| Open Team | Under-1650 team | Bottom of page |
Summary
Over-the-board chess had been severely impacted by the covid epidemic and change to new ratings boundaries meant that the MCCU entries were greatly reduced. Worcestershire entered two teams rather than four in the last season of play. Worcestershire played in the Open and the Under-1650 competitions with one match each in the Open and the u1650, both against Warwickshire. Stephen, captain of the first team was taken ill during the season and Paul Sharratt organised teams for both fixtures as well as the u1650 fixture. The u1650 match score was 8-8, but the county lost on board count. The match for the Midland County Team championship was lost by a 6½-9½ margin. The team was captained by Paul Sharratt who led the u1650 team as a non-playing captain. Both teams had the opportunity to play in the national stages, but it was decided that there were insufficient players for a u1650 team at a distant venue and Worcestershire withdrew from the u1650 national stage.
First team in national quarter final match
14 May. Worcestershire lost to Cambridgeshire at the neutral venue in Dunchurch Village Hall, Rugby.
There were two early draws, but after four hours play, Worcestershire were 2 points down and it looked as if Worcestershire would go down by a significant margin. An hour later, fortunes looked brighter for Worcestershire when Lee Davis' opponent lost on time and Ray Collett won a Q+Pawns ending making the scores level with one game in play on board 2. This exciting contest finally ended 6½ - 5½ in favour of our opponents. The match was at 5½ each with one game to finish, board count even and bottom board elimination in our favour, but the desired draw in the final game was not to be, despite a tremendous effort from Joe Friar against a very strong opponent for over 5 hours.
| Board | Grade | Cambrigeshire | Score | Worcestershire | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2214 | Chris Davidson | 1 - 0 | Kevin Hurney | 2081 |
| 2 | 2191 | Laim Varnam | 1 - 0 | Joseph Friar | 2068 |
| 3 | 1973 | Philip Fallon | 0 - 1 | Lee Davis | 2039 |
| 4 | 1961 | Oliver Lenton | 0 - 1 | Dan Lambourne | 2006 |
| 5 | 1947 | Norman Hutchinson | 1 - 0 | John Wrench | 1957 |
| 6 | 1944 | Paul McMahon | ½ - ½ | Ian Clarke | 1928 |
| 7 | 1942 | Aarnavh Trivedi | 1 - 0 | Harry Evans | 1889 |
| 8 | 1918 | Ray Ilett | 0 - 1 | Ray Collett | 1872 |
| 9 | 1882 | Francis Bowers | ½ - ½ | Nigel Towers | 1864 |
| 10 | 1840 | John Daugman | 0 - 1 | Gavin Cartwright | 1833 |
| 11 | 1821 | Neil Greenwood | ½ - ½ | Paul Sharratt | 1793 |
| 12 | 1814 | Sam Caraway | 1 - 0 | Eric Horwill | 1742 |
| Result | 6½ - 5½ |
Nominated for county national stages
21 Apr. After consultation with the controller, other team captains, and players it was decided to withdraw the u1650 team from the national stages. The risk of covid infection was still deterring members from playing or travelling in shared cars.
25 Mar. Worcestershire accepted nominations from the MCCU to compete in the national stages for both teams.
Teams playing in MCCU team Championships
|
|||||||||||||||
1 Sep. Three teams entered Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, but Shropshire later withdrew from the competition for the Midlands championship. Worcestershire and Warwickshire were the only entries for the u1650 championship.
Worcestershire first team
19 Mar. After a postponement of the arranged date before Christmas, the match finally took place on 19 March at a new venue: Wall Heath Community Hall.
| Board | Rating ID | Rating | Worcestershire | Score | Score | Warwickshire | Rating ID | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 129898H | 2070 | Hurney, Kevin | ½ | ½ | Stepanyan, Henrik | 264373L | 2290 |
| 2 | 110076C | 2069 | Edge, John | 0 | 1 | Besedin, Pavel | 287190H | 2137 |
| 3 | 109427A | 2050 | Davis, Lee | ½ | ½ | Mesasan, Mircea | 326328K | 2015 |
| 4 | 259447L | 2000 | Lambourne, Dan | ½ | ½ | Cundy, Mark | 109211L | 1960 |
| 5 | 127123E | 1974 | Wrench, John | ½ | ½ | Green, Anthony | 157077J | 1950 |
| 6 | 120670K | 1971 | Turner, Brian | 1 | 0 | Ali, Golam | 257493H | 1940 |
| 7 | 165392B | 1855 | Towers, Nigel | ½ | ½ | Escott, Keith | 110278D | 1897 |
| 8 | 108621C | 1845 | Collett, Ray | 1 | 0 | Ralph, Sean | 310592B | 1861 |
| 9 | - | - | default | 0 | 1 | Hope, Gary | 183305E | 1860 |
| 10 | 319118H | 1810 | Russell, Scott | 0 | 1 | Kasafir, Nathanael | 104338K | 1839 |
| 11 | 105816C | 1795 | Aris, Roger | ½ | ½ | Thomas, Keith | 120270E | 1771 |
| 12 | 118792C | 1777 | Sharratt, Paul | ½ | ½ | Biddle, Mike | 106714L | 1750 |
| 13 | 248737J | 1755 | Shaw, Tony | ½ | ½ | Spillane, Kevin | 302978F | 1670 |
| 14 | 113026C | 1753 | Horwill, Eric | ½ | ½ | Czopek, Wojciech | 314083A | 1726 |
| 15 | 104355K | 1552 | Lappin, Kieran | 0 | 1 | Vadyanthan, Adithya | awaited | 1583 |
| 16 | 310843A | 1133 | Henry, Cameron | 0 | 1 | Vadyanthan, Sathya | awaited | 1280 |
| Totals | 6½ | 9½ |
Worcestershire under-1650 team
14 Nov. This was the first MCCU county match of the season for the Midlands Under-1650 Championship. It was a cracking match ending 6-6, but Warwickshire came out on top on board count.
1 Sep. Only two teams entered Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The teams play for the MCCU under-1650 title.
Warwickshire - Worcestershire
Played on Sunday 14 November 2021 at Foundation House, Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwickshire won on board count.
| Board | ECF Code | Grade | Warwickshire | Score | Worcestershire | Grade | ECF Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1593 | Stiff, Peter | 1 - 0 | Varilone, John F | 1638 | ||
| 2 | 0000 | Reynolds, Daniel | 0 - 1 | Kirkland, Arnold G | 1623 | ||
| 3 | 1563 | Watson, Roy G | 1 - 0 | Lappin, Kieran A | 1570 | ||
| 4 | 0000 | Harrison, Oliver | 1 - 0 | Cleak, David | 1525 | ||
| 5 | 1488 | Wood, Penny A | 0 - 1 | Alcock, Steve | 1510 | ||
| 6 | 1465 | Bennett, Philip | 1 - 0 | Kitchen, Michael J | 1495 | ||
| 7 | 1443 | Knee, Barry | 1 - 0 | Berry, Simon | 1488 | ||
| 8 | 0000 | Brown, Stephanie | 0 - 1 | Mitchell, Joel | 1443 | ||
| 9 | 1270 | Simpson, Richard | ½ - ½ | Tipper, Andy | 1413 | ||
| 10 | 1188 | Payne, Simon L | 0 - 1 | Rowe, Matthew | 1405 | ||
| 11 | 1135 | Blissitt, Geoffry G | ½ - ½ | Pountney, Terrance | 1405 | ||
| 12 | 0000 | Wheeler, Michael | 0 - 1 | Pender, Luke | 0000 | ||
| Result | 6 - 6 |