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!