English Chess Forum

Another round of SCCU County matches tomorrow. The Kent 2050s and 1650s travel to Childs Hill to play Middlesex, while Essex host Surrey at Wanstead House in the same sections. So far this season things have gone largely in favour of the home teams. Of 36 matches played 19 have gone to the home county, 10 have been drawn (seems a lot?) and only 7 have been away wins. Is that proportionally the same in other Unions? Anyway, Kent and Surrey will be looking to reverse the trend tomorrow.

Somerset are playing Cornwall in Exminster at the same time. I don't know who is technically the home team, and I'm not even sure whether there is one.

For the uninitiated, Exminster is in Devon. I think our Cornish friends rarely (if ever) play a home match. I think technically they are at home for this one, as Somerset - Devon this season was in Somerset.

There is more travelling here - all Somerset league matches require me to drive for at least half an hour. In Surrey, 90+ % of matches were within half an hour's drive...

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 27, 2024 2:42 am

Somerset are playing Cornwall in Exminster at the same time. I don't know who is technically the home team, and I'm not even sure whether there is one.

For the WECU there has always been a soft agreement that the venue would be approximately equal differences for the two counties, although I am sure that Cornwall have normally done the most travelling. The match today is actually a home match for Cornwall in the Howard Meek Trophy (A team) and a away match for the Wayling Cup (B team). The A and B matches were originally scheduled for different dates this year but the Counties decided to play them both on the same date.

One of the reasons Hampshire originally left the SCCU in 1972 was due to the the majority of matches requiring more travelling for Hampshire than the London counties. You can even see the differences in Hampshire results from 1887 to 1915 against Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
In this period Hampshire played 58 matches, 30 at home and 28 away. At home they won 11 and drew 5. Away they won 2 and drew 1.

In addition, Kent (1905/06) at this time also moaned that they to play Surrey in London, which Surrey a large advantage. Additional details and letter from AL Stevenson in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald – Saturday 12 November 1904

https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/ham ... s-1904-05/

My game from the aforementioned Exminster match: [Event "Harold Meek Cup"] [Site "Exminster"] [Date "2024.01.27"] [Round "?.1"] [White "Rudd, Jack"] [Black "Phillips, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [PlyCount "131"] [EventDate "2023.06.27"] [EventType "team-"] [SourceDate "2024.01.27"] [WhiteTeam "Somerset"] [BlackTeam "Cornwall"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. e3 b5 6. a4 Bb4 7. Bd2 a5 8. axb5 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 cxb5 10. b3 Bb7 11. bxc4 b4 12. Bb2 Nf6 13. Bd3 O-O 14. O-O Be4 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 16. Qc2 f5 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Nd3 Qc7 19. f3 Nd6 20. c5 Qc6 21. Nf4 a4 22. Nxe6 Rfe8 23. Nxg7 Rxe3 24. Qf2 f4 25. cxd6 Qd5 26. Qh4 Kxg7 27. Qg4+ Kh8 28. Qxd7 Re2 29. Rac1 Rg8 30. Rf2 Rxf2 31. Kxf2 Qb3 32. Qxa4 Qxb2+ 33. Qc2 Qxd4+ 34. Kf1 Ra8 35. Qd1 Qxd1+ 36. Rxd1 Rd8 37. Rb1 Rxd6 38. Rxb4 Rf6 39. Rb7 Ra6 40. g3 fxg3 41. hxg3 Ra2 42. f4 Kg8 43. Re7 Rb2 44. Re2 Rb4 45. Kg2 Kf7 46. Kh3 Kf6 47. Ra2 Rb1 48. Kg4 Rb6 49. Ra5 Kg6 50. Kh4 Rf6 51. Rb5 Rc6 52. g4 Rc1 53. Rb6+ Kg7 54. Kg5 Rc5+ 55. f5 Ra5 56. Rb7+ Kg8 57. Re7 Rb5 58. Kf6 Rb8 59. Rg7+ Kh8 60. Rd7 Ra8 61. Kf7 h6 62. Kg6 Rg8+ 63. Kxh6 Rxg4 64. Rd8+ Rg8 65. Rxg8+ Kxg8 66. Kg6 1-0

He might as well have played another move - ie Kf8 hoping for f6???? rather than Kf6. Stranger things have happened!

"For the WECU there has always been a soft agreement that the venue would be approximately equal differences for the two counties, although I am sure that Cornwall have normally done the most travelling."

I'm sure you're right on both counts. I suspect their travelling was more awkward as well. I wandered over to look at Jack's game and was puzzled that he had used some time (not much though), then remembered that there were no increments... I also noticed that if you had a Somerset vs Cornwall 60+ match most of the players would be the same!

Two close matches at Wanstead. 9-7 to Essex in the U-2050 and 8.5-7.5 to Surrey. Further to the comment by Kevin, I had 5 u-14s in my Surrey U-2050 side

Graham Alcock wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 28, 2024 10:29 am

Two close matches at Wanstead. 9-7 to Essex in the U-2050 and 8.5-7.5 to Surrey. Further to the comment by Kevin, I had 5 u-14s in my Surrey U-2050 side

While at Childs Hill Middlesex won the battle of the 2050s 9-7 and Kent finished on top in the 1650s 9½-6½. Some big clashes next week. The unbeaten Surrey squad will be navigating their way to St Mary Cray for what looks like the decider for the SCCU Open Championship. Kent's 1850s and 1450s will be travelling in the opposite direction to play Surrey at Cheam. Meantime Middlesex will host Sussex in the Open at Childs Hill (the longest journey), and at the same time other Middlesex players will migrate to Wanstead to play Essex in the 1850s and 1450s. Busy, busy, busy.

Five out of the six SCCU matches played yesterday resulted in away wins. The earlier apparent home advantage may just have been a function of which fixtures were played then.