Nottinghamshire County Championship 2015-16
Report by Robert Richmond
Jim Burnett (Mansfield) is the new County Champion, after holding off Jon Tait (Mansfield) in the last round. Taylor Pearson (West Nottingham) retains the Junior title with a grading performance of 174, ahead of Anita Somton. Owen Hunt (University) cruised to the U155 title, after winning the U125's last year. Steve Bak (Ashfield) takes the U125 title, a first ever tournament win, ahead of Stephen Luland (University) on PSOOS.
Some entirely useless statistics. Games finished after one and three quarter hours (out of 21):
| Saturday - | Rd 1 None ; | Rd 2 10 ; | Rd 3 13 (out of 17) |
| Sunday - | Rd 4 3 ; | Rd 5 10 |
Evidence that the quality of play declines over the day...?!
Motto noticed on the Championship trophy "Defensio optima est aggressio". You don't need any Latin to work out the meaning. Perhaps the Association should adopt it.
Here is a rather nice attack by Mike Naylor in Round 3 of the Championship
White: M.Naylor Black: Taylor Pearson
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.h4 Rb8 11.h5 Nxh5 12.g4 Nf6 13.O-O-O Nxd4 14.Bxd4 b5 15.Bb3 a5 16.Nd5 a4 17.Nxf6+ exf6 18.Bd5 Qc7 19.Bxf6 ! Rbc8 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.Qh6+ Kf6 22.Qh4+ Kg7 23.Qxh7+ Kf6 24.Qh4+ Kg7 25.Qh6+ Kf6 26.Qf4+ Kg7 27.Rd2 Be6 28.Rh7+ ! Kxh7 29.Qf6 1-0
Championship
| Name | Grade | Club | Points | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Burnett | 196 | Mansfield | 4½ | £40 County Champion |
| 2 | Jon Tait | 213 | Mansfield | 4 | £25 |
| 3= | Michael Barnes | 212 | Gambit | 3 | |
| Daniel Broughton | 167 | 3 | |||
| Michael Naylor | 161 | Gambit | 3 | ||
| Taylor Pearson | 152 | West Nottingham | 3 | £25 Junior Champion | |
| 7 | Peter Mercs | 183 | Gambit | 2 | |
| Jonah Willow | 181 | West Nottingham | 2 | ||
| David Flynn | 155 | Nomads | 2 | ||
| Tim Kendall | 142 | 2 | |||
| 11 | Janos Wagenbach | 144 | Mansfield | 1 |
U155
| Name | Grade | Club | Points | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owen Hunt | 135 | University | 4½ | £40 U155 Champion |
| 2 | George Murfet | 133 | Radcliffe & Bingham | 4 | £25 |
| 3= | Tim Lane | 150 | South Birmingham | 3½ | |
| Nick London | 144 | Radcliffe & Bingham | 3½ | ||
| Anita Somton | 142 | West Nottingham | 3½ | ||
| 6= | Stephen Foster | 147 | Central | 3 | £12.50 Senior Prize |
| Robert Taylor | 137 | Ashfield | 3 | £12.50 Senior Prize | |
| 8= | Dragoljub Sudar | 153 | Gambit | 2½ | |
| Karam Sangha | 149 | West Nottingham | 2½ | ||
| James Thomson | 138 | 2½ | |||
| Marcel Taylor | 135 | Radcliffe & Bingham | 2½ | ||
| Peter Gorecka-Marshall | 132 | Gambit | 2½ | ||
| 13= | Andrew Thompson | 136 | Gambit | 2 | |
| David Dunne | 127 | 2 | |||
| Raymond Sayer | 119 | Ashfield | 2 | ||
| 16= | Charlie Grainger | 115 | University | 1½ | |
| Sean Grenham | 112 | University | 1½ | ||
| 18= | Mark Radford | 151 | Central | 1 | |
| John Huthwaite | 147 | Gambit | 1 |
U125
| Name | Grade | Club | Points | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1= | Steve Bak | 124 | Ashfield | 4 | £32.50 U125 Champion |
| Steven Luland | 105 | University | 4 | £32.50 | |
| 3= | Graham Gibson | 123 | Central | 3 | |
| Armaan Gogia | 104 | West Nottingham | 3 | ||
| Margaret Gretton | 102 | Gambit | 3 | ||
| Ronnie Watson | 95 | Gambit | 3 | ||
| 7= | Andrew Sutton | 119 | Central | 2½ | |
| Vidura Mendis | 99 | West Nottingham | 2½ | ||
| 9= | Michael Harper | 120 | Gambit | 2 | |
| Abhishek Thakar | 116 | West Nottingham | 2 | ||
| 11= | Bob Abrahart | 96 | West Bridgford | 1½ | |
| Kevin Argyle | 89 | Central | 1½ | ||
| Alex Meade | 80 | Central | 1½ |