English Chess Forum

Michael Farthing wrote:

Nick Grey wrote: Hopefully Notts will not fall to the Morecombe magician's trickery.

I like that! Can I have the title permanently? SNIP

I suspect you may be singularly not suffering an illusion of Morecombe magicians, Michael, and that if, instead, Nick was talking of the wizards of Heywood (for whom there is no known collective noun) it would be the White one and not the Grey.

"Suggest that Ian does not play 1.b3 to surprise his opponent."

That's crazy talk.

John McKenna wrote: I suspect you may be singularly not suffering an illusion of Morecombe magicians, Michael, and that if, instead, Nick was talking of the wizards of Heywood (for whom there is no known collective noun) it would be the White one and not the Grey.

Other than that the last clause would appear to be a dig at ... [non scribatur], I'm afraid you have have completely stumped me with this sentence. The apparent reference to the Istari, however, neglects the fact that the Grey became White.

Michael change your name or location to Morecambe, The Magician, and wear your Magic Hat.
It seems strange to mention ex-Notts - with Lancs strange eligibility rules which seem to go back to the War of the Roses.

Not sure that I want to be drinking Camden Ales - more likely than not to contain a dangerous flammable substance. May also be hundreds of Camden residents looking for a Hampstead floor or one of the 60 comfy chairs to sleep in.

I struggle to understand John's postings but he is absolutely fine when I talk to him.

Anyway there are new rules from Saturday so please do not give Alex and co a hard time.

And stay safe on the roads, rails, or broomstick.

Kevin Thurlow wrote:"Suggest that Ian does not play 1.b3 to surprise his opponent."

That's crazy talk.

Would it be so surprisingly crazy to talk to your white b-pawn before pushing it two squares instead of just the one for a change? (Keep hold of him, and if he says that he doesn't like the feel of it, pull yer man back one square into his comfort zone.)

I struggle to understand John's postings but he is absolutely fine when I talk to him.

Nick, that's because the night before posting I'd been badgered by the fursty ferrets into going ratting.

Michael may be auditioning for The Morecombe Magician, I'd prefer the part of Dr. Strange.

The five year total of titles going into this year was SCCU 18, MCCU 8, NCCU 6, EACU 2, WECU 1.

However if we remove the 2011/12 season which we will do before the addition of this year's titles we find the figures to be SCCU 12, MCCU 7, NCCU 6, EACU 2, WECU 1. SCCU teams won six of the seven titles in 2011/12 so the sum of other Union titleholders will exceed those of the SCCU for the first time after July 1st.

Lancashire beat Yorkshire on board count based on the live board results.

All the results now appear to be here:

http://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/index.cfm?Org=4

It finished 8-8 in the U180 as well. Some of the other matches were very close as well.

I'd not counted and had a bit of hope after Jean Luc saved his game. Oh well. Well done Lancs

Not so obvious quite how the Hortons qualify to play for Lancs. Made for a much better match though & it's good for the competition, so seems a good thing to me.

Might be some annoyed people in GM.

MartinCarpenter wrote:Not so obvious quite how the Hortons qualify to play for Lancs

They don't unless the rules have been changed

Well done to all winners today and indeed all teams who have taken part during the season. When you look at the statistics you realise just how much chess has been played in the county championship and how rightly passionate players and captains are. I'd like to thank the vast majority of captains for putting up with me this year when I have needed to give priority to other things (not least training the all conquering 2025 Yorkshire Open team - well they will be at the rate they're going).

As controller I just have a few admin jobs to tie up across this month, at which point I regenerate into Thomas Thorpe.

Mick Norris wrote:

MartinCarpenter wrote:Not so obvious quite how the Hortons qualify to play for Lancs

They don't unless the rules have been changed

I can confirm that this was raised prior to the match. I'm sure Alex can provide a definitive answer on request.

Vision of Andrew as Frank and Alex as Statto

Roger Williamson is Merseyside, by the way. He must be only the second player from Liverpool to play for Lancashire in 40 years; the other being the late John Littlewood. Why so? Apart from the fact that Merseyside has been a separate 'county' (albeit inactive at county chess for a couple of decades), the truth of the matter is the inward-facing Lancashire officials have maintained a closed-shop, never selecting from beyond a familiar pool of pure-bred Lancastrians from grim small towns. Or so it has seemed. All the same, congratulations to Lancashire, helped to the title by some gritty performances from my 4NCL team-mates

Congratulations to Nottinghamshire for winning the Minor Counties!

Ok, maybe not, but Notts deserve half the credit as 9 of Lincolnshire's team (including 6 of their top 9 boards) played in the Notts league this season, with Grantham 1 winning our 1st division for the 8th year in a row (this season they won all 14 matches!).

Andrew Zigmond wrote:Well done to all winners today and indeed all teams who have taken part during the season. When you look at the statistics you realise just how much chess has been played in the county championship and how rightly passionate players and captains are. I'd like to thank the vast majority of captains for putting up with me this year when I have needed to give priority to other things (not least training the all conquering 2025 Yorkshire Open team - well they will be at the rate they're going).

As controller I just have a few admin jobs to tie up across this month, at which point I regenerate into Thomas Thorpe.

Mick Norris wrote:

MartinCarpenter wrote:Not so obvious quite how the Hortons qualify to play for Lancs

They don't unless the rules have been changed

I can confirm that this was raised prior to the match. I'm sure Alex can provide a definitive answer on request.

Thanks Andrew for all your hard work

If the answer is that Didsbury, Greater Manchester, used to be in Lancs which means Lancs can select players born there in the 1990s or later, then the question remains, when did the ECF change the rules?

I think players born after 1974 qualify only for G Man; David Sedgwick reckons the BCF put the date at about 1978; Harry Lamb reckons that it may have been as late as 1987; in the case of the Hortons, it doesn't matter which date is right, they don't qualify by birth under the agreement made that recognised G Man as a county