MxB ECF Online Open Challengers Champions

MxB were the sole team flying the flag for Mx and one of two teams flying for the SCCU. MxB faced group stage opponents Oxfordshire over 24boards. The high number agreed upon as both had teams in Open and u1825 competitions so in this way as many could be involved on finals day as possible. Whether match played over 12,16 or 24 boards the advantage lay with MxB and this was demonstrated with an overwhelming victory 17-7. MxB therefore are one of six online counties champions.

Read full match report here.

ECF Events: North v South - The Oldest Challenge

In 1893 & 1894 the historic counties of England contested a match to determine where chess was the strongest. The South won both encounters the 2nd comfortably due to the existence of the first and oldest chess Union the SCCU who were able to aid in the co-ordination and communication of the southern counties.

After a 126years a much delayed 3rd match is to take place on Saturday 5th September on chess.com. The match is open to all ECF members or supporters see link for more details. https://www.englishchess.org.uk/online-north-v-south-challenge-2020/

In the tradition of the first two encounters it is hoped that match will be contested over a minimum of 100 boards if possible more. 

If you are interested in playing what will be an historic events register at https://www.chess.com/club/ecf-south

Anthony Fulton

The South Team Captain

ECF Online Counties Championship - Group Stage Summary

The Group Stage of the ECF's new venture is complete and it can be safe to say Mx had the best of it. Due to COVID-19 the National Stage was suspended so the ECF devised an online version by way of compensation. The Competition is to be run in sections Open and u1825 with the top two in each proceeding to a KO phase. If there were sufficient entrants each section would be split into divisions which would thereby create a number of KO sections - 4 for the Open: Open, Major Open, Challengers and Minor; 2 for the u1825: u1825 Championship and u1825 Challengers - as the top four finishers could progress to a National Stage thereby increasing the number of counties/individuals continue to play in the competition. 

Mx were supportive of the new venture as from the off they had decided to participate. Many counties were able to field teams in Open and u1825 but Mx were the only county who could enter 2 teams in the Open. The numbers of Mx players wanting to participate coupled with an inability of other counties to field large teams meant that it was only right that Mx had two teams in Open. Had sufficient interest been expressed by those u150 Mx would have entered two teams in the u1825 also! All told 22 counties enter teams in the Open with 9 able to enter a team in u1825 also. When all things considered Mx are the sole county to have 3 teams participating in the online counties championships with two in the top section! Mx may not exist in a political sense but they certainly do in a sporting one chess included!

See here for full details of the competition however a quick summary of how each Mx team performed in the group stage is given here.