SUSSEX AWAY (SCCU STAGE)
HASSOCKS
24 FEBRUARY 2001

With a convincing victory at Hassocks, Essex secured the SCCU championship, winning the Montague-Jones trophy for an unprecedented fifth successive season.  Needing only a tie for the title, Essex were also looking for revenge after the Sussex victory at Wanstead House in December ended the long unbeaten home run.  Sussex fielded their strongest line up of the season, with Julian Simpole turning out on top board, but still found themselves outgraded by an Essex for which John Moore made a welcome first appearance.  Essex made a fast start, with Terry Whitton spending only 30 minutes over the 35 moves to the time control, by when he had established a winning position.  His opponent only lasted a further 6 moves, but even so Terry was beaten to the first win by Paul Williamson, when his opponent went horribly astray in an innocuous looking position.  Draws followed for David Millward (who rather let his opponent off the hook), John White (against an opponent who he had lost to in the previous encounter) and Colin Ramage.  There was then a run of three Essex victories to give a convincing 6½ - 1½ lead.  Sussex captain Daniel Hirsch had to put himself in as a substitute against George McNally and put up stern resistance before exchanging off into a lost ending.  Neville Twitchell won the most exciting game of the match, featuring attacks on opposite-side castled kings, sacrifices and even an under-promotion to a knight with check.  John Moore marked his debut with a convincing performance, ultimately achieving victory in a rook and pawn ending.   As often seems to happen, the final points to secure victory were slightly longer in coming than is good for the captain's nerves.  However, after Ivor Smith and Julian Winkworth had been forced to concede, Ian Hunnable ground out the endgame win that had looked inevitable once he won a pawn, and Ivan Myall who had a comfortable edge all afternoon secured victory to clinch the match.  A later Sussex rally secured 2½ points from the next 3 games, in one of which Mark Weighell, seeking an unprecedented 6 out of 6 score in the SCCU U175 competition, was eventually forced to concede a draw in a knight ending to an opponent with more than 330 County matches behind him.  However, the last game to finish was appropriately enough an Essex victory by Larry Marden, who has been in outstanding form for the team so far this season, scoring 5/6 and achieving a grading performance of 204 despite having the Black pieces in every match!

John Moore v Brian Donnelly

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.f4 Nge7 7.Nf3 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Rb1 Rb8 11.Ne2 Nec6 12.c3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 f5 14.d4 cxd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 17.Qxd4 b6 18.exf5 gxf5 19.Rbd1 d5 20.Qe5 Bd7 21.c4 Qf6 22.Qxf6 Rxf6 23.cxd5 exd5 24.Bxd5+ Be6 25.Rfe1 Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Rbf8 27.Re7 R8f7 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Kf2 Rc7 30.Red8 Rc2+ 31.Rd2 Rxd2+ 32.Rxd2 Rf7 33.Rd5 Kg6 34.h3 Rc7 35.Ke3 h5 36.Rd6+ Kg7 37.Kd4 Re7 38.Rd5 Kf6 39.Rd6+ Kg7 40.Kd3 Rc7 41.b4 Re7 42.a4 Rc7 43.b5 Re7 44.Kc4 h4 45.gxh4 Re4+ 46.Rd4 Re3 47.Rd7+ Kg6 48.Rxa7 Re4+ 49.Kd5 Rxf4 50.Rb7 Kh5 51.Ke5 Rf1 52.Rxb6 f4 53.Rf6 f3 54.a5 f2 55.a6 Rb1 56.Rxf2 Rxb5+ 57.Kd4 Ra5 58.Rf6 Kxh4 59.Kc4 Kxh3 60.Kb4 Ra1 61.Rf3+ Kg4 62.Ra3 Rb1+ 63.Kc5 Rc1+ 64.Kb6 Rb1+ 65.Kc6 Rc1+ 66.Kd6 Rd1+ 67.Ke6 Re1+ 68.Kf6 1-0

James Mansson v Larry Marden

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3 a5 15.Be3 a4 16.Nbd2 Nb4 17.Bb1 Be6 18.a3 Na6 19.Bd3 Bd7 20.Rc1 Qb8 21.Qe2 Re8 22.Bg5 Bd8 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.g3 h6 25.Be3 Qb7 26.Nh4 Be7 27.Nf5 Bf8 28.Qf3 Bxf5 29.Qxf5 Re6 30.Bb1 Nd7 31.Ba2 Rf6 32.Qh5 Ndc5 33.Bb1 Rd8 34.Qe2 Qd7 35.Rcd1 Rd6 36.Rc1 Rxd2 37.Bxd2 Qxd2 38.Qf3 Nb3 39.Rcd1 Nd4 40.Qh5 Qxb2 41.Kg2 Qxa3 42.Re3 Qe7 43.Ba2 Nb4 44.Bd5 Nxd5 45.exd5 Rxd5 46.f4 g6 47.Qg4 Nf5 48.Qxf5 gxf5 49.Rxd5 Qb7 50.Rexe5 a3 51.Kh2 a2 52.Rd1 b4 53.Ra1 b3 54.Ree1 b2 55.Rxa2 b1Q 56.Rxb1 Qxb1 57.Rf2 Bc5 58.Rg2 Qf1 59.h4 Kf8 60.h5 Qf3 61.Kh3 Qxh5# 0-1

Paul Williamson v Jim Graham

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Qc2 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.e3 0-0 8.Bd3 h6 9.Bh4 Re8 10.Nf3 Nbd7 11.0-0 Ne4 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Rae1 Ndf6 14.Ne5 Nxc3 15.Qxc3 Be6 16.a3 Ne4 17.Qc2 Nd6 18.Rc1 Rec8 19.f4 f6 20.Bh7+ 1-0

Robert Elliston v Neville Twitchell

1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 Ne4 4.Qf3 Nxc3 5.dxc3 g6 6.Bf4 Bg7 7.0-0-0 Be6 8.Ne2 c5 9.c4 d4 10.Ng3 Nc6 11.Re1 Qa5 12.Bd3 Qxa2 13.b3 Qa1+ 14.Kd2 Qc3+ 15.Kd1 0-0 16.h4 a5 17.h5 a4 18.hxg6 fxg6 19.Rxh7 Rxf4 20.Rxg7+ Kxg7 21.Qxf4 axb3 22.Nh5+ Kg8 23.Ke2 bxc2 24.Qh6 c1N+ 25.Rxc1 Ra2+ 26.Kf1 Qxd3+ 27.Kg1 gxh5 28.Qxe6+ Kg7 29.Rf1 Qe2 30.Qd7 Qxe5 31.Qxb7 Nb4 32.f4 Qe3+ 33.Kh1 Nd3 34.Rf3 Rxg2 35.Kxg2 Ne1+ 0-1

Ian Kelly v Terry Whitton

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nc3 0-0 6.0-0 e5 7.d3 Nc6 8.Rb1 a5 9.a3 Bg4 10.b4 axb4 11.axb4 Qc8 12.b5 Ne7 13.Qb3 Bh3 14.e4 b6 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.cxd5 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Qd7 20.Ra1 Kg7 21.Ra6 h5 22.Rfa1 Rac8 23.h3 g5 24.Ra7 g4 25.hxg4 hxg4 26.Nd2 Rh8 27.Nc4 Rb8 28.Ne3 Rh5 29.Qc4 Rc8 30.Nf5+ Kg6 31.Rb7 Qd8 32.Raa7 Qh8 33.Kf1 Rh1+ 34.Ke2 Qh3 35.Ne3 Bg5 36.Ra2 Bxe3 37.Kxe3 Qg2 38.Kd2 Qxf2+ 39.Kc3 Rc1+ 40.Kb3 Rb1+ 41.Kc3 Qe1+ 0-1

Ian Hunnable v John Bryant

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bg5 0-0 6.Bc4 c6 7.0-0 b5 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nbd7 11.Rad1 b4 12.Ne2 Qa5 13.Qe3 c5 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Qxc5 Nxc5 16.f3 Rfc8 17.c3 Rab8 18.cxb4 Nxd3 19.Rxd3 Rxb4 20.b3 Rc2 21.Rd2 Rc7 22.Rc1 Rxc1+ 23.Nxc1 h6 24.Be3 Rb7 25.Rc2 Kh7 26.Nd3 g5 27.Kf2 Kg6 28.Ke2 h5 29.Rc4 d5 30.Ne5+ Kh7 31.exd5 Nxd5 32.Nxf7 Nxe3 33.Kxe3 Kg6 34.Nd8 Rb5 35.Nc6 Kf7 36.Ra4 Rc5 37.Rc4 Rxc4 38.bxc4 a6 39.Ke4 Ke6 40.c5 Bb2 41.a4 Bc3 42.Nd4+ Kd7 43.Kd5 h4 44.Ne6 Bd2 45.c6+ Kc8 46.Nc5 a5 47.Ne6 Bc1 48.Kc4 Be3 49.Kb5 Bd2 50.Nd4 Kc7 51.Nb3 Bc3 52.Nxa5 Bxa5 53.Kxa5 Kxc6 54.Kb4 Kb6 55.a5+ Ka6 56.Ka4 1-0

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