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 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 […]
Open this post
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 […]
Open this post
SCCU U2050: Essex 12½-3½ KentAt Wanstead. Great effort today against an under-strength Kent, but nevertheless making the most of the rating advantage and pressing for those extra half points for a 9 point winning margin: 12½-3½. Kent took the early lead, Sasha beat the Kent skip to level and from then on it was plain sailing. […]
Open this post
SCCU U2050: Middx 7½-8 EssexAt Shepherd’s Bush Essex were missing a number of regulars for various reasons, but when the teams were declared so were Middx and there was nothing between the two teams on paper. Some Essex players were delayed by problems on the M25, but all arrived within default time. Middlesex held the […]
Open this post
SCCU U2050: Essex 10½-5½ SurreyAt Wanstead. The first match of the new campaign featured last season’s two ECF U2050 County Championships Finalists – and who can forget that famous Essex come-from-behind victory? Faced with travelling across London on a train strike day, Surrey are to be commended for not postponing, while their U1650 team (also […]
Open this post
SCCU U2050: Essex 9½-6½ KentAt Wanstead. In many ways a strange afternoon. The early results produced one Kent win among a string of draws. Then a clutch of Essex wins turned things around to a two point home advantage. Yet still the match was not clear and everything remained in the balance until near the […]
Open this post