2025 National Stages

[David Gilbert]

The Greater Manchester v Kent 1650 & 1450 matches take place on Saturday, 7 June 2025 at the University of Warwick starting at 1.00pm.

[Mick Norris]

Weather forecast for tomorrow down South isn't good, so safe journey for all those travelling

[Mick Norris]

The Greater Manchester v Kent 1650 & 1450 matches take place on Saturday, 7 June 2025 at the University of Warwick starting at 1.00pm.

You absolutely smashed those David, I was expecting them to be close

Good luck in the finals, should be much shorter journeys for you

Hope everyone got home safely despite the weather

[Mick Norris]

Confirmed finals

u1450 Kent v Essex
U1650 Kent v Surrey
U1850 Yorkshire v Middlesex
Open Greater Manchester v Surrey

[Stephen Westmoreland]

I have done a little write up (still draft and I may change) for the Holmfirth site. Pictures included: https://holmfirthchess.org.uk/2025/06/0 ... ss-update/

It was really nice to meet the Suffolk team. They are absolutely lovely people and hope to meet again.

[Mick Norris]

U2050 final Greater Manchester v Yorkshire

[Mick Norris]

Confirmed finals

u1450 Kent v Essex
U1650 Kent v Surrey
U1850 Yorkshire v Middlesex
U2050 final Greater Manchester v Yorkshire
Minor Counties Norfolk v Cambridgeshire
Open Greater Manchester v Surrey

[Mick Norris]

Safe journeys to all travelling to the matches today

[Mick Norris]

Confirmed finals

u1450 Kent v Essex
U1650 Kent v Surrey
U1850 Yorkshire v Middlesex
U2050 final Greater Manchester v Yorkshire
Minor Counties Norfolk v Cambridgeshire
Open Greater Manchester v Surrey

Winners
Kent
Surrey
Middlesex
Yorkshire
Cambridgeshire
Surrey

Open final was close considering the ratings of the teams

[MartinCarpenter]

Winners
Kent
Surrey
Middlesex
Yorkshire
Cambridgeshire
Surrey

Open final was close considering the ratings of the teams

Well done everyone

The ratings in the open look rather closer if you use the - rather more reasonable looking! - more recent grades for the GM players. Very strong Surrey team though, good effort to get it close.

Very nice to see Yorkshire getting out something I'd call close to a 'proper' strength U2050 team (ie given the numbers we have, a very, very strong one.).

[Roger de Coverly]

Very strong Surrey team though,

IMs on boards 2 (Buckley), 6 (Susan Lalic), 7 (Baker) and 11 (Hawksworth)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Can anyone link to the match cards?

I misread 'GM players' (Greater Manchester) as there being grandmasters involved...

When was the last time GMs played in the County Championships?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Found the match cards now.

https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92135

12 draws in the Open final. That feels like a lot. Does anyone who has historical data easily to hand want to find examples with fewer decisive games?

Amusingly, the Minor Counties final, won 8-8 on board count had the symmetrical opposite: 4 draws and 12 decisive results!

https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92142

[Alan Walton]

12 draws in the Open final. That feels like a lot. Does anyone who has historical data easily to hand want to find examples with fewer decisive games?

I would say none of them were quick draws, from memory the first two where just after 2 hours in, then the next two (including myself) were an hour or two later; in fact every game was a battle and both results were an possibility going into the 5th hour of play

[Christopher Kreuzer]

There is also near symmetry in the U2050 and U1850 results.

In the U2050 (won 11-5), there were 10 decisive results and 6 draws, not really reflecting the ratings at first glance.

I wonder if the three teams fielding finalists in adjacent grading bands (Kent, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) were able to deploy different team selection strategies depending on depth of available and eligible players?

Greater Manchester sadly lost both of their finals. Yorkshire won one, as did Kent. Surrey won two finals but in grading bands far apart.

https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92138

In the closely fought U1850, 11 draws and 5 decisive results:

https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92151

To complete this 'analysis', the U1450 final (over 12 boards) had only 1 draw and 11 wins. Maybe to be expected.

https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92141