Warwickshire 8 – 8 Essex, 15 June 2003

Essex and Warwickshire took very different routes to reach the under 175 semi-final at Bedford Modern School.  Essex had survived the six match SCCU qualifying competition and a quarter-final against Cambridgeshire, while for the second season running a single victory against Northamptonshire in the MCCU qualifying competition coupled with a bye was all that Warwickshire required to reach this stage.  However, that counted for nothing as two evenly matched teams squared off against each other, with Essex having such small advantage on paper as there was.

Warwickshire 6½ – 9½ Essex, 16 June 2002

It was rather difficult to ignore the fact that this match, against defending champions Warwickshire who had demolished the Essex top order in last season’s final, took place during the World Cup.  Having deliberately arranged it for the Sunday in order to avoid a clash with an England match, the captains put back the start to 2.15 in view of the large number of players watching Ireland v Spain in the television room.  Play got underway despite the game going into extra time although a number of Essex players seemed to spend a significant part of the next 40 minutes away from their boards.  When the conclusion of the penalty shoot-out meant that everybody could concentrate exclusively on the chess, Essex emulated the English first half performance against Denmark the previous day by establishing a 3 – 0 lead, thanks to Ian Reynolds, Paul Williamson and Bobby Payne.

Warwickshire 10 – 6 Essex, 7 July 2001

Report by Ivor Smith (I was preoccupied with my own game in the U150 final and relied on occasional reports of progress as the team, captained for the day by Roy Heppinstall, took on the defending champions)

Essex held a slight grading advantage but this was surely offset by a difficult journey caused by unexpectedly long delays due to roadworks on the M11.  As a consequence, several Essex players, expecring time for leisurely preparation, were left with little free time prior to the match, which started at 1.30 p.m.  In addition to this Neville Twitchell, travelling from Hastings, losr twenty minutes on his clock after his train was late.  One major criticism of the Uppingham venue is the fact that it is not served by public transport.  Our thanks to David SMith for picking up Neville from Oakham – over six miles away.

Essex 9½ – 6½ Warwickshire, 5 June 1999

Warwickshire surprisingly agreed to travel to Wanstead House for the U175 semi-final instead of insisting upon the neutral venue to which they were entitled under the rules of the competition.  They were handicapped by the failure of the scheduled Board 14 to arrive at the rendezvous for his lift, and in the absence of any travelling reserves a default had to be conceded to John White an hour after the start.  Draws were then registered by Ian Hunnable, Les Crane and Roy Heppinstall (the last of these in a wild game) before the first decisive result over the board arrived.  This was a win for Colin Ramage who had met the English opening with a reversed Grob.  Colin’s position looked dubious for much of the game but his opponent, who ran himself short of time, seemed oblivious to Colin’s kingside threats as he concentrated on a queenside attack and resigned at the time control when faced by an unstoppable mate.

Essex 10½ – 5½ Warwickshire, 7 June 1997

After a relatively comfortable win over Hampshire in the quarter-final, the Essex U175 team travelled to Bedford for a semi-final showdown with Warwickshire, the MCCU Champions.  Although the Essex team was missing regulars Ivor Smith and Ian Hunnable, the exchange of team lists indicated an unexpected grading advantage to the County on all boards, which it later emerged was due to a number of the normal Warwickshire team preferring to play in the Midland Open Championships in Birmingham.