SCCU U2050: Middx 4-12 Essex At Childs Hill. Michael Spurr assembled a strong team to take to Childs HIll. While still not at full strength, Essex inflicted on the home team a 12-4 defeat, only eclipsed in the post-covid era by the 12½-3½ victory at home to Kent in 2022-23, but certainly the largest Away […]
Open this post
Essex returned empty-handed from a match double at Cheam. SCCU U1850: Surrey 10-6 Essex. At Cheam. Essex won over the top six boards by 4½-1½, but the story of the other 10 was a tale of Essex woe, with eight losses against one lone win and a draw. Yet there was nothing between the sides, […]
Open this post
SCCU U2050 Essex 8½-7½ Middx. At Wanstead. At the same stage last season, Essex U2050 were on 0/2 on their way to 0/3, finishing with 2/6 including double defeats v Middx. Both ghosts were laid to rest in this new campaign, following last month’s away victory v Kent with a narrow home win against Middx, […]
Open this post
A roundup of matches to date (latest at the top). There is a slightly staggered appearance to the SCCU calendar for once, resulting from several more fixture changes than usual. Matches normally paired on the same date (e.g. Essex v Middx at U1850 and U1450) are now, for various reasons, split. The overall fixtures calendar […]
Open this post
With the sudden death of Sean Horan just before the ECF quarter final, Essex have found themselves without an U1650 and U1450 captain in addition to the already vacant U1850 team captaincy. The ECA Executive at its recent meeting has resolved to only enter County Teams which have a captain. At the present time this means […]
Open this post
Having emerged from the AGM in June with absolutely no County teams personnel at all, the ECA is happy to announce that the four rating-limited teams entered for the County Championships now have team captains and, what’s more, one deptuty team captain. Team Captains for 2023-24U2050 – Michael Spurr; Deputy Captain, James Robinson;U1850 – Mark […]
Open this post
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 […]
Open this post
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 […]
Open this post
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 […]
Open this post
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 […]
Open this post