It’s Wanstead!

The League Champions are Wanstead. By a hair’s breadth over Writtle. Division 1 The first phase of seven matches all-play-all, left Writtle leading by a point over Wanstead. The top four after the first phase, Writtle 12, Wanstead 11, Barking 9, Brentwood 8, then had to play each other again to decide the Championship, first […]

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Rearguard action saves the day

From Mark Murrell Last season Kent teams in the closing stages of the SCCU County Championships were responsible for ending Essex ambitions and how close they came on the final day of the present Essex U1850 and U1450 campaigns. In the U1450 Kent raced into a 3-0 lead whilst in the U1850 three early draws […]

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Battles Royal at Wembley

From Mark Murrell Middlesex playing at their fourth venue this season, at Clayhill Community Center, Wembley Park, seemed to hold all the cards for a difficult away trip for both Essex U1850 and U1450 teams, particularly as the U1450 team lost a key middle order player over night due to illness. Just how Essex like […]

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Crowning glory

From Mark Murrell As champions elect going into dead rubbers for our Essex U2050 and U1650 teams and the longest excursion of the campaigns, skippers Mark Murrell and Malcolm Crane nevertheless assembled competitive teams whilst taking advantage of the opportunity to introduce new players to Essex over-the-board county chess. It was not however all plain […]

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Reverse Double

From ECA Match Captain, Mark Murrell: Essex made up for a double defeat away to the visiting Surrey teams back in November with a double home win both the Essex U1850 and U1450 teams turning the tables – and some – in the case of the U1450s, who as a result top the table with […]

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Southend 2023

The SOUTHEND EASTER CHESS FESTIVAL 2023,  including the Southend FIDE Rapid and the 65th Southend Easter Chess Congress, has been launched on the Festival website. The Festival runs from Thu 6 April (Maundy Thursday) to Monday 10 April, at the Southend Adult Community College, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2UN, its home since 2014. The principal events are: […]

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SCCU Championships Double

From ECA Match Captain, Mark Murrell Double wins have been the norm this season whenever the U2050 and U1650 Essex teams have played together and round 5 of 6 was no exception. This one was special though with both Essex teams securing a divisional Championship with a match still to play. The U1650s join the […]

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RIP Mike Twyble

We have received the following sad news from Dr Jonathan Rogers Mike Twyble died at the age of 58 on Monday [12 December]. He had been battling cancer for two years, but suddenly sharply declined over the last two months. Essex players who were active in the 1980s and 1990s will remember Mike without any […]

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Get in there!

SCCU U1650: Essex 10½-5½ SurreyAt Wanstead. 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. On paper, Surrey out-rated Essex over the top 10 boards, but Essex won by […]

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Another double

SCCU U1850: Essex 10-6 KentAt Wanstead House Essex fielded their strongest team of the campaign, but Kent held the edge by nine points a board. At one point in the early results Essex were two down and it was not until the eighth result in the match, at 4.25 pm, that Essex U1850 took the […]

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