Essex 12 – 4 Hampshire (Quarter-final) 17 May 1997

Crawley was the neutral venue (kindly organised by Daniel Hirsch and Timothy Woods of Sussex who also set up the equipment) for this U175 quarter-final which paired the champions of the Southern Counties Chess Union with the champions of the West of England Chess Union.  When team lists were exchanged Hampshire, who were captained by Andrew Smith, the son of Essex’s David Smith, turned out to be weaker on paper, with Essex holding a grading advantage that stretched 10 points in the lower half of the team.  Hopes were high at the start of play, despite my loss of the toss for the seventh successive match.