Sussex had managed to withdraw late from their previous away fixture, but I had been in contact with their captain the previous week who had told me he would inform me of any issues. When we had a late withdrawal due to illness I had a feeling of deja vu from the previous match against Essex, but my fears turned out to be unfounded (and I owe someone a fiver as a result...)
Playing in the East Anglia Chess Union County Competition on Sunday 31st January, 2016, Herts beat Suffolk 10.5 to 5.5. The match against Norfolk was drawn at 8 - 8 all.
Full results below.
Next matches are on 21st February.
Played in Welwyn Garden City on Saturday 30th January, 2016. Results follow below.
Next match is away to Kent on Saturday 19th March, 2016.
Saturday 16th January. A determined Surrey team won the last game to take the match result to 6 - 6 and draw the match. Their achievement was all the greater as 3 of the Surrey squad arrived 70 minutes late. Herts won their only other game in December and remain on course to retain their SCCU championship. The results follow below. Their next match is at home to Middlesex on Saturday 30th January, 2015.
After last season's solitary two draws from six matches last season, it was encouraging to record a win from the first match of our 2015/16 season in the East Anglian Chess Union County Championships.
Agenda, Minutes and officers reports of the last AGM and the last 2 HCA Executive Meetings.
Our second match proved too much for your captain. To avoid being squashed I gave up a knight for 2 central pawns on f4 and e5, and then spent the rest of the game trying to play positional chess. With the score at 7-8 I offered my opponent a draw having won a third pawn and with a protected pawn on the 6th - sorry all. I guess I needed a deputy captain to ask the score one more time.
The first match of the U140 resulted in a successful outcome. 2 weeks before the match I had a list of 8 players and a longer list of players that couldn't make it for one reason or another. With the help of Alan Brewis and Wali I was able to field a full team of 16 - ironically the opposition had a late withdrawal so we started the match 1 up. This became 3-1 as Brian Kirby won on his U140 debut and Alan Gore also added a good victory.
Our 2 EACU teams have a new set of fixtures. The U160s will play Cambs and Suffolk on 6th Dec, Suffolk and Norfolk on Jan 31st 2016 and finish against Norfolk and Cambs on 21st Feb.
The Open team wil play in a 5-team league with 4 fixture dates - Nov29th against Suffolk and Norfolk, Feb 7th against Beds and Suffolk, Feb 28th against Cambs and Beds and finish on 13th March against Norfolk and Cambs
The provisional fixture lists for our U120 and U140 teams were announced today.
Peter Baker's U120 team begin the defence of their dual titles at home to Essex on October 3rd, followed by trips to Middlesex on 14th November and Kent on 19th March 2016. In between the road-trips is a home match with Surrey on January 16th.