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 there will only be an Essex U2050 team participating in 2024-25 county chess.
119 players represented Essex in the Counties Championships in 2023-24. But, with only the U2050 team sure of entry, unless captains can be found for the other three teams by Tuesday 13 August, those who have been proud to represent Essex at U1850, U1650 or U1450 level will no longer have those games. If you are interested in taking on the captaincy of the U1850, U1650 or U1450 team please notify Essex General Secretary John Chapman secretary@essexchess.org.uk on or before this Tuesday. The SCCU entry deadline is Thursday 15 August.
If you would like to help to ensure continuation of these Essex teams, but are unsure of what is involved, help is available, just ask.
No captain, no team.