English Chess Forum

The time has come for the County Championship finals to be played out!

Open: Middlesex v Surrey
Minor: Hertfordshire v Leicestershire
U180: Middlesex v Yorkshire
U160: Yorkshire v Greater Manchester
U140: Lancashire v Hertfordshire
U120: Hertfordshire v Essex
U100: Essex v Kent

Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Essex all have the possibility of taking two trophies with them.

I am happy that all the finals are staged in one neutral location, it's nice to be able to see all the counties battling it out side by side. We might even get to see a few titled players in the Open match!

I understand that the Open final will be played on live boards. Where can people view this?

Anybody willing to place any bets on any of the teams? I guess the Open might be easiest to predict for those in the know, but the grade-limited sections are going to be simply who plays best on the day as the sides will be so closely matched.

Andrew Bak wrote: I understand that the Open final will be played on live boards. Where can people view this?

They will be available at www.e2e4.org.uk/live

Andrew Bak wrote:Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Essex all have the possibility of taking two trophies with them.

That's assuming they're all returned tomorrow!

Does the Minor section have a trophy? Hertfordshire would seem to be in the running for three trophies, not three. BTW, congratulations to Alex for the foresight on avoiding a clash with another sporting event on Sunday! (the clash with the one on Saturday can be forgiven). Now, must stop posting as I need a good night's sleep!

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Does the Minor section have a trophy? Hertfordshire would seem to be in the running for three trophies, not three.

It does.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:BTW, congratulations to Alex for the foresight on avoiding a clash with another sporting event on Sunday! (the clash with the one on Saturday can be forgiven). Now, must stop posting as I need a good night's sleep!

The date for the Final was finalised before I even took the post on!

Good luck to all the teams playing tomorrow, especially Surrey.

Andrew Bak wrote:I am happy that all the finals are staged in one neutral location, it's nice to be able to see all the counties battling it out side by side.

I'll resist the temptation to comment further on that topic at this juncture.

Sean Hewitt wrote:

Andrew Bak wrote:I understand that the Open final will be played on live boards. Where can people view this?

They will be available at http://www.e2e4.org.uk/live

Many thanks to Sean for providing this service.

Thanks also to Ian Hunnable for providing the live blog at http://www.essexchess.org.uk/index.php/ ... 2/mm-ccf12, as announced on the ECF website. A question for Alex - will this be the principal results service?

Thanks also to the arbiters and the games inputters.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Does the Minor section have a trophy?

I know all too well that it does, as in 1997 I was given that trophy to take to Finals Day and forgot. (A belated public apology to Oxfordshire.)

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Hertfordshire would seem to be in the running for three trophies, not three.

You've beaten me too it in making that point, so I'll point out pedantically that you should have written "Hertfordshire would seem to be in the running for three trophies, not two".

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:BTW, congratulations to Alex for the foresight on avoiding a clash with another sporting event on Sunday!

It's the National Club Finals which clash with that. On Sunday I'll be on duty as the arbiter at the London League venue in Golden Lane rather than glued to my TV set.

I think it's generally accepted that it's not ideal for the Counties Championships Finals in Leicester to coincide with the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. However, that is another point which it would be churlish of me to pursue further now.

David Sedgwick wrote:Thanks also to Ian Hunnable for providing the live blog at http://www.essexchess.org.uk/index.php/ ... 2/mm-ccf12, as announced on the ECF website. A question for Alex - will this be the principal results service?

No. I will try to update the forum regularly with results as the afternoon goes on. Ian may well get there first. If he does, it isn't a disaster.

I'll definitely post the final results on here at the end of the day.

Alex Holowczak wrote:

David Sedgwick wrote:Thanks also to Ian Hunnable for providing the live blog at http://www.essexchess.org.uk/index.php/ ... 2/mm-ccf12, as announced on the ECF website. A question for Alex - will this be the principal results service?

No. I will try to update the forum regularly with results as the afternoon goes on. Ian may well get there first. If he does, it isn't a disaster.

If the results service promoted on the official ECF website is first with the news, then indeed that is not a disaster.

Prior to last year, there had never been any results service of this kind. Last year there was a somewhat intermittent one.

Now we seem to have two people competing to be first.

Good luck to all the teams today! (But no so much for Middlesex U180s and Greater Manchester )

Meanwhile I need to learn how to use my abacus properly...

Slight problem at Moat - the internet connection credentials do not work. However, the live boards are wired up, my laptop is tethered to my phone (cue all sorts of comments!) and we will be transmitting live games via that.

Sean Hewitt wrote:Slight problem at Moat - the internet connection credentials do not work. However, the live boards are wired up, my laptop is tethered to my phone (cue all sorts of comments!) and we will be transmitting live games via that.

It all seems to be working at the moment. Thank you for your efforts.

Yes, live boards are looking good.

I see Board 1 of the Open is a Scandinavian Patzer variation!
Going by the rate they are playing I guess board 4 is all theory so far.

I have added all of the scoresheets to the live website. I will endeavour to keep results up to date throughout the afternoon.

a massacre underfoot in the Open on board one, I think.

Looking as far down as, er board three, both teams look remarkably short of a number of established titled players (210/2300+).

We're 3.5 hours in and the results to date are all online at www.e2e4.org.uk/live