County teams 2016-17

A forum for the Midland Counties Chess Union.
Mick Norris
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County teams 2016-17

Post by Mick Norris » Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:02 pm

As Neil Graham comments on another thread
The final date for entry into the MCCU stages of the Counties Championship is just coming up (August 30th). The Leicestershire CA website says that they won't be entering an U160 or U140 team unless they can find a captain. It doesn't mention an U120 team but there was no Leics U120 team last year.
G Man will be entering just an U160 team again, as far as I know

Any news from elsewhere?
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Alex Holowczak
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Alex Holowczak » Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:12 pm

Warwickshire are entering a team into the Open, Under 180, Under 160, Under 120 and Under 100; as last year.

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:30 pm

Notts - Open, U160, U140, U120 and U100. We will elect to play in the Minor should we qualify - we will decide on U180 entry at the end of December depending how we are progressing in the Open section. I am assuming incidentally that Warwickshire will wish to play in the Minor rather than the Counties Championship section. The top section will include all Counties so Staffordshire can't sidestep playing in a Midland Counties Championship whatever section they elect to play in. In case you weren't aware Notts were awarded the MCCU Champion title last season.

David Pardoe
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by David Pardoe » Sun Aug 28, 2016 6:37 pm

Neil.. Your full comment from the MCCU 2016 AGM thread was as follows..
"The final date for entry into the MCCU stages of the Counties Championship is just coming up (August 30th). The Leicestershire CA website says that they won't be entering an U160 or U140 team unless they can find a captain. It doesn't mention an U120 team but there was no Leics U120 team last year. I have looked at the number of graded players in Leicestershire - there are at least 40 eligible players for all the above competitions. Leicestershire is just one example - replace by any other county (Manchester for example) and you will find not a lack of players but a lack of organisers. Without going through David Pardoe's last post point by point changing the system to say 25 points will not solve the problem of a lack of captains."

You talk of 40 eligible players.. What you actually need is about 30 active players willing to play at least on an occasional basis, and maybe a core group of about 12 - 16 who might play more regularly.
This is not a big ask really, I don't think.
These days the web allows captains to establish good networks of players and club contacts fairly easily..
Contacting local Congress Organisers about players who may not be club players, but might still be interested in playing County chess is also worth while.
My advice to any captain is not to be overly choosey about players, based on gradings..
Quite often teams say, in the U160 section might play at least 3 or 4 players who might rank in the 110 - 135 category, and such players will often put in a good showing.
But as regards the key question of captaincy..
Yes, this is a challenge, but players should come forward and offer if they are keen to see the team compete.
What many players don't realise is that these county events, spread over the full grading range, offer some really good chessing days out.
Results don't matter that much, although victory is a bonus of course.
So, I`d urge all our county bodies to try to drum up support for more teams across all the grading sections.
Write/email to all the club secretaries and captains and ask if they would support additional teams, and if they could advise on anyone who might be willing to captain the teams.
If each county could compile a list of prospective players from the various clubs, who would be willing to play on an occasional or regular basis, you have at least got a starting point. Get all clubs to respond with details of players and any who would be willing to act as team captains.
We`re only talking a hand full of games in the Qualifier sections, so its not a big ask. Plenty of assistance is available to prospective captains, and maybe a brief list of captains duties might also help..
Publicity is key...chess needs to proclaim its offerings.
Getting our league clubs to respond to questionaires with positive feed back and comments might just start the ball rolling.
Getting contact details for players, and obtaining names of those with transport is key..
I`d suggest this exercise is conducted around March - April, ready for the following season.. But with email, it is possible to get this information fairly quickly at any time.
BRING BACK THE BCF

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:37 pm

Thank you David for your reply. It's not for me to tell other counties how to organise their teams - I simply point out that there are enough players out there to represent counties but not enough people who are prepared to organise them.

For the record 116 players (108 male, 8 female) represented Nottinghamshire last year - we played 24 matches in total.

Mick Norris
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Mick Norris » Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:12 pm

The MCCU website now has:
28 Aug, Peter Sherlock reports. Four teams have entered the 2016-7 Union's County Team championship: Leics, Lincs, Notts, Worcs. In the graded tournaments, Gtr Manchester and Notts have entered the u160; Lincs, Notts, and Worcs the u140; Lincs, Notts, & Worcs, the u120; and Leics and Notts the u100 tournaments. The u180 competition entries will be sought in January. Derbyshire, Staffordshire & Warwickshire have not yet entered.
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Wed Aug 31, 2016 8:46 pm

Mick Norris wrote:The MCCU website now has:
28 Aug, Peter Sherlock reports. Four teams have entered the 2016-7 Union's County Team championship: Leics, Lincs, Notts, Worcs. In the graded tournaments, Gtr Manchester and Notts have entered the u160; Lincs, Notts, and Worcs the u140; Lincs, Notts, & Worcs, the u120; and Leics and Notts the u100 tournaments. The u180 competition entries will be sought in January. Derbyshire, Staffordshire & Warwickshire have not yet entered.
The remaining entries are now shown:-

Staffs have entered u140, u120 and u100. Derbys have entered the u140.
Warks have entered teams for the championship, u180, u160, u120, and u100 tournaments.

This means that total entries (excluding the U180 which might not take place) are 22, down on last year. No Staffordshire first team after last year's fiasco; no Staffs U160 or Warwicks U140 - both these teams defaulted last year after entering.

MCCU entries into national stages therefore:-

Minor Counties - 3 places
U180 - 1 place
U160 - 2 places
U140 - 3 places
U120 - 3 places
U100 - 2 places

MartinCarpenter
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by MartinCarpenter » Wed Aug 31, 2016 8:57 pm

That doesn't help the K/O bits of the Open competition down the line :( Better than a default later on I suppose.

Hope the stage matches go well!

David Blower
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by David Blower » Thu Sep 01, 2016 1:43 am

Wish me luck. I have offered to help out the Staffordshire Under 100 team.

Mick Norris
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Mick Norris » Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:52 am

David Blower wrote:Wish me luck. I have offered to help out the Staffordshire Under 100 team.
Good for you David, just make sure you manage to get a full team out, and don't worry too much about the results - it is supposed to be enjoyable, after all :)
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:04 pm

David Blower wrote:Wish me luck. I have offered to help out the Staffordshire Under 100 team.
The provisional pairings are posted on the MCCU Website. However one pairing to be changed is that Staffs U100 are away to Nottinghamshire rather than at home. If you can help Staffs arrive this year that would be a great help.

Mick Norris
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Mick Norris » Fri Sep 09, 2016 12:18 pm

Neil Graham wrote:The remaining entries are now shown:-

Staffs have entered u140, u120 and u100. Derbys have entered the u140.
Warks have entered teams for the championship, u180, u160, u120, and u100 tournaments.

This means that total entries (excluding the U180 which might not take place) are 22, down on last year. No Staffordshire first team after last year's fiasco; no Staffs U160 or Warwicks U140 - both these teams defaulted last year after entering.

MCCU entries into national stages therefore:-

Minor Counties - 3 places
U180 - 1 place
U160 - 2 places
U140 - 3 places
U120 - 3 places
U100 - 2 places
I see Warks have entered the U140, so that's a net gain of 1 from the teams that actually played last year?
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:10 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Neil Graham wrote:The remaining entries are now shown:-

Staffs have entered u140, u120 and u100. Derbys have entered the u140.
Warks have entered teams for the championship, u180, u160, u120, and u100 tournaments.

This means that total entries (excluding the U180 which might not take place) are 22, down on last year. No Staffordshire first team after last year's fiasco; no Staffs U160 or Warwicks U140 - both these teams defaulted last year after entering.

MCCU entries into national stages therefore:-

Minor Counties - 3 places
U180 - 1 place
U160 - 2 places
U140 - 3 places
U120 - 3 places
U100 - 2 places
I see Warks have entered the U140, so that's a net gain of 1 from the teams that actually played last year?
Warwickshire aren't in the U140 - clerical error left over from last year. Last year 26 teams actually entered but three never played/withdraw. This year there are 24 entries (losing Staffs, Staffs U160, Warwicks U140 from last years entrants but gaining Staffs U140.

David Blower
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by David Blower » Mon Sep 19, 2016 1:18 am

It is actually my target that we do get full teams out, and I think it is realistic.

Neil Graham
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Re: County teams 2016-17

Post by Neil Graham » Wed Sep 21, 2016 10:41 pm

David Blower wrote:It is actually my target that we do get full teams out, and I think it is realistic.
Staffordshire Under 140 have withdrawn today.

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