Under 160s
Yesterday’s posting reported the narrow loss for the Suffolk Under 160 team in the National Quarter-Finals to Nottinghamshire. This followed three pairs of matches in the EACU competition, against Norfolk (win, win), Hertfordshire (loss, win) and Cambridgeshire (win, loss). Suffolk were runners-up to Cambridgeshire, with Herts third and Norfolk last.
A total of 28 players were used over the seven matches. Several performed well above expectation, as the following chart demonstrates:
| Name | Score | Gp |
|---|---|---|
| Adrian Sanderson | 1/1* | 186.0 |
| Stephen Lewis | 1½/2 | 180.0 |
| John Peters | 3½/4 | 175.3 |
| Ed Kirkham | 4½/6* | 167.0 |
| Sam Brennan | 3/5 | 165.6 |
| Silas Peck | 3½/5 | 165.0 |
| Andrew Shephard | 4½/7 | 162.3 |
| John McAllister | 2/3 | 160.7 |
| Leon Burnett | 1½/3 | 159.0 |
| Bob Jones | 3½/6 | 158.7 |
| John Lambert | 2/3 | 158.3 |
| Mark Bettley | 3/4 | 157.3 |
| Kevin Greenacre | 2½/5 | 155.6 |
| Harold Thomas | 1/2 | 146.0 |
| Scott Taylor | 3½/7 | 145.7 |
| Keith Woodcock | 2/3 | 145.0 |
| Rob Harden | 3½/7 | 144.3 |
| Carl Phillips | 2½/5 | 139.4 |
| Les Jones | 1½/4 | 137.0 |
| Simon Riley | 2/5 | 132.8 |
| Anna York-Andersen | ½/2 | 132.0 |
| Jakob Tulic | 1½/4 | 130.5 |
| Vivian Woodward | 1/4 | 125.3 |
| Arthur McCormick | ½/2 | 115.0 |
| Jim Buis | 0/1 | 110.0 |
| Melvin Steele | ½/2 | 103.5 |
| Colin Roberts | 1/7 | 102.1 |
| Andrew Donnelly | 0/1 | 101.0 |
* = also received a default win
Gp = grading performance
The Player of the Season is Ed Kirkham, who scored 4½/6 over the board but also received a default win when his opponent failed to appear. Five people played in all seven matches.
Cambridgeshire also lost their quarter-final, 7½-8½, to Warwickshire.
It’s often amusing to see how journalists, usually with little understanding of the game, use chess as a metaphor. Here’s one from the Evening Standard (16 May). The journalist was Dan Jones.
The headline read: “Wayne Rooney’s been playing chess with Manchester United and it’s nearly checkmate”. The article included this reference: “In his chess game with United, this is check, with a view, in not so many moves, to checkmate.” Stick to football Dan.