2012 National Stages

[Alex Holowczak]

Open: Staffordshire beat Yorkshire (result and score unconfirmed)

I didn't think Staffordshire were playing Yorkshire!

Correct. I meant Somerset. My brain ceases to function after 11pm*, so anything I do after that point is liable to this sort of cock up.

*some would say this is no different from any other time of day...

[Alex Holowczak]

Other results coming in overnight:

Open: Middlesex beat Staffordshire 11.5-4.5 (as above)
U180: Middlesex beat Warwickshire 8.5-7.5

[LawrenceCooper]

Other results coming in overnight:

Open: Middlesex beat Staffordshire 11.5-4.5 (as above)

[Richard Bates]

Other results coming in overnight:

Open: Middlesex beat Staffordshire 11.5-4.5 (as above)

Missing in your County's 5hrs of need Actually the teams were a lot closer matched on paper than the scorecard suggests.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Minor: Essex beat Lincolnshire 8.5-7.5

Let's not overlook the win by this forumite, because it was his first win all season in any competition whatsoever

Somerset beat Yorkshire!! Even allowing for a GM on board one, and maybe Jack Rudd too, and a fluke in the last game, how did that happen? Scorecard anyone?

[Alex Holowczak]

Somerset beat Yorkshire!! Even allowing for a GM on board one, and maybe Jack Rudd too, and a fluke in the last game, how did that happen? Scorecard anyone?

Well, the Controller hasn't been e-mailed a scorecard, so it's probably still in the minds of the captains at the moment.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Somerset beat Yorkshire!! Even allowing for a GM on board one, and maybe Jack Rudd too, and a fluke in the last game, how did that happen? Scorecard anyone?

Well, the Controller hasn't been e-mailed a scorecard, so it's probably still in the minds of the captains at the moment.

Never mind, I am sure that the powers that be in Yorkshire will be just as quick to publicise the details as they were following the last 4NCL weekend

[Mick Norris]

Minor: Essex beat Lincolnshire 8.5-7.5

Let's not overlook the win by this forumite, because it was his first win all season in any competition whatsoever

Jonathan

That puts you 1 ahead of me

I could have won on time yesterday (in a lost position) with my opponent having a few seconds (who know how many? Analogue clocks ) to make 8 moves having misread the time control, but thought a draw was fair (as we don't have any problem with the Lancs players)

[Mick Norris]

Other results coming in overnight:

Open: Middlesex beat Staffordshire 11.5-4.5 (as above)
U180: Middlesex beat Warwickshire 8.5-7.5

The semi-finals in the U180 look interesting, and make the choice of venue for the final seem more reasonable

[Jonathan Rogers]

U180: Yorkshire 9-7 Nottinghamshire

Is it possible that Yorkshire tried to strengthen this team at the expense of their Open team, reckoning they could afford to do so?

Who knows, it all seems very quiet from them up there today

[Peter Shaw]

U180: Yorkshire 9-7 Nottinghamshire

Is it possible that Yorkshire tried to strengthen this team at the expense of their Open team, reckoning they could afford to do so?

We had 14 players 180+ so I don't think this is the case. We only outgraded Somerset slightly, so the match was always likely to be close. We had a number of players unavailable in the 190-210 range.

I don't think our last player knew the match situation as the penultimate game finished only a couple of minutes before. Of course it might have been a good idea for him to ask! I'm not sure whether the captain is allowed to intervene and tell him if the player doesn't ask? I think the final position was mate in 3 so five seconds more would have been enough.

[Leonard Barden]

It would be nice if somebody published here the actual finish with the missed mate in three, as that would be a natural story for newspaper columnists.

In terms of perceived strength at least this was one of the biggest upset results ever in the national stages of the county championship, though I recall 60 years ago that Devon knocked out Middlesex, then the undisputed No1 county.

[Ian Kingston]

U180: Yorkshire 9-7 Nottinghamshire

Is it possible that Yorkshire tried to strengthen this team at the expense of their Open team, reckoning they could afford to do so?

Who knows, it all seems very quiet from them up there today

Looked like a fair fight from where I was sitting (on Board 7, losing to Andrew Bak). Yorkshire outgraded us on most boards (especially 15 and 16, although both of those games were drawn), but not by a huge amount. We were affected by a clash with the Nottinghamshire Megafinal, which cost us a couple of regulars (one helping, one playing).

The match went to the last game, where a win would have sent Nottinghamshire through on board count. However, we were defending an almost hopeless position two pawns down, so there wasn't a lot of tension.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The Somerset players' results, with opponents' names where I can remember them.

1. Matthew Turner ½-½ Richard Palliser
2. Jack Rudd ½-½ Andrew Ledger
3. David Buckley 1-0 Nicholas Croad
4. James Sherwin ½-½ Alan Walton
5. Nils Grotnes ½-½ Jonathan Nelson
6. Rhys Cumming 1-0 Jonathan Arnott
7. Terry Stuttard ½-½ David Grant
8. Patryk Krzyzanowski 0-1 Peter Shaw
9. Arturo Wong 0-1 ?
10. Dave Littlejohns 1-0 ? (the aforementioned fluke victory)
11. Andrew Footner 0-1 Peter Hempson
12. Peter Chaplin 1-0 Mark Birkin
13. Mike Richardt ½-½ ?
14. Adam Stirling 0-1 ?
15. Nikita Ayvazyan 1-0 ?
16. Gerry Jepps 0-1 ?

[Leonard Barden]

Jack, could you track down the 'fluke victory' position and its alleged missed mate in 3?