SURREY AWAY (SCCU STAGE)
COULSDON
8 JANUARY 2000

When Surrey conceded two defaults early enough in the day for Colin Ramage and George McNally to avoid unnecessary journeys to Coulsdon, it might have been thought that this was going to be one match that the Essex U175s were going to win with a degree of comfort, particularly given the disparity in the strength of the two teams on paper. However, many of the Essex players seemed to struggle to get going, possibly as a result of chess inactivity over the Christmas and New Year period, and Surrey rose to the occasion to give the champions an extremely close run for their money.

After a quick draw by John White, Ivor Smith blundered to give his opponent the full point. Further draws by Robert Parker and Sid Kalinsky were followed by the first full point for Essex over the board when Trevor Coote, making a welcome first appearance of the season won in 24 moves as Black. However, the next two games to finish both went Surrey's way, with Ian Hunnable losing concentration and his queen and Chris Fegan dropping a rook to leave the match tied at 4½ - 4½.

Bill Saunders' game was one that had looked good for Essex once he obtained two minor pieces for a rook after his opponent overlooked a capture at the end of a combination. Bill made no mistake in converting his advantage. In contrast, Lawrence Trent's game was a real up and down affair, with Lawrence playing a probably unsound sacrifice of the exchange on the queenside while his opponent was attacking in force on the kingside. Lawrence emerged with an extra piece and after swapping off the major pieces took the full point in the ending.

With a two point lead draws were relatively welcome, and Paul Williamson, Roy Heppinstall and David Millward split the point to ensure that Essex could not lose. With half a point needed for victory, the captain would have been perfectly happy to see Neville Twitchell take the draw by repetition that was always there in a position where Neville was battling with a queen against Fred Manning's two rooks. However, Neville wanted more and steadily made progress until Fred was forced to concede. In the final game to finish, Ivan Myall displayed Houdini-like qualities in salvaging a draw from a game in which both players briefly obtained second queens.

As a result of this victory, Essex qualified for the National Stages with two matches to spare. The two final fixtures of the qualifying competition are at home to Sussex and Kent, and a tie from either match would be sufficient to give Essex the Montague Jones trophy for the fourth successive year.

John Wilcox v Trevor Coote

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.0-0 Nc6 7.c3 e5 8.d5 Nb8 9.fxe5 dxe5 10.Na3 c6 11.c4 b5 12.Be3 bxc4 13.Nxc4 cxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.Bc5 exf3 16.d6 fxg2 17.Re1 Nbd7 18.Bb4 a5 19.Bc3 Bb7 20.Bd4 Re8 21.Qb3 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 Ng4 23.Bxg7 Qh4 0-1

Nick Grey v Bill Saunders

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.Bc4 Qd8 8.Nb3 cxd4 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.Qe2 b5 12.Bb3 Bc5 13.Be3 Qb6 14.a4 b4 15.a5 Qc7 16.Qc4 bxc3 17.bxc3 [17.Ba4+ may be better] 0-0 18.Nxe6? [Miscalculating the combination] 18...Bxe6 19.Qxc5 Qxc5 20.Bxc5 Bxb3 21.Bxf8 Re8+ 22.Kd2 Ne4+ 23.Kc1 Kxf8 24.Re1 Nc5 25.Rxe8+ Kxe8 26.Kb2 Kd7 27.Ra3? Bd5 28.c4? Bxc4 29.Kc3 Bd5 30.Kd4 Kd6 31.f3 Ne6+ 32.Ke3 Kc5 33.g3 Nd4 34.Rc3+ Bc4 35.Ke4 Nb3 36.Ke5 Nxa5 37.g4 Nc6+ 38.Kf4 a5 0-1

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