Devon 7 – 9 Essex, 14 June 2008

One of the attractions of the national stages of the County Championship is the opportunity to meet unfamiliar opposition in unfamiliar places.  This has not quite worked out according to plan for the Essex U175 team in recent years as the top two SCCU qualifiers have tended to end up quite unnecessarily in the same half of the draw, with the result that the 2006 campaign consisted of a quarter final bye followed by a semi-final loss on board count away to Sussex and the 2007 campaign another quarter final bye followed by a semi-final defeat at home to Middlesex.

However, 2008 was to see an encounter with non-SCCU opposition, as the inevitable quarter-final bye was on this occasion followed by a match against Devon, who had reached this stage thanks to a convincing defeat of Greater Manchester. The paths of the Counties had crossed four times previously at under 175 level, with two of these encounters being in the final. Although Essex managed to win all four of these matches, every one had been tight (none more so than the “McNally final” of 1999), and I have the distinct impression that grading deflation is more marked in the WECU than elsewhere in the country.

Essex 10 – 6 Devon, 3 July 2004

The clash between Essex and Devon in the U175 final at Hinckley revived memories of the 1999 final between the Counties when Goerge McNally saved the day for Essex by winning a seemingly dead drawn ending.  The three previous encounters inthe National Stages had all ended in Essex’s favour, but never easily as never invariably seem to perform more strongly than their published grades would lead one to expect.  Nothing was therefore to be read into the Essex advantage on paper that the exchange of team lists revealed.

Essex 8½ – 7½ Devon, 11 May 2002

The Essex U175 team’s previous encounters with Devon in the National Stages had both been tight matches suggesting that the true playing stength of the Devonian players was significantly higher than their published grades.  A flattering 9½ – 6½ margin in the 1998 semi-final had been followed by “the McNally final” in 1999 when George McNally won a seemingly unwinnable game to give Essex the title.  Nothing was therefore to be taken for granted when the exchange of team lists at the neutral venue of the Village Hall, Hook in Wiltshire showed Essex as significantly stronger on paper.  The early exchanges favoured Devon.  After Syd Kalinsky agreed a quick draw, Chris Fegan found his opponent’s passed pawns too much to cope with and Essex were one down after 2½ hours play.  The only game to finish within the next half hour was Tim Hebbes’ draw as Black on board 1, but then came a rapid flurry of results.  Ivor Smith levelled the match with a forced mating sequence involving a rook sacrifice, but after Martin McCall’s draw in a complicated game, Devon retook the lead at the expense of Paul Williamson.  Neville Twitchell, half an hour late arriving thanks to Great Western Trains, levelled matters up again after finding a tactic to exploit his opponent’s weak back rank, and after draws by David Millward and Peter Doye (who had missed two winning opportunities), Dave Pearse put Essex in front for the first time with 3½ hours gone.  Dave, who demonstrated the superiority of a bishop over a knight in an ending with pawns on both sides of the board, was the only winner with the White pieces on either side.

One up with six to play was not an especially healthy position for Essex as Ian Reynolds, whose position had looked promising at one stage with a passed pawn, went astray and was by now two pawns down although he fought on to the bitter end before losing on time in the last game to finish.  With board count heavily favouring Devon in view of the Essex wins on boards 15 and 16 a win was needed from one of the remaining games.  For a long time it had looked as of George McNally, making his first appearance of the season for the team, might once again be the hero against Devon.  However, his opponent gave up his bishop for George’s last two pawns and successfully defended the ending of king and rook against king, rook and knight.  John White and Bobby Payne also had to accept draws making it one up with three games inplay.  The best chance for Essex had seemed to be Ken Clow’s game, as Ken had a passed pawn in the ending to try to exploit, although it was far from easy to make progress.  However, the necessary Essex win was provided from the somewhat unexpected source of Ian Hunnable. Ian had been in considerable difficulty at one stage, and had his opponent spotted a possible Nxg7 capture two moves earlier than he did the match result could have been very different.  However, the endgame that was reached gave Ian some chances and after declining a draw offer in view of the match situation he made full use of the remaining material to set up a position where his opponent resigned when faced with mate in two.

This turn of events meant that Ken Clow only needed to draw and a message to that effect was communicated to the player.  At this juncture his opponent gave up a piece to capture Ken’s passed pawn and a second pawn and promptly (and without consulting his captain) offered a draw even though acceptance would concede the match.  After some deliberation Ken accepted and Essex had negotiated an extremely difficult match to clinch a semi-final against defending champions Warwickshire.

Played at Hook.

		ESSEX			DEVON
Board	Colour	Home Team	Grade	Score	Away Team	Grade	Score
1	B	Tim Hebbes	171	½	Chris Bellers	170	½
2	W	Paul Williamson	174	0	Alan Brusey	162	1
3	B	Ivor Smith	170	1	Peter Langdon	161	0
4	W	Peter Doye	166	½	Paul Brooks	160	½
5	B	Ian Hunnable	166	1	Michael Sapiecha	159	0
6	W	Ian Reynolds	166	0	Brian Hewson	158	1
7	B	Bobby Payne	161	½	Mark Abbott	157	½
8	W	Martin McCall	164	½	Andrew Woodruff	151	½
9	B	Syd Kalinsky	165	½	William Ingham	148	½
10	W	Chris Fegan	163	0	Arthur Pinkerton	146	1
11	B	John White	162	½	Sean Pope	144	½
12	W	George McNally	165	½	Dave Regis	144	½
13	B	David Millward	160	½	Simon Waters	e144	½
14	W	Ken Clow	160	½	John Gorodi	134	½
15	B	Neville Twitchell	160	1	Ivor Annetts	132	0
16	W	Dave Pearse	152	1	Wally Sapiecha	127	0
		TOTAL – Home		8½	TOTAL – Away		7½

Langdon,Pete – Smith,Ivor [A01]

Essex v Devon U175 board 3 Hook, 11.05.2002

[Ivor Smith]

An interesting feature of this match was that the first two positive results were gained by players who had met over the board in the British Seniors in Scarborough.  After Arthur Pinkerton, a former 200+ player, defeated Chris Fegan it seemed appropriate that I was able to level the scores as follows. 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 [3.c4 was seen in a game played at Beograd in 1970 when Boris Spassky, playing Black, scored a famous win against Bent Larsen.] 3…d5 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.f4 Qe7 [5...Qh4+ 6.g3 and only then 6...Qe7 is more usual.] 6.Nf3 Bg4 [or 6...f6 7.Qe2] 7.h3?! [White would do better to follow the main line, i.e. 7.fxe5 Bxe5 8.Bxe5 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Qxe5 10.Nc3 Nf6 The problem with h3, apart from conceding a tempo, is that it weakens the e1 to h4 diagonal.] 7…Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nf6 9.Nc3 [Now 9.fxe5 Bxe5 10.Bxe5 Qxe5 is no longer an option, because after 11.Nc3 Ne4!] 9…a6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Ne2 exf4 12.Nxf4 Ne4 13.0–0–0?! [Dubious - prompted by the threat of 13...Qh4+.  Either 13.Qg4 Be5; or 13.Bxg7 Rg8 14.Nh5 Qh4+ 15.Kd1 Nf2+ 16.Ke2 Nxh1 17.Rxh1 Qg5 18.Nf6+ Ke7 19.Nxg8+ Rxg8 seem fine for White.] 13…Ba3 14.Nd3 a5 This natural move clearly came as a shock to White.  The attack builds quickly. 15.Nf2 White decides to exchange knights, but this doesn’t really help. 15…a4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Qf5 axb3 18.axb3 g6 19.Qf4 0–0 20.d3 [20.d4 loses after 20...Qb4 threatening 21...Qc3 22.Bxa3 Rxa3 21.Bxa3 Rxa3] 20…f5 21.g4?! g5 22.Qf2 fxg4 23.Qg3 Bxb2+ This could have been played with similar effect as early as move 20. 24.Kxb2 Qa3+ 25.Kc3 Qc5+ 26.Kb2 [26.Kd2 Ra2 27.Rc1 exd3 28.Kxd3 Rd8+ also loses.] 26…Ra2+ 27.Kxa2 Qc3 [This is rather neater than 27...Qxc2+ 28.Ka3 Ra8+ 29.Kb4 Rb8+ and mate next move.]  0–1

 

Doye,Peter – Brooks,Paul [D02]

Essex v Devon U175 board 4 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c5 4.0–0 Nc6 5.d4 Nf6 6.c3 Bd6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Nb3 Bd6 10.Be3 b6 11.Nbd4 Bb7 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Nd4 Bb7 14.Nb5 Bc5 15.Bxc5 bxc5 16.c4 Qb6 17.a4 Rfd8 18.a5 Qc6 19.Nc3 Rac8 20.cxd5 exd5 21.Qc2 Qe6 22.e3 Ba6 23.Rfe1 Qg4 24.Qd1 Qxd1 25.Rexd1 d4 26.exd4 cxd4 27.Ne4 Nxe4 28.Bxe4 Be2 29.Rd2 d3 30.Re1 g6 31.Kg2 f5 32.Bf3 Bxf3+ 33.Kxf3 Rc4 34.Rb1 Kf7 35.b4 Rc2 36.Rxc2 dxc2 37.Rc1 Rc8 38.Ke3 Rc4 39.Kd3 Rxb4 40.Rxc2 Rb7 ½–½

 

Sapiecha,Michael – Hunnable,Ian [E24]

Essex v Devon U175 board 5 Hook, 11.05.2002

[Ian Hunnable]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 Nh5 7.Nh3 f5 8.Bg5 Nf6 9.e3 [I was expecting 9.e4 which I can meet with either 9...d6 or h6] 9…0–0 10.Bd3 Qe8 11.0–0 d6 12.Qe2 Nbd7 13.e4 fxe4 14.fxe4 e5 15.Rf2 Bb7 16.d5 “Black has a positionally won game” – Neville Twitchell on the train home. Don’t worry, Neville, I’ll soon sort that out!  16…Qg6 17.Raf1 Rf7? [The right continuation was  17...h6 18.Bh4 (If 18.Bd2 Nc5 is strong.) 18...Qg4 19.Qxg4 Nxg4 20.Rxf8+ Rxf8 21.Rxf8+ Kxf8 22.Nf2 Ne3 23.Bd8 c5 followed by ...Ba6.] 18.Rf5 Raf8 19.Bd2 Qg4? [I must have gone to sleep as I missed not only White's reply but much of what followed.  Again  19...h6 was required.] 20.Ng5 “Ouch” is the only word 20…Qxe2 21.Bxe2 Re7 22.Ne6 Rc8 [Here I looked at 22...Rff7 intending to follow 23 Nxc7 with 23...Nc5 until I noticed 23.Nd8!] 23.Bg5 c6 24.R1f3? [After this I thought I was still OK, but as Sid Kalinsky pointed out afterwards, White gains a big plus with 24.Nxg7 Rxg7 If then 25... 25.Bxf6 Rg6 26.Bh5 But White hadn't noticed either, and he now wastes a valuable tempo.] 24…h6 25.Bh4 Ba6 Continuing on oblivious. I actually thought White was on the verge of crumbling with his knight having no outlet and about to be undermined by my counterplay against his centre. 26.Nxg7! This, however woke me from my slumbers! It remains my, and the team’s, good fortune that White had not seen this on move 24. 26…Rxg7 27.Bxf6 Rg6 This is the point. I don’t want to capture again on f6 to invite a white rook to the 6th rank, but have this viable continuation. Now that White has played the ineffectual Rf3, he no longer has 28 Bh5. 28.Bh4 Black’s counterplay now kicks in. 28…cxd5 29.exd5 Bxc4 30.Bxc4 Rxc4 31.Rf7!? Rg7 [Inviting 31...Rxh4 32.Rxd7 when White invades the seventh rank with both rooks.] 32.Rxg7+ Kxg7 33.Be7 Rc5 34.Bxd6 [This is probably not as good as 34.Rd3 e4 35.Re3 Nf6 36.Bxf6+ Kxf6 37.Rxe4 Rxd5 etc.] 34…Rxd5 35.Be7 The dust finally settles and the static features of the endgame are in place. At this point I was thinking “draw” – perhaps coloured by my narrow escape – whereas in fact Black has the better ending. 35…Rd1+ 36.Kf2 Rd2+ I actually offered a draw with this move, but my voice stuck in my throat and I don’t think my opponent heard me! 37.Kg3 OK, now I’ll have to think of something to do. First, I settled on fixing the White Q-side. 37…b5 38.Bb4 Nf6 with the threat …Ne4+. 39.Kh3 e4? Correct was 39 …Nd5. White now has to avoid 40 Re3 Rd3 41 Bc5 Nd5 42 Rxd3 exd3 winning. He “avoids” it quite well 40.Rg3+ Kf7 Time control. QPF. White carries 1 min, Black 6 min. 41.c4 Another “ouch”. 41…Rd3 42.cxb5 I had intended …Nd5 here, then I noticed I could attack his b-pawn. 42…Rd5 …and he might just defend it with 43 a4, allowing 43…Rh5 mate! That would be embarrassing.  43.Rc3! A riposte, with the threat of check at c7. Now I thought 43…Rxb5 44 Rc7+ Kg6 45 Rxa7 Nd5 might be no better than a draw. I thought I’d see what some checks turned up and then decide. 43…Rh5+ 44.Kg3 Rg5+ 45.Kf2 White offered a draw with this move. I ascertained from the skipper that we had a slender one point lead, but that board count favoured Devon. I decided I should play on and that, if it was possible for me to win this position, my chances lay in my passed-er. 45…e3+ 46.Kf1? [The first piece of encouragement.  46.Kf3 is better.] 46…Rf5+ 47.Ke1 Nd5 48.Rc5 h5 49.g3 Ke6 50.h3 Rf3 51.g4 hxg4 52.hxg4 Nf4 53.Rc6+? [White had a defence in  53.Rc7 allowing access to the a file.  Then best play leads to a draw. 53...Rg3 54.Re7+ Kf6 55.Kf1 Rf3+ 56.Ke1 Rg3 57.Kf1 Rf3+ etc. But then we wouldn't have qualified. To keep winning chances alive, Black would have to play 53...e2.] 53…Kd5 54.Rc5+? [White could still offer resistance with 54.Rc7 but after this final mistake Black wins.] 54…Kd4 55.Rf5 [55.Rc2 Nd3+ 56.Ke2 Nxb4 57.Kxf3 (57.axb4 Rf2+ 58.Kd1 Kd3) 57...Nxc2 58.Ke2 Ke4 59.g5 Nd4+ 60.Ke1 Kd3 wins.] 55…Kd3 [Not 55...e2 56.Rxf4+] 56.a4 e2 0–1

 

Abbott,Mark – Payne,Bobby [A58]

Essex v Devon U175 board 7 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.g3 d6 7.Bg2 g6 8.b3 Bg7 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.Nh3 0–0 11.0–0 Qb6 12.Bc3 Bb7 13.a4 Rfb8 14.Na3 Ne8 15.Nc4 Qc7 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nf4 Ba6 18.Qc2 Nef6 19.h4 Bxc4 20.bxc4 Qa5 21.Nd3 Nb6 22.Rfb1 Qa6 23.Nb2 Nbd7 24.e4 Rb4 25.f4 Rab8 26.Bf1 Qa5 27.Bd3 Rb3 28.Nd1 Rxb1 29.Rxb1 Rxb1 30.Qxb1 Qxa4 31.Ne3 Qb4 32.Qd1 Nh5 33.Kf2 Qb2+ 34.Qc2 Qxc2+ 35.Bxc2 e5 36.dxe6 fxe6 37.Ba4 Nb6 38.Bc6 Kf6 39.Kf3 Ng7 40.g4 h5 41.Bb5 Kf7 42.gxh5 gxh5 43.Bc6 Kf6 44.Ke2 Nc8 45.Ba4 Ne7 46.Kd3 Ng6 47.Ng2 Ne7 48.Ne3 Ng6 ½–½

 

McCall,Martin – Woodruff,Andrew [A15]

Essex v Devon U175 board 7 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.c4 e6 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.e3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.Ne2 d4 7.exd4 cxd4 8.d3 e5 9.0–0 Bd6 10.f4 0–0 11.fxe5 Bxe5 12.Nf4 Ng4 13.a3 Ne3 14.Bxe3 dxe3 15.Ra2 Bd4 16.Kh1 Ne5 17.h3 Qd6 18.Qh5 g6 19.Qh6 Bf5 20.Nh5 Nxc4 21.bxc4 Bxd3 22.Re1 Rae8 23.Nf4 Bg7 24.Qh4 Bf5 25.Nd5 Be5 26.Nf4 Bf6 27.Qh6 Bg7 28.Qh4 Bf6 ½–½

 

Pope,Sean – White,John [A26]

Essex v Devon U175 board 11 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0–0 6.Nge2 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d3 Ne8 9.a3 a5 10.Rb1 f5 11.f3 Nf6 12.Nd5 Ne7 13.Nec3 c6 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.Be3 Nh5 16.Qd2 f4 17.Bf2 g5 18.g4 Nf6 19.d4 Nd7 20.Rfd1 Qf7 21.d5 c5 22.b4 axb4 23.axb4 b6 24.bxc5 bxc5 25.Nb5 Qe7 26.Ra1 Rb8 27.Ra7 Rb7 28.Rxb7 Bxb7 29.Ra1 Rb8 30.Bf1 Bf8 31.Ra7 Qd8 32.Qa2 Ra8 33.Rxa8 Qxa8 34.Qxa8 Bxa8 35.Be1 Nb8 36.Ba5 Na6 37.Bd8 h6 38.h4 gxh4 39.Bxh4 Kf7 40.Bd8 Ke8 41.Ba5 Bb7 42.Be2 Bc8 43.Nc7+ Nxc7 44.Bxc7 Kd7 45.Ba5 Be7 46.Kf1 Bd8 47.Bc3 Bh4 48.Bd3 Ke8 49.Ke2 Bd7 50.Bc2 Bd8 ½–½

 

McNally,George – Regis,Dave [A01]

Essex v Devon U175 board 12 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 d6 4.d4 Nf6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Bb5 Bd6 8.Nf3 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf5 10.0–0–0 Nd7 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Nc4 f6 13.Nxd6 cxd6 14.Rxd6 Kc7 15.Rhd1 Nb6 16.R6d2 a5 17.a4 Nd5 18.Nh4 Be6 19.e4 Nb4 20.Bc3 Rab8 21.Bxb4 Rxb4 22.f3 g6 23.g4 c5 24.Rd3 c4 25.Rc3 Rd8 26.Rxd8 Kxd8 27.Kb2 cxb3 28.cxb3 Kd7 29.Ng2 f5 30.gxf5 gxf5 31.exf5 Bxf5 32.Ne3 Be6 33.Nc2 Rh4 34.Rc5 Rxh2 35.Rxe5 Rf2 36.Rxa5 Rxf3 37.Ra7+ Kc8 38.Nd4 Rf2+ 39.Ka3 Bd5 40.Rxh7 Rd2 41.Nb5 Kb8 42.Rc7 Rd3 43.Rc3 Rd2 44.Kb4 Be6 45.Kc5 Ra2 46.Kb6 Bxb3 47.Rxb3 Rxa4 48.Nd6 Ra1 49.Kc6+ Ka7 50.Nc8+ Ka6 51.Ne7 Rc1+ 52.Kd7 Rd1+ 53.Kc7 Ka5 54.Kc6 Rc1+ 55.Kd6 Ka4 56.Rb7 Rc2 57.Nd5 Ka3 58.Ne3 Rc3 59.Nd5 Rb3 60.Nb6 Kb2 61.Na4+ Kc2 62.Rc7+ Kd2 63.Nc5 Ra3 64.Kd5 Ra8 65.Re7 Rd8+ 66.Kc4 Rc8 67.Kd4 Rd8+ 68.Nd7 Rh8 69.Nf6 Rd8+ 70.Nd5 Rh8 71.Ra7 Rh4+ 72.Ke5 Rc4 73.Ra2+ Rc2 74.Ra3 Rc4 ½–½

 

Waters,Simon – Millward,David [C55]

Essex v Devon U175 board 13 Hook, 11.05.2002

[John Philpott]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.0–0 d6 5.d4 Nf6 6.d5 Nb8 7.Bd3 0–0 8.c4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Nc5 10.b4 Nxd3 11.Qxd3 Nh5 12.Ne1 f5 13.Nc2 fxe4 14.Nxe4 Bf5 15.f3 Qd7 16.Be3 b6 17.c5 Nf4 18.Bxf4 exf4 19.c6 Qc8 20.Rae1 a5 21.b5 Bh4 22.Re2 Re8 23.Nd4 Re5 24.Qd2 Rxd5 25.Qxf4 Rxd4 26.Qxh4 Qf8 27.Qe1 Bxe4 28.Rxe4 Rxe4 29.Qxe4 Re8 30.Qd5+ Qf7 31.Qxf7+ Kxf7 32.Kf2 Re5 33.a4 Rc5 34.Re1 Rc4 35.Re4 Rxe4 36.fxe4 Ke6 37.Ke3 Ke5 38.h4 d5 39.exd5 Kxd5 40.Kd3 Ke5 41.Ke3 h5 42.g3 g6 43.Kd3 Kd5 44.Kc3 Ke5 [44...Kc5 45.Kb3 Kd4 46.Kc2 Kc4 47.Kd2 Kb3–+] 45.Kd3 ½–½

 

Clow,Ken – Gorodi,John [B92]

Essex v Devon U175 board 14 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Be3 Qc7 10.Qe1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.f3 Nbd7 13.Qf2 Rac8 14.Rfd1 Bd8 15.Rac1 Be7 16.Nd2 d5 17.exd5 Bxd5 18.Nde4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.fxe4 Nf6 21.Qf3 Bc5 22.Kh1 Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Qc6 24.Bf3 Rfd8 25.Rd3 Rxd3 26.Qxd3 h6 27.h3 Qb6 28.Re1 a5 29.Re2 b4 30.axb4 Qxb4 31.c3 Qb6 32.Rd2 Rb8 33.Qc4 Qe3 34.Qe2 Qf4 35.Rd1 h5 36.Qd2 Qxd2 37.Rxd2 g6 38.Kg1 Kf8 39.Kf1 Ke7 40.Ke2 Nd7 41.Kd1 Nb6 42.Be2 Rc8 43.Kc2 f6 44.b3 a4 45.bxa4 Nxa4 46.c4 Nc5 47.Bf3 h4 48.Rd5 Ne6 49.Kc3 Nd4 50.c5 Rb8 51.Bd1 Rb1 52.Ba4 Rd1 53.Kb4 Rb1+ 54.Ka5 Ra1 55.Kb4 Rb1+ 56.Ka5 Rb2 57.c6 Nxc6+ 58.Bxc6 Rxg2 ½–½

 

Annetts,Ivor – Twitchell,Neville [B22]

Essex v Devon U175 board 15 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.cxd4 e5 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 e4 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Ne7 12.Qh5 0–0 13.Rd1 Qe6 14.b3 Qg4 15.Qxg4 Bxg4 16.Be2 Be6 17.Bb4 Rfe8 18.Bb5 Nc6 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Bd6 a5 21.Rd4 Bd5 22.0–0 f6 23.exf6 gxf6 24.Rc1 Kf7 25.Rc3 Ke6 26.Bg3 Re7 27.Ra4 Rb7 28.Rd4 Rb4 29.Rxb4 axb4 30.Rc2 Bxb3! 31.Rxc6+ Kd5 32.Rb6 Rxa2 33.Kf1 Bc4+ 34.Ke1 b3 0–1

 

Pearse,Dave – Sapiecha,Wally [D02]

Essex v Devon U175 board 16 Hook, 11.05.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0–0 h6 6.c4 0–0 7.Nbd2 c5 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.e3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Bb6 12.Nbd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Re8 14.b4 Be6 15.Bb2 Rc8 16.Qd3 Qe7 17.a3 Rc4 18.Rac1 Rec8 19.Nxe6 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 21.Bxc1 fxe6 22.Bb2 Kf7 23.h3 a6 24.Bf3 Bd8 25.Bd4 Qc7 26.h4 b5 27.h5 e5 28.Qg6+ Kg8 29.Bc5 e4 30.Bg2 Be7 31.Bxe7 Qxe7 32.Bh3 Qe5 33.Qf5 Qxf5 34.Bxf5 Kf8 35.Bc8 Ne8 36.Bg4 Nc7 37.f3 exf3 38.Kf2 Kf7 39.Kxf3 Kf6 40.Kf4 g6 41.hxg6 Kxg6 42.Ke5 Kg5 43.Bc8 h5 44.Kd6 Ne8+ 45.Kxd5 Nf6+ 46.Kd4 h4 47.gxh4+ Kxh4 48.Bxa6 Kg4 49.Bxb5 1–0

Essex 8½ – 7½ Devon, 26 June 1999

Although County Chess is a team game, and it is the collective efforts of the sixteen players that determine success or failure, situations often arise where most of the games have been completed and there is huge pressure on the two or three players still in play since their results will decide the outcome of the match.  Prior to the final, the Essex U175s had experienced this situation in six of their eight matches, and had come through with an outstanding record of nine wins, eight draws and no losses from these crunch games.  However, it was even more of a test of character for one individual to have to play out the decisive game in the final with the match tied at 7½ – 7½, and carry the hopes of a hat trick of victories in the National Competition.  This task fell to George McNally in the U175 final, and how magnificently he responded.

Essex 9½ – 6½ Devon (Semi-final), 13 June 1998

The semi-final of the County Championship involved Essex in a trip to the neutral venue of Wootton Bassett School to face Devon.  After the quarter final debacle against Lancashire, and Devon’s own experience in winning three games in their own quarter final against Surrey by default, a prime concern of both captains was to ensure that sixteen games of chess were played.  This was achieved, albeit with the start being put back by 20 minutes after both teams experienced travelling difficulties.  Particular mention should be made of Paul Barclay for making the long journey as a reserve whose services did not have to be called upon.  The experience of the U150 team in their preliminary round match suggested that Devon were likely to prove stronger than their published grades suggested, and there was therefore no room for complacency, particularly as four of the stronger Essex players were unavailable for the match.