Inter-County Championship 2006–07

Go to 2005–06 results

Under 150

Warwickshire U150 – Nottinghamshire U150

Neil Graham

Nottinghamshire made a successful start to the 2006–07 season with a win over Warwickshire, reversing the defeat of last year. The team welcomed Matt Basey, Alex Combie, Will Place, Oliver Exton and Anjali Lakhani for their first matches. Indeed, with a number of absentees, there will be competition for places this year.

The main problem was actually reaching the venue, as there was a jam on the M42 and then a diversionary route to avoid M6 roadworks was recommended. There was also an ill-founded dependence on Notts’ navigating skills. Fortunately our opponents were gracious enough to allow the clocks to be started some 20 minutes late, and eventually all the Notts players were sat at the board and playing.

Keith Brameld soon had an initial win for us, which together with a number of draws gave us an early 2½–1½ lead, which we never lost. Further wins for Bill Ray, myself, Steve Hunter and then Drag Sudar with a well-played endgame kept us slightly in front whenever Warwickshire looked like catching us up. With three games left we were in the lead by 7½–5½. Bob Taylor's position was untenable as his opponent had connected passed pawns, so the Board 15 game was conceded. The remaining games were both in our favour and Will Place duly scored the match-winning point. Keith Roper unfortunately blundered right at the end of the four-hour session, so the match result (8½–7½) was rather closer than the play itself suggested.

I’d like to thank our opponents for their hospitality and for giving us extra time to arrive at the venue.

Warwickshire U150 – Nottinghamshire U150
14 October 2006
Board Grade Grade
1 Richard Reynolds 146 ½–½ Brian Hayward 148
2 Robert Wallman 146 0–1 Keith Brameld 143
3 Trevor Holt 145 1–0 Keith Roper 143
4 Mark Cundy 145 ½–½ Kevin Harvey 142
5 Neil Clarke 141 ½–½ Matt Basey 148*
6 Darren Lee 141 0–1 Steve Hunter 139
7 Gary Hope 140 ½–½ Tim Lane 139
8 Robert Walker 140 1–0 Alex Combie 139
9 Adrian Fowkes 140 0–1 Will Place 135
10 Colin Eckloff 138 1–0 Phil Morgan 134
11 Keith Thomas 137 0–1 Drag Sudar 134
12 Chris Evans 137 0–1 Neil Graham 133
13 Phil Bull 133 0–1 Bill Ray 131
14 Jon Turner 121 1–0 Oliver Exton 128
15 John Fahy 130 1–0 Bob Taylor 127
16 Alan Burnett 130 ½–½ Anjali Lakhani 117
7½–8½

Greater Manchester U150 – Nottinghamshire U150

Neil Graham

Last season Notts managed just one match point in encounters with Warwickshire and Greater Manchester, but with a 9½–6½ victory over the latter at Stoke we’ve garnered maximum points this year against our rivals.

The match was rather marred as Manchester, the home side, defaulted two boards, giving Notts an initial lead which they never lost. From the point of view of selection, Notts welcomed back Ian Kingston, Stan Cranmer, Dave Flynn and John Tassi. I intended some squad rotation with the amount of talent available this year; unfortunately I had to step in myself and I am indebted to Bob Taylor for also substituting after a withdrawal. I hope that everyone will get at least one match in the zonal stages.

Will Place, who was just about the last to finish at Warwickshire, broke through his opponent’s centre and forced an early resignation, whilst I suffered from my usual complaint of initiating complications that I was unable to fathom and gave away a clear win. Nevertheless a draw gave Notts an early 3½–½ lead.

Although Oliver Exton lost, two further wins from Kevin and Bob gave Notts a healthy 5½–1½ advantage. It was at this point that the points started to dry up, despite some further draws. With five games still playing Notts led by 7–4, but I was extremely thankful to see Alex Combie find a winning pawn push after his opponent had missed a drawing line, taking us to eight points. Manchester then narrowed the gap to 8–6, but Ian, who had always had a draw in hand, outplayed his opponent in a rook and pawn ending to secure the match. Brian had looked to be scoring the full point on Board 1, but as the clock was turned away from me, I hadn’t realised that he was in huge time pressure. In the end his game finished in a perpetual check.

We have the bye in the next round so don’t play again till February, and as I thought we were at home in this match (we weren’t) both final games will be in Nottingham in the New Year.

Nottinghamshire U150 – Greater Manchester U150
11 November 2006
Board Grade Grade
1 Brian Hayward 148 ½–½ Mark Roberts 148
2 Keith Brameld 143 0–1 Philip Armstong 146
3 Ian Kingston 143 1–0 Michael Compston 144
4 Kevin Harvey 142 1–0 Cory Hazlehurst 139
5 Keith Roper 143 0–1 Matthew Pollard 136
6 Steve Hunter 139 1–0 Default –
7 Tim Lane 139 ½–½ David Pardoe 141
8 Stan Cranmer 139 0–1 Joao Rita 135
9 Alex Combie 139 1–0 Mick Connor 131
10 Will Place 135 1–0 Jim Nicolson 132
11 Neil Graham 133 ½–½ Ghassan El Gehani 136
12 Dave Flynn 132 ½–½ Richard Gavin 129
13 John Tassi 131 ½–½ Jon Lonsdale 128
14 Phil Morgan 134 1–0 Default –
15 Oliver Exton 128 0–1 Alan Beresford 120
16 Bob Taylor 127 1–0 Ray Sumner 112
9½–6½

Nottinghamshire U150 –Staffordshire U150

Bob Taylor

Kevin was the first to finish with a draw, but then the results started to go against us, with Notts behind all the way to the end. Stan finished with a draw, while David Toms managed to fork his opponent’s king and rook. Alex Combie played an excellent game; his opponent got a pawn to b2, ready to queen, but Alex took it off with his rook then marched his h-pawn down the board to queen with his opponent’s king and knight too far away to catch it. As I was playing I couldn't dwell too long at the boards; I was lucky to come away with a win. Dave Flynn’s game was the last to finish, but he was fighting to keep down the deficit rather than secure the draw for us, and he eventually halved his game after an arduous struggle – less than a minute left on both players’ clocks.

Ian Kingston adds:

The clash with the 4NCL meant that Notts were missing Neil Graham and me, which can’t have helped. There wasn’t a lot of choice though – Tony Wright had to work overtime to get 12 players to travel to Sunningdale.

The defeat leaves Notts needing to win or draw the final match against Leicestershire on 17 March to guarantee qualification. Please do everything you can to keep the date free.

Nottinghamshire U150 – Staffordshire U150
10 February 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Brian Hayward 148 0–1 Derek Laight 148
2 Keith Brameld 143 0–1 Philip Porter 147
3 Kevin Harvey 142 ½–½ John Staniforth 144
4 Steve Hunter 139 ½–½ Steve Hill 144
5 Tim Lane 139 ½–½ Martyn Harris 141
6 Stan Cranmer 139 ½–½ Derek Perks 138
7 Alex Combie 139 1–0 Peter Leary 137
8 Will Place 135 1–0 Manoj Arora 136
9 Dave Flynn 132 ½–½ Dairmid Gibson 133
10 John Tassi 131 0–1 David Daniels 132
11 Bill Ray 131 1–0 Ken Francis 132
12 Phil Morgan 134 0–1 Steve Wilcox 127
13 David Toms 129 1–0 John Day 126
14 Richard Edwards 126 0–1 Steve Harris 120
15 Oliver Exton 128 0–1 Max Wootton 116
16 Bob Taylor 127 1–0 Peter Broomhall 106
7½–8½

Nottinghamshire U150 –Leicestershire U150

Ian Kingston

On paper, with an average advantage of about 15 grading points per board, this looked like an easy match for Notts. But averages don’t tell the whole story, and it only takes one or two early defeats for nerves to fray throughout the stronger team. This was not one of those occasions.

We started well: Bob Taylor won quickly; then, following a draw from Kevin Harvey, wins by David Toms and Steve Hunter took us into a comfortable 3 point lead. A flurry of draws followed (me, Tim Lane, Neil Graham and Bill Ray), but around this stage Leicestershire still had chances: John Tassi and Keith Roper looked to be lost; Matt Basey and Brian Hayward were probably worse; and the only clear advantage was Phil Morgan’s endgame.

From that point on, however, almost everything started to go our way. Will Place and Alex Combie drew, with Alex perhaps being a little unlucky. His pieces occupied the edges of the board while his opponent’s pieces were all huddled around the king on e1 – a quite bizarre position. A piece sacrifice broke through, but although Alex regained the piece his opponent found a perpetual to save the game. Alex has kindly supplied a copy of the game, which you canplay through here. Phil found the right plan and won, and then John somehow scrambled a draw while two pawns down in a bishop ending. Shortly afterwards, Brian found some counterplay that convinced his opponent to stop trying for a win.

The rest of the match was effectively one-way traffic. Keith Brameld, after a fluctuating game, reached an ending in which he had R + N + 2P vs. 2R, but just as it might have become interesting his opponent blundered a rook away. Matt turned a pawn deficit into an overwhelming attack, and Keith Roper, who had been clinging on for dear life in a dreadful position for most of the game, suddenly found himself with an extra queen. And when it was all over, not a single Notts player had lost a game.

So yet again Nottinghamshire take the MCCU title – a tribute, more than anything, to Neil Graham’s fine organisational skills. The next match will be on 19 May at home (against either Yorkshire or Cumbria according to the NCCU web site). Keep the date free!

Tim Lane adds his perspective:

Interesting match on Saturday I thought. At one point the completed games were 6–2 in our favour, but I was struggling to see where a further 2½ points were coming from. John Tassi, Keith Roper, Brian Hayward and Keith Brameld all had dodgy-looking positions, Neil Graham and Phil Morgan looked to be heading for draws, Matt Basey had an edge but no clear path to victory and Alex Combie’s game was beyond me. If things went badly I could see us losing 8.5–7.5!

In fact my evaluations soon turned out to be over-pessimistic when John defended cunningly to save a half point and Phil Morgan turned out to have a win. Now I could see us scraping home, albeit by a narrow margin. Then things went from good to better when Keith Roper’s opponent lost his queen, Keith Brameld turned his dodgy-looking position into a win and Brian salvaged a draw.

Alex Combie’s game ended as a draw and I think we were 9.5–4.5 up when I left.

Nottinghamshire U150 – Leicestershire U150
17 March 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Brian Hayward 148 ½–½ Lewis Turner 148
2 Ian Kingston 144 ½–½ Dave Farrall 142
3 Matt Basey 148* 1–0 John Pattinson 142
4 Keith Brameld 143 1–0 Sean Hewitt 139
5 Kevin Harvey 142 ½–½ Ian Dodds 139
6 Steve Hunter 139 1–0 Ben Pourmozaeri 135
7 Tim Lane 139 ½–½ Otto Hardy 131
8 Alex Combie 139 ½–½ Steve Wylie 130
9 Will Place 135 ½–½ Peter Harrison 127
10 Keith Roper 143 1–0 Phil Watkinson 126
11 Neil Graham 133 ½–½ Steve Turvey 129
12 John Tassi 131 ½–½ Francis Katumba 115
13 Bill Ray 131 ½–½ Cyril Johnson 102
14 David Toms 129 1–0 Mick Thornton 98
15 Bob Taylor 127 1–0 Mick Adams 89
16 Phil Morgan 134 1–0 Ron King 84
11½–4½

National Quarter-Final: Nottinghamshire U150 – Cumbria U150

Ian Kingston

We probably couldn’t have asked for an easier quarter-final tie: Cumbria were giving away an average of over 15 grading points per board, and on the bottom eight boards we had almost a 24 point advantage – enough, if the high boards played solidly, for an overwhelming win on paper. But it didn’t quite turn out that way.

The match started brightly enough: Kevin Harvey was first to win, and I confess that I didn’t see anything of his game, my attention having been taken by Alex Combie’s attack. An exchange sacrifice exposed his opponent’s king, and when the dust cleared Alex had won back the exchange along with a couple of pawns, leaving a simple endgame win. Meanwhile, Matt Basey was demonstrating how to win without using his queenside pieces, and although his opponent probably resigned prematurely, we were happy enough with an early 3–0 lead.

There was a harbinger of what was to come, however, on Board 13, where John Tassi lost rather conclusively to a much lower graded player. The three-point margin was soon restored when I delivered checkmate, my opponent apparently having taken his cue from Matt’s approach to using his queenside pieces, but when I looked around at the rest of the games it wasn’t easy to see where the remaining 4½ points were going to come from. Brian Hayward was level; Keith Brameld and Steve Hunter were both in trouble; Will Place had an edge, but no more; Keith Roper was a pawn down, and next to him Drag Sudar was a pawn up. I think I miscounted pieces in Neil Graham’s game, since he appeared to be the exchange down, but five minutes later he was a rook up. Dave Flynn had definitely dropped the exchange; David Toms had a strong attack; Bob Taylor was pressing hard without having a clear win; and Oliver Exton’s position was unclear. So maybe we could get five points – enough to win, but not with a lot to spare. Fortunately, the wins on Boards 2, 3 and 5 had given us some insurance in terms of board count.

At this stage I wondered whether we were going to see a repeat of the Leicestershire match, where all the bad positions turned in our favour. I was even toying with the idea of just repeating the same match report, with a few changes of name. Brian drew, as expected, and Keith Roper won the pawn back for a dead drawn pawn ending. Then David Toms produced some unanswerable mate threats, and at 6–2 the pressure seemed off.

No such luck. All the remaining positions resolutely refused to follow the pattern of the previous match. Drag was unable to make anything of his extra pawn, but no matter – Neil was definitely a rook up with an easy win. But when I walked round to the other side of the board, I discovered that the captain had only a minute or two left on his clock. By that stage, his advantage was the exchange and two pawns, and as his opponent had just a king and knight Neil could do no worse than draw. Probably every spectator saw the wins that Neil missed, but it’s a different story when your flag is hanging, and Neil had to call it a day when he reached a dead drawn K + P vs. K ending.

Dave Flynn lost, so we still needed a point from the last four games. Oliver’s game had clarified somewhat (if you can call having two pieces for four pawns ‘clear’), and he simplified into an ending of K + B + 2P vs. K + 3P. Unfortunately, it was completely drawn, as his opponent could easily reach K + B + h-pawn vs. K, but with Oliver having the wrong bishop. Alert to the situation, Bob (still pressing, but not winning) promptly offered a draw, which was accepted, and thus we staggered over the winning line. Keith and Steve struggled on, but neither could salvage anything.

The match was held at Alwoodley Chess Club in north Leeds, who proved to be excellent hosts, providing generous refreshments throughout the match.

Our semi-final opponents will be Hertfordshire on 9 June. Venue to be decided.

Nottinghamshire U150 – Cumbria U150
19 May 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Brian Hayward 148 ½–½ Jim Woodburn 147
2 Ian Kingston 144 1–0 Davd Cole 139
3 Matt Basey 148* 1–0 Pete Shaw 137
4 Keith Brameld 143 0–1 David Siddall 137
5 Kevin Harvey 142 1–0 David McMath 133
6 Steve Hunter 139 0–1 Philippe Gleizon 131
7 Alex Combie 139 1–0 George Horne 130
8 Will Place 135 ½–½ Frank Whalley 124
9 Keith Roper 143 ½–½ John Dobson 123
10 Drag Sudar 134 ½–½ Syd Cassidy 121
11 Neil Graham 133 ½–½ Andy McAtear 117
12 Dave Flynn 132 0–1 Ian Mackay 107
13 John Tassi 131 0–1 Neil Jones 106
14 David Toms 129 1–0 Martin Gawne 104
15 Bob Taylor 127 ½–½ Alan Hiatt 97
16 Oliver Exton 128 ½–½ Daniel O’Dowd 93
8½–7½

National Semi-Final: Hertfordshire U150 – Nottinghamshire U150

Bob Taylor and Ian Kingston

(This report is a combination of acting captain Bob’s notes and Ian’s observations, as both of us had long games. It’s a bit less coherent than usual as a result.)

This match proved to be every bit as tough and as close as expected against a slightly higher graded team. After three hours’ play there were only three results, including a win for Stan Cranmer (whose sacrificial attack was undoubtedly winning, even before his opponent donated his queen) and a loss for Alex Combie, who dropped a piece. Remind me (Bob) not to put three ‘T’s together in the board order, because we all lost – David Toms’ game was one of attack and counter-attack in which he lost after running short on time; and John Tassi and I (Bob) also lost. Phil Morgan, as a late replacement for Neil Graham, excelled himself by winning. Around this time the match was level, following wins for Drag Sudar and Will Place, but with three games to go the situation did not look good. My (Ian’s) game had gone from good to bad after carelessly playing a move that I’d already rejected; Brian Hayward’s position was no more than level; and Oliver Exton had a good queen and pawn endgame; but we needed to pick up more than 1½ points from these three games because of the board count situation. Unfortunately, neither Brian nor Ian could squeeze out an extra half point (losing and drawing, respectively), and although Oliver played extremely well to convert Q+g-pawn vs. Q in the last game to finish, we already knew our fate.

I (Bob) would like to thank all who played and supplied the cars to get to the matches. And many thanks to Tim for his support.

And of course, the whole squad would like to thank Neil for his exemplary efforts throughout the season in putting together yet another successful campaign. Nothing contributes more to a team at this level than good captaincy.

Hertfordshire U150 – Nottinghamshire U150
9 June 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Antony Hall 149 ½–½ Brian Hayward 148
2 Adam Batson 148 1–0 Ian Kingston 143
3 Jon Barnes 148 ½–½ Kevin Harvey 142
4 Richard House 143 ½–½ Keith Brameld 143
5 Anthony Burrows 142 1–0 Alex Combie 139
6 Brian Judkins 141 ½–½ Steve Hunter 139
7 Paul Lawrence 141 ½–½ Tim Lane 139
8 Simon Morris 137 0–1 Stanley Cranmer 139
9 Mike Price 137 0–1 Will Place 135
10 James Aldred 136 ½–½ Keith Roper 143
11 Mark Topham 136 0–1 Drag Sudar 134
12 David Edney 135 0–1 Philip Morgan 134
13 Mark Harris 134 1–0 David Toms 129
14 Ian Mutton 133 1–0 John Tassi 131
15 Jon Spencer 133 1–0 Robert Taylor 127
16 Paul Kenning 131 0–1 Oliver Exton 128
8–8

Under 125

Nottinghamshire U125 – Leicestershire U125

Ian Kingston

New captain Lateefah-Messam Sparks faced a real baptism of fire in her first match as captain. Taking over at the last minute, with the venue uncertain until only a few days before the match, she was nevertheless able to field a competitive team. Sadly, it turned out to be one of those days, and the team fell to a heavy defeat.

Nottinghamshire U125 – Leicestershire U125
28 October 2006
Board Grade Grade
1 Lateefah Messam-Sparks 121 0–1 Stephen Smith 124
2 Marcel Taylor 120 ½–½ John Oliver 123
3 Jonathan Day 119 0–1 John Manger 121
4 Darran Ince 116 ½–½ Karl Potter –
5 Eric Williamson 114 1–0 Bob Collins 119
6 Robert Willoughby 114 0–1 George Hazell 117
7 George Murfet 113 1–0 Graham Booley 115
8 Jixin Yang 112 0–1 Andy Gordon Johnson 112
9 Len Darby 107 1–0 Richard Paul Smith 111
10 Michael Nailard 106 0–1 Anthony Robinson 112
11 Steve Thacker 105 0–1 Lea Adlard 107
12 David Dunne 100 0–1 Cyril Johnson 102
13 Derek Cronshaw 96 0–1 Brandon Clarke 97
14 Len Morrell 88 ½–½ Paul Clarke 98
15 Michael Zhang 82 ½–½ Graham Hewitt 96
16 Paul Todd 81 0–1 Dick Salter 96
5–11

Derbyshire U125 – Nottinghamshire U125

Nottinghamshire suffered a second successive defeat and now face an uphill struggle to reach the national stage.

Derbyshire U125 – Nottinghamshire U125
24 February 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 M. Carter 123 1–0 L. Messam-Sparks 121
2 D. Brown 120 1–0 D. Ince 116
3 D. Hoddy 119 ½–½ N. Davies 116
4 V. W. G. Smith 114 1–0 P. Burley 116
5 L. Alldread 103 1–0 E. Williamson 114
6 D. Bramley 99 ½–½ G. Murfet 113
7 R. S. Harrison 99 ½–½ L. Darby 107
8 R. Hickling 99E 0–1 D. Griffiths 106
9 P. Sheldon 95 ½–½ M. Nailard 106
10 G. Pace 95 1–0 Default –
11 B. Archer 94 ½–½ R. Sayer 103
12 N. Atkins 94 ½–½ D. Cronshaw 96
13 N. Marshall 92 ½–½ S. McIntosh 91
14 H. Bradbury 84 ½–½ L. Morrell 88
15 M. Orridge 80 0–1 M. Zhang 82
16 I. Rees 75E 0–1 P. Todd 81
9–7

Nottinghamshire U125 – Warwickshire U125

Match defaulted by Nottinghamshire.

Nottinghamshire U125 – Shropshire U125

Neil Graham

Despite being given a two-point lead by default and outgrading the opposition on 12 of the 14 boards played, Notts still managed to lose their match against Shropshire by the narrowest margin of 8½–7½.

Shropshire had conceded one board on Friday night and a further player didn’t show. Although I had stood one player down, the message didn’t get through and consequently I had 16 players show up. However, I was fortunate to find that there were a number of defaults at the 4NCL matches down the road, and eventually Sally McIntosh and George Murfet were dispatched to the Park Inn Hotel to play.

Meanwhile, Notts had established a 5–2 lead against Shropshire. Nigel Wright was playing downstairs against a gentleman who was unable to manage the stairs. I saw nothing of his game and can only say he won quickly. Marcel was a pawn up, won a further pawn and converted to an easy endgame win. Although under pressure on the kingside, Bob Willoughby forced his opponent’s king from the queenside into the middle of the board, where it was mated.

In the back room, though, our lower boards struggled. Ben Hobson lost to back rank threats with his king stuck on h8 behind pawns. Both Dave Griffiths and Derek Cronshaw were pieces adrift and Ray Sayer was the exchange down. Despite some ingenious defence all these games were eventually lost.

The match would therefore be either won or lost in the main room. None of the positions inspired too much confidence, with the exception of Phil Burley who was a clear rook up. However, he put a piece on an incorrect square, enabling his opponent to win the rook with a queen check and the game was drawn. Len Darby was overwhelmed by an attack and James Thomson lost three pawns trying to extricate his bishop; as more pawns fell a loss was inevitable. Darran was a pawn up for a considerable time but was unable to hold onto it and a draw was the result. With three games to declare, Shropshire had clawed their way back to a 7–6 lead.

Alan Robinson’s game developed into his usual time scramble, but he emerged with a couple of seconds to spare two connected passed pawns to the good in a rook and pawn endgame. The pawns marched down the board and a resignation was soon forthcoming. Jonathan Day’s game was very complex, but eventually an endgame of R + 2P versus B + 4 or 5P resulted, with the bishop supporting some advancing passed pawns. It was not easy to see a winning plan as Jonathan could well have left himself facing an unstoppable rook’s pawn, so a draw was the result and the match was tied at 7½–7½.

The Shropshire captain John Westhead eventually scored the full point in a drawn-out game against Norman Davies to take the match by the narrowest possible margin. Norman’s two rooks could not resist a R, B and N assisted by a passed pawn after his opponent had successful engineered a queen exchange when under some pressure.

Could I thank everyone for responding to my call to play. I’ll add more later concerning the future of the team.

Nottinghamshire U125 – Shropshire U125
24 March 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Marcel Taylor 120 1–0 John Liddell 124
2 James Thomson 121 0–1 Chris Lewis 117
3 Jonathan Day 119 ½–½ Gary White 116
4 Alan Robinson 117 1–0 Mark Billington 116
5 Darran Ince 116 ½–½ Peter Crean 116
6 Norman Davies 116 0–1 John Westhead 115
7 Phil Burley 116 ½–½ Ian Davies 110
8 George Murfet 113 1–0 Default
9 Robert Willoughby 113 1–0 Alan Silver 102
10 Len Darby 107 0–1 Andy Tunks 102
11 Dave Griffiths 106 0–1 Ieaen Fenton 101
12 Ray Sayer 103 0–1 Roger Brown 98
13 Ben Hobson 99 0–1 Alex Taylor 90
14 Derek Cronshaw 96 0–1 Richard Gillespie 82
15 Nigel Wright 98 1–0 Martin Patterson 69
16 Walkover 1–0 Default
7½–8½

Under 100

Nottinghamshire U100 – Leicestershire U100 B

Terry Norris-Hunt

A convincing win for the Notts under 100 team, who played Leicestershire B at home. Amar Mann was the first to finish, giving us a lead that we never lost. Our number one board did not turn up, and just before the flag was due to fall I became player manager, and managed a draw. Leicestershire’s captain had to play board 12 in similar circumstances, claiming their only win.

In Sally Mcintosh’s game her opponent wanted to retract a move. It almost became an incident, but he accepted gracefully enough.

Derek Cronshaw, followed by Nigel Wright, were the last to finish, both with wins. Nigel demonstrated excellent endgame technique to bring our tally to 8 wins, 3 draws, and only 1 loss. We outgraded the opposition on average by about 20 points, so we could expect to win.

Next we play away to Leicestershire’s A team. I glanced at their score sheet – they beat Warwickshire and their grades match ours, so next time we’re in for more of a fight! Thanks to all who played, and I’ll be in contact as soon as I know the exact location – it’s somewhere in Syston, but not the venue used last year.

Nottinghamshire U100 – Leicestershire U100 B
14 October 2006
Board Grade Grade
1 Terry Norris-Hunt 68 ½–½ George Winterton 82
2 Nigel Wright 98 1–0 Alan Butler 83
3 Amar Mann 96 1–0 Richard Davis 83
4 Derek Cronshaw 96 1–0 Darren Robinson –
5 Ian Fillingham 94 1–0 Tom Lester 78
6 Sally Mcintosh 91 1–0 David Foulds 77
7 Len Morrell 88 ½–½ Don Lockton 72
8 Peter Smith 87 ½–½ Peter Wood 67
9 Henry Pynegar 86 1–0 Misha Knight 67
10 John Buttery 84 1–0 Peter Poolan 61
11 Edwin Justice 81 1–0 Stephen Tatlow 33
12 Hamzah Ali 77 0–1 Julie Johnson 30
9½–2½

Leicestershire U100 A – Nottinghamshire U100

Terry Norris-Hunt

The Under 100 team that took on Leicestershire A was not as strong as last time because our younger players were all involved in a rapidplay tournament. As we were outgraded I feared we would face a difficult challenge, but our players put up a strong fight and it could have been a lot closer than the final result suggests. Dorothy, Ken and I all managed draws against higher graded players. I did not get a chance to see some of the games that finished earlier, but after I’d finished we were three points down. I watched Derek Cronshaw score our only win with a neat mating combination. Paul Todd had a good game, declined a draw, and in trying to get the extra half point lost a king and pawn endgame. John, up a rook at one point, relaxed, lost the advantage, and then battled hard aginst the inevitable. Ian had what looked like a won endgame, but couldn’t find a way to make his pawn advantage count and had to settle for a draw. The match ended 8–4 in Leicestershire’s favour.

A massive thankyou to everyone who turned out – I think everyone had a good game. The next match will again be away, against Warwickshire on 13 January, and we’ll need a win to go through to the next stage.

Nottinghamshire U100 – Leicestershire U100 B
25 November 2006
Board Grade Grade
1 Paul Clark 98 ½–½ Ben Hobson 99
2 Frank Hulford 97 0–1 Derek Cronshaw 96
3 G. Hewitt 96 ½–½ Ian Fillingham 94
4 Robert Stone 92 1–0 Len Morrell 88
5 Stuart Hollingworth 92 1–0 Peter Smith 87
6 Jeffrey Toon 91 1–0 John Buttery 84
7 Terry Clay 89 1–0 Paul Todd 81
8 Michael Adams 89 ½–½ Ebrahim Fredericks 76
9 Charles Eastlake 87 1–0 Malcolm Hargreaves 73
10 Stevan Preocanin 87 ½–½ Terence Norris-Hunt 68
11 Ron King 86 ½–½ Dorothy Blampied 60
12 John Creasey 85 ½–½ Kenneth Heath 55
8–4

Warwickshire U100 – Nottinghamshire U100


Warwickshire U100 – Nottinghamshire U100
13 January 2007
Board Grade Grade
1 Paul Hardstaff 96 ½–½ Ben Hobson 99
2 Peter Hodkinson 95 1–0 Nigel Wright 98
3 Pauline Woodward 93 1–0 Derek Cronshaw 96
4 Richard Leaper 92 1–0 Ian Fillingham 94
5 William Elliot 92 ½–½ Sally McIntosh 91
6 John Pakenham 92 0–1 Len Morrell 88
7 Graham Gee 90 ½–½ Peter Smith 87
8 Adam Parkinson 89 1–0 Ric Dawson 74
9 Ken Wise 88 1–0 Andrew Garside 68
10 Steven Bowen 84 0–1 Ashton Alfred 63
11 Bram Garner 83 1–0 Dorothy Blampied 60
12 Joe Rourke 80 1–0 Kenneth Heath 55
8½–3½

Final table:

Position Team P W D L GP Pts
1 Leicestershire A 3 3 0 0 28 6
2 Warwickshire 3 2 0 1 23 4
3 Nottinghamshire 3 1 0 2 17 2
4 Leicestershire B  3 0 0 3 12 0