English Chess Forum

Mick Norris wrote:Well done and good luck against Leics in the final

Staffs still win the MCCU Open title by default I think

I think the Championship will go to the winner of the Leics v Notts match. All the counties played in a qualifying tournament (like the SCCU) and had the option of entering either the Open or Minor section at the end. I'll check with the Controller that this is the case.

Neil

I agree the Minor title goes to the winner of the Leics v Notts match, but Staffs were the only entrant to the Open

Mick Norris wrote:Neil

I agree the Minor title goes to the winner of the Leics v Notts match, but Staffs were the only entrant to the Open

From the MCCU Website:-

"After much debate, it was decided to suspend the current rules about the tournament structure and go back to East and West Zones. Staffordshire will be offered a nomination to play in the Open tournament of the national stage. Staffordshire are also playing other counties for the championship."

The MCCU Championship play-off will therefore be between Leics and Notts.

A brilliant performance by the Notts lads, especially those on boards 7 - 12 who all drew in spite of each being outgraded by 13 to 18 points.

I think my quick loss to Simon Edwards lulled Staffs into a false sense of security!

I hope Neil doesn't have to pick me as I've got a 3-6-7 record against Leicestershire.

Nottinghamshire beat Leicestershire today by 8.5-7.5 in a match decided only in the final two minutes of play. This means that Notts become Midland Counties Champion for only the third time in 115 years. The result will, no doubt, be posted on the MCCU website shortly.

I had prepared a trivia fact sheet for the other two years Notts were victorious in 1930 and 1976 which is appended below. We look forward to a further victory sometime around 2050!

1930

• January 20th – Astronaut Buzz Aldrin born
• February 1st – The Times publishes its first crossword
• March 6th - Clarence Birdseye markets frozen foods for the first time
• April 18th – BBC Radio announces “Today there is no news.”
• May 24th – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin; first solo flight by a woman from England to Australia
• July 7th – Arthur Conan Doyle dies - “Amberley excelled at chess – one mark, Watson, of a scheming mind”
• July 13th – First Football World Cup starts – won by home side Uruguay
• August 21st – Princess Margaret born
• August 22nd – Australia win the Ashes at the Oval – Bradman scores 974 runs in the five Tests.
• August 23rd – release of “Animal Crackers” with the Marx Brothers.
• August 25th – Sean Connery born
• August 29th – Rev Archibald Spooner dies – “I finished my chess game with a blushing crow”.
• October 16th – first “Miss Marple” novel published -“The Murder at the Vicarage”.
• October 28th – Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One supremo, born
• November 2nd – Haile Selassie crowned Emperor of Ethiopia
• December – First British Youth Hostel opens in Llanrwst, Wales

1976

• January 21st – First commercial Concorde flight – London to Bahrain
• January 21st – Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) born
• February 2nd – The Queen opens the N.E.C. in Birmingham
• March 24th - Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery dies
• April 3rd – Brotherhood of Man win Eurovision Song Contest with “Save your Kisses for Me”
• April 26th – Sid James dies on stage in Sunderland
• May 1st – Last episode of “Dixon of Dock Green”. Ran 21 years from 1955, “Evenin’ All!”
• June 22nd – start of the heatwave – UK’s longest drought since 1720
• July 17th – Olympics open in Montreal – GB won a solitary bronze on the track - Brendan Foster
• July 19th – Benedict Cumberbatch born
• July 26th – Judith Polgar, highest ever rated female chess player, born
• August 27th – Mark Webber, Formula One driver, born
• September 9th- Chairman Mao dies in China
• October 6th – First InterCity 125 train runs in the UK
• October 22nd – last “Miss Marple” novel published posthumously “Sleeping Murder”.
• November 2nd – Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford in the US Presidential election.

Great lists, Neil. Will you prepare a '2014' list to go with these? I suppose you will have to wait until the end of the year to be able to do that. Or maybe it can be started now and added to over the next 9 months??

At a slightly lower level Staffordshire U120 beat Worcestershire U120 8½-3½ today. Staffordshire U120 are now through to the national QFs of the U120 competition, where they face a "home" match against Essex.

I managed to turn out for Staffordshire U120 and managed to win my own match, with myself being the first one to finish! Very quickly the team then won a succession of matches, for us to go 4-1, 5-1, and then 6-1 up already guaranteed a draw with 7 of the 12 matches completed.

An interesting position in one game finished with Bishop and 2 pawns for white, v Rook for black, with both pawns fairly advanced. A draw was agreed, with white having a shortage of time. I was watching intensly, it would have been difficult to force a win for white. But was it possible though? Well we didn't go through with it on the board.

In most of the matches we outgraded Worcestershire as players from Brewood, Bushbury, Rushall, and players from North Staffordshire managed to help contribute for the win.

The person giving me a lift home was the last to finish his match. So I had to watch his match to finish, the opponent only had 2 extra pawns, which is not a lot of difference in 3½ hours of chess. But they were so far spread out over the board, that one of them would have been queened. All in all an enjoyable afternoon.

Well done to Notts, and to Staffs U120

Neil Graham wrote: • May 24th – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin; first solo flight by a woman from England to Australia
[...]
• August 22nd – Australia win the Ashes at the Oval – Bradman scores 974 runs in the five Tests.

Pity she couldn't have taken Bradman with her.

More than a hint of bias, above, by a normally level-headed statistician.
It is the time of year that the sap rises - in this case the sap being me.