Counties Chess
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2014-5 MCCU County Team |
2014-5 Season
Previous Seasons'Results
Published 21 and supplemented 22 February 2015
Lincolnshire - Worcestershire
Final for Midlands Open and Minor County Championships
Played on 21 February 2015 at Sharnford Evergreen Hall, Leics. Worcestershire players had white on odd numbered boards. Reported by Ray Collett & Nigel Birtwistle
| Board | ECF Code | Grade | Lincolnshire | Score | Score | Worcestershire | Grade | ECF Code |
| 1 | 120691G | 239 | Turner, Matthew GM | 1 | 0 | Mellor, Stephen D | 185 | 230883G |
| 2 | 109683H | 203 | Dilley, Jason | 0 | 1 | Edge, John A | 184 | 110076C |
| 3 | 103734B | 199 | Cumbers, Paul | ½ | ½ | Lambourne, Daniel M | 183 | 259447L |
| 4 | 263507A | 186 | Prior, Stephen | 1 | 0 | Kitson, Peter R | 177 | 127645B |
| 5 | 181511D | 185 | Kilshaw, Joe | ½ | ½ | Arkell, Nicholas D | 175 | 293111E |
| 6 | 106801F | 183 | Birrtwistle, Nigel | ½ | ½ | Lowick Higgie, Charles | 174 | 129306A |
| 7 | 119269H | 183 | Stead, Nick | 0 | 1 | Towers, Nigel S | 172 | 165392B |
| 8 | 116086C | 180 | Naylor, John | 1 | 0 | Hurney, Kevin | 172 | 129898H |
| 9 | 216825L | 180 | Russell, Harry | ½ | ½ | Friar, James P | 168 | 275649D |
| 10 | 152255D | 176 | Payne, Nick | ½ | ½ | Turner, Brian | 167 | 120670K |
| 11 | 244268B | 171 | McCarthy, Kevin | 0 | 1 | Dyett, Greg F | 167 | 110004L |
| 12 | 190995H | 165 | Herbert, Andrew | ½ | ½ | Friar, Jim A | 167 | 110925L |
| 13 | 116655E | 163 | Palmer, Keith | ½ | ½ | Jackson, Gary C | 161 | 152157D |
| 14 | 222114H | 161 | McDonald, Ian | 0 | 1 | Wrench, John P | 159 | 127123E |
| 15 | 111157H | 156 | Georgiou, Denis | 1 | 0 | Friar, Joseph D | 157 | 275633L |
| 16 | 277281E | 153 | David, Ivan | 1 | 0 | Knee, John P | 148 | 127661L |
| 8½ | 7½ |
Midlands Counties Team 2015 Final at Sharnford Evergreen Hall, Leics
Lincolnshire made chess history by winning the Midlands County Team Championship for the first time in the competition's history. They faced Worcestershire who were chasing their first championship win for over half a century. The score line suggests a close match, but in truth Worcestershire were outgraded on every board and after one and a half hours play, Lincolnshire were already 3 points up and it looked like a thumping Lincolnshire win was on its way. Worcestershire fought back with their first win from John Wrench and the last two games to finish also went against the winning team. Keith Palmer's draw pushed Lincolnshire to 8½ to win the match, but Worcestershire won the remaining two games. John Edge scored an unexpected win very much against the run of play on board 2 and Greg Dyett promoted a second pawn just before his opponent lost on time in the dying minutes of play. Linolnshire's captain, Nigel Birtwistle said: "I was impressed with the fighting spirit shown by your Worcestershire team. It is very difficult to come back from three points down so early on and Lincolnshire had to dig deep to draw a few games in which they looked slightly worse to get over the finishing line".