [B] | 0-1 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1906) [W] |
| 2 | Dincer, Mehmet Alper 1848 (1879) | 1-0 | GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1826 (1915) |
| 3 | McGuinness, Andrew 1845 (1845) | 0-1 | Staniland, Philip 1838 (1911) |
| 4 | Hazell, Peter 1825 (1817) | 0-1 | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1854) |
| 5 | Jayakumar, Bharath 1835 (1834) | ½-½ | Berkley, Stephen W 1815 (1816) |
| 6 | Healeas, Simon 1797 (1867) | 1-0 | Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1794) |
| 7 | Breed, Greg J 1848 (1829) | 0-1 | Robinson, James M 1848 (1800) |
| 8 | Kennelly, Paul 1807 (1808) | 0-1 | Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1790) |
| 9 | Parakh, Shlok 1779 (1872) | 1d0 | Reynolds, D Ian W 1827 (1783) |
| 10 | Jhooti, Rajinder 1761 (1752) | 0-1 | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1760) |
| 11 | Seaton, Daniel 1754 (1788) | 1-0 | Wilde, Grace 1750 (1746) |
| 12 | Thursby, Richard C 1711 (1735) | ½-½ | Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1770) |
| 13 | Colter, Nigel 1694 (1698) | ½-½ | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1731) |
| 14 | Zurstiege, Frank 1696 (1727) | ½-½ | Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1713) |
| 15 | Fincham, Leon HJ 1703 (1686) | 0d1 | Shiva, Shrishti 1688 (1709) |
| 16 | Jones, Keith S 1709 (1692) | ½-½ | Burgoyne, Peter A 1656 (1641) |
| Average: 1779 | 6½-9½ | Average: 1784 |
A great result and no better time for the side’s first win, away to Middx, going from last to second. With one round to go, Essex finishes with a home date with Kent, the leaders, qualification for the national stages and the SCCU title on the line!
U1850
Played Saturday, 7 March 2026, Away, at St Mary Cray
| Kent | v | Essex | |
| 1 | Padovan, Rudy 1804 (1839) [W] | 0-1 | Staniland, Philip 1838 (1952) [B] |
| 2 | McAllan, Ian 1818 (1829) | 0-1 | Maguire, Jake 1799 (1911) |
| 3 | Anstead, Jerry 1831 (1818) | 1-0 | Kingsley, Malcolm P 1842 (1850) |
| 4 | O’Mara, Patrick K 1846 (1817) | ½-½ | Kenning, Paul H 1797 (1822) |
| 5 | Sands, Alan VH 1838 (1812) | ½-½ | Hunnable, Ian D 1833 (1793) |
| 6 | Madden, Steve 1844 (1809) | 1-0 | Berkley, Stephen W 1815 (1785) |
| 7 | O’Gorman, Brendan 1790 (1801) | 1-0 | Colclough, Ryan 1715 (1790) |
| 8 | Beavis, Barrington 1766 (1799) | ½-½ | Morgan, Ian P 1805 (1772) |
| 9 | Childs, Peter L 1814 (1796) | 1-0 | Riddoch, Alan E 1761 (1732) |
| 10 | Lightbown, Sean M 1732 (1762) | ½-½ | Woodward, Ian P 1743 (1703) |
| 11 | Dorman, Orla 1773 (1757) | 1-0 | Cook, Keith B 1650 (1686) |
| 12 | Waters, Andrew C 1826 (1745) | 1-0 | Chtym, Vladimir 1448 (1370) |
| 13 | Rubin, Ilan 1731 (1743) | 1d0 | Default |
| 14 | Ward, Julian D 1795 (1741) | 1d0 | Default |
| 15 | Marshall, Chris 1747 (1740) | 1d0 | Default |
| 16 | Sodeke, Boye 1736 (1711) | 1d0 | Default |
| Average: 1794 (16 Boards). 1806 (12 Boards) | 12-4 | Average: 1754 (12 Boards) |
What a sad end to the season. A win would take Essex into the ECF national stage, but skipper Alan Riddoch was unable to raise a full team. We do not have the background to this low take-up of match invitations, but we wonder whether this would have been the case were this a home fixture.