ESSEX v SCCU MATCH

SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER AT DUKE'S HALL HORNCHURCH

Essex Round 1 Round 2 SCCU

1 Jonathan Rogers 223 0-1 1-0 Neil MacDonald 239
2 Gary Kenworthy 206 0-1 ½ - ½ Paul Littlewood 224
3 Tim Pelling 197 1-0 Roy Watts 160
Tim Pelling 197 0-1 Mike Basman
4 Michael Twyble 206 0-1 1-0 Rawle Allicock 204
5 David Sands 207 1-0 ½ - ½ John Quinn 195
6 Bill Stirling 187 1-0 1-0 Michael Macdonald-Ross 193
7 Robert Parker 176 ½ - ½ 1-0 Paul Cooksey 193
8 Ivor Smith 173 0-1 1-0 Chris Majer 177
9 George McNally 172 0-1 1-0 David Sedgwick 177
10 Bill Saunders 171 1-0 ½ - ½ Robert Elliston 175
11 David Millward 169 ½ - ½ 0-1 John Denton 173
12 Ian Hunnable 166 0-1 ½ - ½ Julien Shepley 173
13 Dave Pearse 163 0-1 0-1 Mark Bowhay 171
14 Roger Farrow 162 0-1 0-1 Rod Nixon 170
15 Les Crane 159 ½ - ½ 0-1 Barry Cheal 170
16 Paul Salmon 154 1-0 0-1 Terry Turner 169
17 John Davenport 154 ½ - ½ 0-1 Alvin Kissoon 163
18 Colin Ramage 153 1-0 ½ - ½ Howard Grist 162
19 Laurence Trent 151 1-0 0-1 Nick Mackett 161
20 Mike Bird 151 ½ - ½ 0-1 Terry Godwin 156
21 Aidan Corish 150 ½ - ½ 0-1 Kerry Kingston 155
22 Richard Manning 149 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ John Philpott 155
23 Mustapha Rahaman 148 0-1 1-0 Richard Haddrell 153
24 Stephen Wedlock 147 0-1 ½ - ½ Mark Finch 153
25 Steve Abbott 147 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ David Smith 150
26 George Monk 145 1-0 0-1 Nigel Dennis 148
27 Joe Rosenberg 143 0-1 0-1 Chris Fewtrell 148
28 Peter Walker 143 ½-½ ½ - ½ Colin Parker 147
29 Ellen Walker 137 ½ - ½ 0-1 Jonathan Melsom 138
30 Michael Bradford 134 0-1 1-0 Kevin Wilkinson 137
31 Dave Cannan 131 1-0 1-0 Timothy Woods 135
32 Robert Payne 124 ½ - ½ 0-1 Caius Turner 132
33 Dominic Allen 124 0-1 0-1 Fred Manning 132
34 Satnam Johal 123 1-0 0-1 Daniel Hirsch 132
35 Robert Ianetta 119 1-0 1-0 Keith Parr 125
36 Terry Cole 116 0-1 ½ - ½ Mark Ashkettle 125
37 John Sneesby 115 0-1 1-0 Michael Jones 124
38 Michael Bridger 112 0-1 1-0 K Griggs E116
39 Graham Walker 112 ½ - ½ 1-0 Stewart Trent 113
40 Matthew Cain 110 0-1 ½ - ½ G Lunn 113
41 Richard Joyce 107 1-0 1-0 Ivor Smith 103
42 Gavin Strachan 107 1-0 1-0 Tony Hargreaves 106
43 Nigel Nice 104 0-1 0-1 David Shipp 99
44 Jack Cooper 99 ½ - ½ Bernadette Cheal 99
Harold Sims 87 0-1 Bernadette Cheal 99
45 Jim Luck 96 0-1 0-1 Andrew Navias 93
46 Ron Prickett 96 0-1 ½ - ½ Ben Purton 92
47 David D'Cruz 91 1-0 0-1 Alan Trent 85
48 M Hussain 90 0-1 ½ - ½ David Wilders 78
49 Heather Walker 86 0-1 0-1 Bob Lee-Anderson
ROUND TOTALS 20½-28½ 21½ - 27½
21½ - 27½
GRAND TOTALS 42 - 56

It was a star-studded cast which played out the finale of the Essex Chess Association's Centenary Celebrations at the Duke's Hall, Hornchurch. It would perhaps have been appropriate for a 100 board match to be organised to mark the Centenary, since 50 boards were employed for the 50th anniversary of the Association half a century ago. However, it was considered that to find 200 people to turn out for one game each would have been an impossible task, and instead it was decided to invite 100 players and ask them to play two games each. Even then, only enough players arrived for 49 boards, although with Roy Watts and Harold Sims each were drafted in to occupy empty boards, so the correct number of people participated.

Top board for the Southern Counties Chess Union was Grandmster Neil MacDonald, who remains Britain's best player regularly active in County Chess. Whereas many of the strongest players no longer support the Engish County Championship, preferring to earn money in the professional game as played in the German and French leagues, Neil has been a faithful servant of the Kent team. On the next two boards were two International Masters, Paul Littlewood and Mike Basman. Paul Littlewood was the only former British Champion present, a title he won in 1981.

It was interesting to compare the names in the team representing Essex 50 years ago to Centenary team. There were, sadly, no players who took part in both matches, but Jack Speigel played 50 years ago and still plays Essex League chess for Southend. One of the all time greats of British Chess, Jonathan Penrose, was another player who played for Essex 50 years ago but, although still fit, well and active, was unable to be present for the Centenary match.

Unfortunately, the match result was not quite what had been intended, the SCCU taking the match 56 - 42. However, there were at least six players whose chess connection is mainly Essex who were scoring points for the SCCU whose scores must be regarded as ambiguous.

Walker,P - Parker,C [B78]

Centenary Match

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Ne5 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.Bh6 Bxh6 13.Qxh6 Rac8 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Ba4 16.Qd2 Qa6 17.Qb4 Bd7 18.Rhe1 Nd3+ 19.Rxd3 Qxd3 20.Rxe7 [20.Nc6!] 20...Qf1+ 21.Re1 Qf2 22.Re2 Qg1+ 23.Kd2 Qxh2 24.Ne6 Rfe8 25.Qxb7 Bxe6 26.dxe6 Qf4+ 27.Kd3 f6 28.Qf7+ Kh8 29.e7 Qf5+ 30.Re4 Rxe7 31.Qxe7 d5 32.Qe6 dxe4+ 33.Qxe4 Rd8+ 34.Ke2 Qg5 35.Qe7 Qxg2+ ½-½

Return to Index