One Hundred years celebration

Discussion about all aspects of the ECF County Championships.
David Pardoe
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One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Pardoe » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm

This year sees the one hundredth year of this event. It must rank as one of the most prestigious such competitions in the world, in spite of the difficulties.
It offers some great playing opportunities for all levels of player, from top experts down to novice clubmen...and a great opportunity for chats and socials for the players and county officials across the land.
I also like the time controls which lend themselves to playing proper endgames, if the game get that far!!

I hope players and counties will continue to support these events over coming years.
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Nick Burrows
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by Nick Burrows » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:33 pm

Which event? :D

Andrew Zigmond
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:17 pm

I think David is referring to the fact that this appears to be the 100th county championship competition; it was first contested in 1908 but not during the war years. A good spot that.
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David Sedgwick
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Sedgwick » Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:09 am

Andrew Zigmond wrote:
Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:17 pm
I think David is referring to the fact that this appears to be the 100th county championship competition; it was first contested in 1908 but not during the war years. A good spot that.
I think that we are indebted to the current Controller, Mark Murrell, for the spot.

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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Pardoe » Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:03 pm

I suppose you could say that the ECF have moved into he 21st Century with the new jazzy LMS software. Is it stuck with just 16 player teams or could it be modified to handle greater than that number of players... should there be a surge in demand.
Last edited by David Pardoe on Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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David Pardoe
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Pardoe » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:33 pm

I guess some greater publicity amongst the Unions/Counties bodies would help... these events do give some very good chessing experiences for all grades of players, and can provide some great match play experience, with time controls that do provide a decent opportunity for proper end game play.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:48 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:09 am
Andrew Zigmond wrote:
Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:17 pm
I think David is referring to the fact that this appears to be the 100th county championship competition; it was first contested in 1908 but not during the war years. A good spot that.
I think that we are indebted to the current Controller, Mark Murrell, for the spot.
Indeed. For the record, Mark Murrell posted to this forum in that respect back in July 2018, see here.

It is worth re-quoting that in full here:
Mark Murrell wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 1:07 pm
2019 will indeed be the 100th time a national county Championship has been contested. The previous 99 winners are:

29 Middlesex
22 Lancashire
13 Kent
08 Yorkshire
07 Surrey
06 Cambridgeshire
04 Essex
03 Greater Manchester
03 Warwickshire
02 Oxfordshire
01 Leicestershire
01 Staffordshire

The nationals have not always been contested in the late spring and early summer. Prior to WW2 the Championships were held in the Michaelmas term with qualification being from the season before.

Finals day 2018, which included the 99th contest, saw:
4 reigning Champions attempting to defend their titles, Lancashire (Open) and Leicestershire (U100) succeeded;
first time section Champions in the Minor (Surrey) and U140 (Nottinghamshire);
the Open, Minor Counties and U180 sections all decided on the last game to finish;
the Open decided on tie break for the second season in succession.

Large team chess that caters for all abilities still has its place in an ever increasing and diverse calendar of chess events. I am hoping for even better from the 100th contest in 2019.

Counties wishing to participate in what will be a special year for the Championships should register their interest now with one of the 5 regional Unions. some of which will be taking entries for their pending qualifying competitions.

Mark Murrell
ECF Controller, Counties Championships.

John Reyes
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by John Reyes » Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:48 pm

I do feel that now with the 4ncl coming into the fold, people rather play that instead of county chess and while it is popular down in the SCCU and other areas, I do feel that the County format does need shaking up, but people are not big fans of changes

Look at the WDF and BDO
BDO was popular, and saw the WDF (now the PDC) as a challenge, but look at it now

maybe the ECF need to look at this again?
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Sedgwick » Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:33 pm

John Reyes wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:48 pm
maybe the ECF need to look at this again?
John, please.

There was an enormous amount of discussion and argument about this in 2017 -2018, on this Forum and elsewhere. In the end even the ECF Board concluded in June 2018 that:

"Following Council’s rejection of all the significant proposals to revamp the County Championships, the Board agreed that no further changes would be proposed, and the tournament will continue in its existing format for the foreseeable future."

I appeal to you, and anyone else similarly minded, to accept that with good grace. Then we can all concentrate both on making a success of the Counties Championships as they start their second hundred competitions and on addressing other issues.

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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by John Reyes » Sat Apr 20, 2019 4:13 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:33 pm
John Reyes wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:48 pm
maybe the ECF need to look at this again?
John, please.

There was an enormous amount of discussion and argument about this in 2017 -2018, on this Forum and elsewhere. In the end even the ECF Board concluded in June 2018 that:

"Following Council’s rejection of all the significant proposals to revamp the County Championships, the Board agreed that no further changes would be proposed, and the tournament will continue in its existing format for the foreseeable future."

I appeal to you, and anyone else similarly minded, to accept that with good grace. Then we can all concentrate both on making a success of the Counties Championships as they start their second hundred competitions and on addressing other issues.
I understand that but don't you worried about the future of the County championship??
some county are not interested due to the format etc?
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John Upham
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by John Upham » Sat Apr 20, 2019 4:29 pm

Would the Counties Championship become more attractive IF for the long haul matches (I assume is it the long distance matches that are proving unpopular)

1. A "tie" consisted of two back-to-back matches over a weekend with colours reversed for the second match
2. All players had the option of staying in a local hotel
3. Both matches were FIDE rated (as well as ECF graded) and therefore used a FIDE approved time control
4. DGT 2010s or 3000s were used for all boards
5. An appropriate arbiter was present
6. Games were recorded for including in TWIC, MegaBase etc.

Don't shoot me if the above is terrible.

(I did not follow the lengthy debates so apologies if all of this has been suggested previously.)
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by NickFaulks » Sat Apr 20, 2019 7:01 pm

John Upham wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 4:29 pm
Would the Counties Championship become more attractive IF for the long haul matches (I assume is it the long distance matches that are proving unpopular)

1. A "tie" consisted of two back-to-back matches over a weekend with colours reversed for the second match
2. All players had the option of staying in a local hotel
3. Both matches were FIDE rated (as well as ECF graded) and therefore used a FIDE approved time control
4. DGT 2010s or 3000s were used for all boards
5. An appropriate arbiter was present
6. Games were recorded for including in TWIC, MegaBase etc.

Don't shoot me if the above is terrible.

(I did not follow the lengthy debates so apologies if all of this has been suggested previously.)
That might well be popular, but the point that sticks out is #2. I assume you mean that the rooms would be paid for - otherwise players would obviously have that option!
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David Pardoe
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Pardoe » Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:02 pm

I think that, in order to appreciate this competition, one has to firstly appreciate the unique format of the events, catering for players of all standards, and providing a good days chessing and the chance to gain valuable match play experience via this big team format..
It also builds a bond across county boundaries, and gives players the chance to engage in a full match game and good end game without playing the current league format blitz finish. However, it does take a lot of preparation from captains to build and establish a good list of email contacts. and other player contact details. I know that the 4NCL has become flavour of the month, but that is only for events of 6-player `league style` teams, and it too has its difficulties, not least with travel etc. but the nice hotels that provide the playing venues, are generally GOOD VALUE.
So there you have it, two distinct and valued formats. Is the 4ncl crowding out the counties events. Possibly, but their is definitely a place in my book for both formats.
Manchester has been out in the cold for a few seasons as regards the OPEN team, so will probably take a couple of seasons to get back up and running, I think. I hope they take up the opportunity offered and support your initiative John in trying to revive the interest. As I`ve said, this format does offer the big team match experience which I believe has a valuable place in chess. And the day out required to play in the National Finals stages should be regarded as part of the package. But to make it work, you do need the support of local clubs to provide the players and interest. If club captains and Secretaries could trawl through there player lists, and pick out some players it would help. If each local league club from DIVs 1 & 2 could provide a couple of players, then it should be possible to get a reasonable team.
Once you have got things established you can hopefully build on things, and hopefully look forward to brighter days ahead... as things get re-established on the chess calendar.
Captains should note that it takes time to get a 16 player team together. its not like raising a league team of 5 or 6 players. And I would hope that club secretaries and captains will respond and help these captains to get their players.
Last edited by David Pardoe on Wed Apr 24, 2019 1:59 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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David Sedgwick
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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Sedgwick » Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:03 pm

John Reyes wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 4:13 pm
I understand that but don't you worried about the future of the County championship??
Yes, I do worry about the future of the Counties Championships.

But I would worry a lot less if only people would accept that the debate about the format has been settled.

It is constant attempts to "reform" the competition - I would say to undermine it - that are doing the damage.

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Re: One Hundred years celebration

Post by David Pardoe » Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:12 pm

Yes, and the move to FIDE gradings was one such thing that might not have helped...as just one instance.
..and the policy of fines should be used very sparingly, if at all.
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