2014-15 qualifiers

Discussion about all aspects of the ECF County Championships.
User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4815
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford
Contact:

2014-15 qualifiers

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:43 am

Somerset have gone through as W1 in the Minor Counties, having beaten Cornwall, Hampshire and Gloucestershire. (Matches against Devon are irrelevant, as Devon have not put their name forward for the Open or Minor sections.)

W2 is still up in the air - Cornwall have beaten Gloucestershire, but both teams have yet to play Hampshire.

User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4815
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford
Contact:

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:30 am

The draw:

Open
Quarter-finals (A) S1 v bye; (B) N2 v S3; (C) N1 v bye; (D) M1 v S2;
Semi-finals S1 v winner of (B); N1 v winner of (D)

Minor Counties
Preliminary (1) E2 v M3; (2) E3 v W2
Quarter-finals (A) M1 v S2; (B) W1 v winner of Prelim 1; (C) E1 v M2; (D) S1 v winner of Prelim 2
Semi-finals winner of (A) v winner of (B); winner of (C) v winner of (D)

U180
Quarter-finals (A) N1 v S2; (B) W v M2; (C) S1 v bye; (D) M1 v S3
Semi-finals winner of (A) v winner of (B); S1 v winner of (D)

U160
Preliminary S3 v E2
Quarter-finals (A) E1 v S2; (B) N1 v M2; (C) S1 v N2; (D) M1 v winner of Prelim
Semi-finals winner of (A) v winner of (B); winner of (C) v winner of (D)

U140
Quarter-finals (A) W v S2; (B) M1 v bye; (C) S1 v M2; (D) N1 v S3
Semi-finals winner of (A) v M1; winner of (C) v winner of (D)

U120
Quarter-finals (A) N1 v bye (B) S1 v M2; (C) M1 v S3; (D) S2 v M3
Semi-finals N1 v winner of (B); winner of (C) v winner of (D)

U100
Quarter-finals (A) S1 v bye (B) N1 v M2; (C) M1 v S2; (D) E1 v bye
Semi-finals S1 v winner of (B); winner of (C) v E1

Mick Norris
Posts: 10310
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Mick Norris » Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:43 am

Any postings on here represent my personal views

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:55 pm

It's perhaps worth noting that County Unions aren't obliged to nominate teams in any specific order so while it may be possible to infer pairings as Unions complete their internal competitions, nothing is official until the pairings are published on April 1st.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4815
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford
Contact:

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:05 pm

They aren't, but in practice they will all have their own rules. (WECU's rule, for example, is that nominees for a competition are based on the results in the internal crosstable between the teams competing for the nomination.)

Richard Haddrell

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Richard Haddrell » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:01 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:The draw:
With acknowledgments to SCCU, Jack? This looks nothing like the version which Andrew Z circulated on the evening of Friday 13th February. It is the SCCU website's revamped version, deliberate misprints and all, which appeared on the following day. While the deliberate misprints are of no consequence, readers should be aware that there could be undeliberate ones. Well, maybe not. Andrew has posted since and he'd have said.

I was amused to see that the ECF website also has the SCCU version, but with an extra misprint of their own so you can't pin it on them.

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:52 pm

Richard Haddrell wrote:
IM Jack Rudd wrote:The draw:
With acknowledgments to SCCU, Jack? This looks nothing like the version which Andrew Z circulated on the evening of Friday 13th February. It is the SCCU website's revamped version, deliberate misprints and all, which appeared on the following day. While the deliberate misprints are of no consequence, readers should be aware that there could be undeliberate ones. Well, maybe not. Andrew has posted since and he'd have said.

I was amused to see that the ECF website also has the SCCU version, but with an extra misprint of their own so you can't pin it on them.
I can confirm that when I received the draw from Alex on Friday night I cascaded it to the five union controllers who were then free to forward to anybody they wished and/ or reproduce the information in any way they saw fit. I'm currently looking at the information on the website and hope to have any issue resolved soon.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

MartinCarpenter
Posts: 3041
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:19 pm

Yorkshire seem to have won the match vs Lancashire rather handily (there will no doubt be a report forthcoming on the Yorkshire chess website), so must be N1 there and Lancs N2. Don't think the bye for N1 really allows for anything else :)
(At least it gives the qualifying match some competitive meaning, sad as it is.).

U160 competition I believe still in progress.

N1 I presume to be Lancs elsewhere - no Yorkshire teams in the U180/140/120 or 100 :(

Nick Grey
Posts: 1838
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:16 am

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Nick Grey » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:19 pm

SCCU U180 - Richard has made this exciting with March 14 matches - Essex through with 2 from Middlesex, Sussex & Surrey.
Good luck all.

SCCU site excellent for results but trying to predict who is finishing where is always difficult. And even when playing we know that the result can change on the last game in the last minute of any match.

Mick Norris
Posts: 10310
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Mick Norris » Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:43 pm

MartinCarpenter wrote:Yorkshire seem to have won the match vs Lancashire rather handily (there will no doubt be a report forthcoming on the Yorkshire chess website), so must be N1 there and Lancs N2. Don't think the bye for N1 really allows for anything else :)
(At least it gives the qualifying match some competitive meaning, sad as it is.).

U160 competition I believe still in progress.

N1 I presume to be Lancs elsewhere - no Yorkshire teams in the U180/140/120 or 100 :(
Yorkshire chess report

U160 Yorks beat Lancs 6.5 - 5.5

The Cumbria U160 captain told me (we are trying to organise a friendly against them) their first match was end March and they hadn't organised the other, but were hoping to play in April (which I thought was too late, unless Cumbria have decided not to enter the Nationals)
Any postings on here represent my personal views

David Pardoe
Posts: 1225
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:29 pm
Location: NORTH WEST

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers structure

Post by David Pardoe » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:08 am

Interesting to note the shape of the draw for the Open section..
Only the SCCU played any meaningful qualifier competitions....strength in numbers.
The North and Midlands both had entries who qualified automatically for the finals stage, and the East and West regions couldn't muster a single entry.
So you end up with the top section only really starting at the semi final stages, with two teams going straight through to that stage..

Some suggestions..
Firstly, how about allowing the East and West regions to enter `combined counties` teams in the Open section, made up of any eligible players within those regions.
As a second suggestion, how about scrapping the U180 section, and renaming the Minor counties as the Championship section..perhaps reducing the `average strength` rule to U175
I`d be in favour of further streamlining of the Nationals, reducing it to a Preliminary stage, (jamboree format), followed by a grand finals, played over a weekend.. in July.
With the chess calendar being quite packed these days with some very good events, the Counties is perhaps being squeezed..but it is non the less a very good event, catering for teams of all strengths across our regions, and played using time controls that do allow the opportunity to play a full game into the endgame without getting caught up in blitz finishes.
Yorkshires failure to enter teams in various sections probably reflects this situation...they have a heavy programme of weekend chess with Yorks league matches, and the growing presence/popularity of 4NCL North, along with many Congress events means players are spoilt for choice....and, of course, there are many other calls on peoples time these days.. domestic and social.
Some additional well targeted promotion and publicity might help add to the offerings.
BRING BACK THE BCF

MartinCarpenter
Posts: 3041
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Mar 03, 2015 11:58 am

Two things for Yorkshire I think. With the U180's we've simply never established a stable team since the switch from the U175 - too many of our exU175 players are >180 much of the time. Or a captain. A 'minor counties' team would I think be easier to organise.

The lower grading bands also captain shortages but I think major (unique to us of course!) issues with raising teams in the K/O stages when they need to be ECF members :(

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:37 pm

MartinCarpenter wrote:Two things for Yorkshire I think. With the U180's we've simply never established a stable team since the switch from the U175 - too many of our exU175 players are >180 much of the time. Or a captain. A 'minor counties' team would I think be easier to organise.

The lower grading bands also captain shortages but I think major (unique to us of course!) issues with raising teams in the K/O stages when they need to be ECF members :(
WRITING WITH MY YORKSHIRE HAT ON

Martin - I may well have said this on the YCA Forum (apologies if I haven't) but we can't enter an open team and a minor counties team as its either/ or so that one is a non starter.

In Yorkshire we have got the player pool, what we don't have is the structure, nor are we really promoting the counties competition internally. If we could find captains and support them we'd be away.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

MartinCarpenter
Posts: 3041
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:29 pm

I meant if they changed the rules :) The U180 competition isn't that healthy right now, and with the MC grade limit so similar a merger definitely wouldn't be insane.

Agree we've got the players, which is why its a bit sad we had to drop so many teams this year. Hopefully it'll improve.

User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4815
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford
Contact:

Re: 2014-15 qualifiers

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:32 pm

WECU and MCCU are both playing meaningful Open championships; they just aren't serving as qualifiers for the Open section. Indeed, WECU's final-day showdown is coming up on Saturday, as Somerset play Devon to determine who wins the title. (Cornwall can also finish level on points at the top if they beat Hampshire and Devon beat Somerset, but they are so far behind on game points that they can't win the title even if they win 16-0.)

Post Reply