2016 draw

Discussion about all aspects of the ECF County Championships.
Neil Graham
Posts: 1938
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:36 pm

Re: 2016 draw

Post by Neil Graham » Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:46 pm

I have no idea why anyone would want to play in a NCCU competition. As far as I can see 2 12 board matches (Yorks v Lancs x 2) were played last season. That's precisely half of the boards played by the Notts U140 in the MCCU Union competition or 11% of the total games played by Notts. There was no county chess played in Merseyside, Cheshire, Durham, Northumberland............

Greater Manchester (as it was then) played in the Under 100, Under 125, Under 150 and Under 175 MCCU competitions in the past - indeed winning 6 MCCU titles along the way. Having looked at Mick's note about eligibility, the position is even better than I thought. Players from Macclesfield, East Cheshire, Holmes Chapel etc would be eligible to play for Manchester as they are affiliated to the Stockport League which is in Manchester. Of course there is no county chess in Cheshire to get in the way. My original figure of 50+ came from the Manchester Federation website.

Can I move onto David Pardoe's note "that I share your concern". I have no more concerns about the Manchester situation than I do about the situation in other counties which we could go on and discuss. As the situation in Manchester has been discussed endlessly in this thread it was good illustrative material. As regards travel - aa route planner gives the mileage from Bolton or Manchester to Newcastle-under-Lyme as around 50 and the journey time as just over an hour - substantially less than a journey from South to North Lincolnshire say.

The bottom line, is as always, a lack of volunteers to organise and that scenario is not limited to Manchester but is, in general, nationwide.

John Reyes
Posts: 672
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: 2016 draw

Post by John Reyes » Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:48 pm

David Pardoe wrote:You`re right to say that various gremlins have beset our chess scene..
What about one of Urmstons senior players taking on the County Captaincy..
You have some good players there, and I`m sure they could do a good job.. with the right support.
There is a need to rebuild a contact list of players, but I`m sure a squad of around 30 players should be possible.
We`re only talking a handful of matches per season, and with a pool of 30 to pick from, it gives ample room for team/player rotation.
Manchester certainly has enough strong players to support a reasonable county Open team or Minor Counties team, and the Saturday format is less demanding than the 4NCL, which generally takes the full weekend.

well we are in a weird situation are Urmston chess club is under Lancashire and I know that Phil S captain the under 100 team, after taking over from dave Thorp from Heywood!!!

there only three people who are interested in County chess and there more of a demand of 4NCL chess then County chess, as would you wanted to travel to somewhere like Stoke, etc if you can go to Heywood/Bradford???
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

John Reyes
Posts: 672
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: 2016 draw

Post by John Reyes » Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:55 pm

Neil Graham wrote:I have no idea why anyone would want to play in a NCCU competition. As far as I can see 2 12 board matches (Yorks v Lancs x 2) were played last season. That's precisely half of the boards played by the Notts U140 in the MCCU Union competition or 11% of the total games played by Notts. There was no county chess played in Merseyside, Cheshire, Durham, Northumberland............

there was an Friendly match between Manchester and Cumbria
I think that Cumbria did put an Open Team and one of the matches in the NCCU has still to be played

Greater Manchester (as it was then) played in the Under 100, Under 125, Under 150 and Under 175 MCCU competitions in the past - indeed winning 6 MCCU titles along the way. Having looked at Mick's note about eligibility, the position is even better than I thought. Players from Macclesfield, East Cheshire, Holmes Chapel etc would be eligible to play for Manchester as they are affiliated to the Stockport League which is in Manchester. Of course there is no county chess in Cheshire to get in the way. My original figure of 50+ came from the Manchester Federation website.

I'm agreed with you on the East Cheshire thing, but Manchester to my knowledge have never asked any Holmes Chapel or Macclesfield players!


Can I move onto David Pardoe's note "that I share your concern". I have no more concerns about the Manchester situation than I do about the situation in other counties which we could go on and discuss. As the situation in Manchester has been discussed endlessly in this thread it was good illustrative material. As regards travel - aa route planner gives the mileage from Bolton or Manchester to Newcastle-under-Lyme as around 50 and the journey time as just over an hour - substantially less than a journey from South to North Lincolnshire say.

I know that you agreed about the discussed endlessly about the GM/Lancashire but there one person who is blocking it!!

The bottom line, is as always, a lack of volunteers to organise and that scenario is not limited to Manchester but is, in general, nationwide.
There not a Problem in the NCCU but there is problems with Volunteers in gerenal, I think it don't help with the ECF problems!!!
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

Post Reply