2012 National Stages

[Alex Holowczak]

First result reported in full:

U100: Kent beat Nottinghamshire 6-6 (23-39 on board count)

U100 Final: Essex v Kent

Contrasting fortunes for the two finalists so far in the national stage: Kent won both national matches on board count. Essex won both national matches by default.

[Matthew Turner]

Somerset did indeed lose this time, but in almost equally farcical circumstances. Somerset were miles ahead on board count (we won the top three and drew the second three). With two games to go it was seven all. In one game Somerset had two pawns against a Rook. Unfortunately the pawns were on a6 and g7 as Black. In the other game the Middlesex player was unable to move any of his pieces and had five minutes against ten. Naturally we informed the Somerset player that he need to win. It will come as no surprise to watchers of these matches that the two pawns comfortably held the Rook and that forced to go for the win the other player contrived to lose. The following position was reached

White (Somerset)
Ke5 Nh7 Pd6 f3 e4

Black (Middlesex)
Kb5 Bh4 Pf4 b6

What happened next?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So unofficially, the line-up so far in the finals is:

Open: Surrey-Middlesex
Minor: Leicestershire-Herts/Hants
U180: Yorkshire-Middlesex
U160: Greater Manchester-Yorkshire
U140: Herts-Lancs/Surrey
U120: Herts/Lancs-Warks/Essex
U100: Essex-Kent

Could still have 10 of the 14 finals places filled by SCCU teams...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The following position was reached

White (Somerset) - Black (Middlesex)

8/7N/1p1P4/1k2K3/4Pp1b/5P2/8/8

White to play. What happened next?

Hang on, I'm going to convert that to FEN and put it in pos tags. EDIT: done, but whose move is it? (now added whose move it is)

[Matthew Turner]

Thank you, it is white to play

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, it is white to play

I thought maybe White had just played 1.e4?? and lost to 1...fxe3 en passant? But that would be silly, as White would just take the f4 pawn instead. White lost this position?? PS. When you say the two pawns comfortably held the rook, you mean that game was somehow drawn? Doesn't that mean the Somerset player now only needed to draw, not to win? But he thought the rook would win, so was going for a win and lost. That is tragic!

[Matthew Turner]

That would have been a good try, but I'm afraid that is far too sensible

[Sean Hewitt]

His wife rang asking how he'd got on?

[James Coleman]

I'll take a shot at :

1. Nf6 Kc6 2. Ke6 b5 3. d7 Bxf6 4. Kxf6 Kxd7 5. e5 Ke8 with a won position for Black?

[Matthew Turner]

Sean and James, those sort of things might happen in lesser matches but remember this is a Counties Semi-Final

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I'll take a shot at :

1. Nf6 Kc6 2. Ke6 b5 3. d7 Bxf6 4. Kxf6 Kxd7 5. e5 Ke8 with a won position for Black?

Ooh. That could be it. 5. Kf7 Kd6 6. Kf5 Kd7 7. Kf7 etc would have drawn?

EDIT: Given what Matthew said, maybe there is a helpmate in there somewhere?

[Richard Bates]

Did white play 1. Ng5? Bit difficult to find anything else that doesn't win, let alone draw!

This was a real "match of two halves".

Somerset won 6.5-1.5 on the top 8.

Middlesex won 7-1 on the bottom 8.

Had the match finished 8-8 it would probably have been one of the most one-sided board count in history.

Strangely there is little in the respective gradings to explain either disparity!

[Matthew Turner]

White did not play Ng5. That goes against all endgame principles and would clearly be ridiculous

[Richard Bates]

White did not play Ng5. That goes against all endgame principles and would clearly be ridiculous

I'm assuming you're building up to something even more ridiculous, but i can't see it...

[Sean Hewitt]

Giz a clue!