Sunday 20^th May, sadly, saw the end of Cleveland U125’s great run in the 2007 county Championships. Cleveland met a very under graded side in Norfolk, with probably around 50% of them being up and coming youngsters – always a scary prospect for us, er, more experienced players!

The day started early for me as I had to pick up Dave Ross from Hartlepool, Mike Creaney from Stockton and Steve Ormerod from Darlington! Felt like I’d done my share of driving before we even left Darlington! The drive to Leicester itself was something approaching 3 hours and I think myself, and some of the others, were feeling pretty tired before the match even got under way.

Things started well as Norfolk arrived late and their captain gave me the ‘sad’ news that they were defaulting two boards. This meant that myself and Derek Priestley were without opponents. However, our appointed arbiter, Cyril Johnson offered to give Derek a graded game, so that Derek’s journey wasn’t completed wasted. Derek won by the way.

After about 2 hours into the match, Jason Gentle approached me saying that he was thinking of going for something risky but it was unclear. However a draw had been offered and should he take it? As no other games were finished I said it was his choice. At that point I noticed some activity at Terry Legge’s board. Terry had just lost his queen to a terrible (but not directly obvious) knight fork and had promptly resigned. "Er, Jason…!" Too late, Jason’s game had already been declared a draw.

Looking around the arena I could see that the match was not going to be easy. Steve Henderson was a pawn down but with the potential for some interesting tactics. Paul Perret and Steve Ormerod both looked comfortable, Paul positionally and Steve materially. Mike Creaney was a pawn up and looked promising also. On the other hand Steve MacCormack, Alan Norman and Malcom Kirby were all material down. Which way was this one going to go? Just another typical Cleveland match!

Alan Norman was next to finish, with the expected result. So now, after an initial 2-0 start, it was 2½-2½!

It was around this time that Ernie’s game took a turn for the worse on board 1. Ernie had lost a pawn and confided in me that he reckoned he’d lost the game too. "Oh deary me" I muttered (or something like that anyway!), as I began to realise that the match was ebbing away. Still, all was not completely lost. Stan Lovell was beginning to take control of his game against the Norfolk captain. So, just maybe?

Next results to come in were J. Danger ½ - ½ D. Ross, A. Donnelly 0 – 1 S. Lovell, H. Fischl 1 – 0 M. Kirby then G. Tebble 1 – 0 S. MacCormack. 6-4 Norfolk!

Out of the remaining 6 games Mike Creaney, Steve Ormerod and Paul Perret were all looking strong. Peter Ridsdale’s and Neil Fulton’s games were looking decidedly drawish. If only they could convert them to wins. Could we have a drawn match? What happens then. .? All these optimistic thoughts were racing through my head.

But wait, something had gone wrong with Steve Ormerod’s game. Something had gone very wrong! Steve, being a piece for a pawn up for so long and getting closer to an end game, looked a sure winner. Now, after an error by Steve to contain his opponent’s passed pawns, a pawn had slipped through to e3 and was now unstoppable! The rest, as they say, is history!

Here are the individual results (Norfolk first and Cleveland white on odd boards):-

1. W. Boulton (116) 1 – 0 E. Lazenby (124)

2. J. Wickham (120) 0 – 1 M. Creaney (124)

3. G. Tebble (118) 1 – 0 S. MacCormack (121)

4. R. Rickard (104) ½ - ½ P. Ridsdale (122)

5. O. Whitehead (114)1 – 0 S. Ormerod (120)

6. A. Donnelly (113) 0 – 1 S. Lovell (120)

7. H. Fischl (115) 1 – 0 M. Kirby (116)

8. J. Danger (118) ½ - ½ D. Ross (114)

9. C. Clarke (105) 1 – 0 T. Legge (117)

10. M. Morter (97) 0 – 1 P. Perret (111)

11. N. Slater (103) ½ - ½ J. Gentle (114)

12. P. Cox (99) 1 – 0 A. Norman (110)

13. C. Morter (86) 1 – 0 S. Henderson (110)

14. B. Slater (76) ½ - ½ N. Fulton (105)

15. Default 0 – 1 D. Priestley (104)

16. Default 0 – 1 B. Whitaker (99)

For me personally the whole County captaincy experience has been very challenging but rewarding also, especially with our great success in the NCCU section. Team selection for each match was never easy and, coupled with the logistics of arranging transport for everybody, I sometimes didn’t have much hair left going into some of those matches! Nonetheless it was satisfying when it all came together and we got those results.

24/02/07 - Report by Brian Whitaker, U125 county captain

What can I say, outstanding, brilliant, invincible, incredible….the superlatives keep coming to describe Cleveland’s performance in the Union stage of the competition this season. Yes, Cleveland have completed the NCCU stage with a 100% star performance, winning all three of our matches.

There is still one more round to go in the NCCU stage, but this is Cleveland’s bye round. The result of next month’s Yorkshire v Cheshire match will determine who goes through to the National stages with us, but Cleveland can rest easy knowing that the NCCU title is safely under our belt!

Sunday the 18th of February started with a long drive to far flung Warrington. Not ideal preparation for such an important tie! On arrival, we could hardly believe our eyes, as we were greeted by a nearby fun-fair and hoards of people in the grounds! “Must take their chess pretty serious in these parts”, I thought. Then I realised that the masses were mainly there for the Car Booty that clashed with our event. Ah well, one day, one day!

Here are some of the games with a brief summary (of the bits I remember, anyway)…

Board 1. M. Creaney v J. Beauquel First saw this one at move 26, when Mike was a solid 2 pawns up. Mike just played on for the usual won end game 1-0

Board 3. D. Richardson v R. Morris Dave can be a very creative player at times, and this game allowed that side to shine through. By move 15 Dave had the advantage (being more advanced), by move 37 he delivered mate!! 1-0

Board 4. S. Lloyd v S. Lovell This turned out to be the critical game of the match. Last to finish and the scores all tied at 5 ½ - 5 ½! Around move 16 everything looked very even and it was difficult to call. By move 36 Stan was a pawn up but, more significant, was his opponent’s severe time trouble. He only just made the first time control. It was probably this that finally made White crumble and, in the final position, his King was almost arrested for indecent exposure! 0-1

Board 9. S. Henderson v S. Finch. A Sicilian Dragon, by move 10 the game was out of opening book and equal chances for both sides. Move 29 seen Steve miss winning a Knight, but by move 34 Steve had the Knight won and the game was concluded on move 40 with mate in 2.
1-0


After February’s round the NCCU table looks like this:-

        		P W D L F 	A 	Pts
           Cleveland 	3 3 0 0 20 	16 	6
           Yorkshire 	2 1 0 1 13.5 	10.5 	2
           Cheshire 	2 0 1 1 11.5 	12.5 	1
           Lancashire 	3 0 1 2 15 	21 	1
           

These stages are knockout, so Cleveland need to keep up their 100% record. No problem!!!

More information to appear on this site, when I have it to hand.

See below for individual results + photos