In a tense encounter, the U140s drew 8-8 with Surrey and thus gained qualification by the narrowest of margins. All started well with a full team, and even Surrey managed to avoid a default thanks to their well-organised captain who managed to find a short-notice replacement for their board 16. However the chess itself didn't go quite so smoothly, and despite an early win for Terry O'Sullivan followed up by Martin Clode and Cecil Sloan and number of solid draws, deputy captain Corrinne found herself 6-8 down with just the current and previous captains still playing.

The U140 team lost 6-10 to current ECF title holders Kent on Saturday 6th Feb. Full result follows below. The team still stands a decent chance of qualification if they beat Surrey in March, but we await results from the other matches played on 20th Feb to be sure of the situation. Assuming Surrey beat Essex and Middlesex beat Sussex, we should only need a clear win on March 12th to progress.

Peter Rice, team captain, has decided to default the two Open matches scheduled for February 7th of as a result of only being able to muster 8 players - and with only 4 of these over 161. He will also default the final fixture dates of March 13th. Peter is determined, no matter what, to field a team for the fixtures on February 28th. This way disruption to the EACU championships will be minimised as we will have played each team once. Players interested in playing in these last Open team fixtures to contact Peter please.

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.