SCCU U180 JAMBOREES
The SCCU has organised an U180 competition since 1986, well before the County Championship was organised on a grading limit basis. It is contested over ten boards; in addition to all players being graded under 180, at least seven have to be graded under 170. The captain of the winning team receives the CMC trophy; it is not totally clear what the initials stand for. For a number of years the event was organised as a knock-out competition, which for some reason Essex did not enter, but dwindling entries persuaded the SCCU to try a knock-out format in which an Essex team, largely drawn from the U175 squad have participated.
SUTTON 12 APRIL 1997
| Board | WHITE | Grade | Score | BLACK | Grade | Score |
| 1 | Larry Marden (E) | 173 | 1 | Michael Stott (Sx) | 177 | 0 |
| 2 | Edmund Horton (O) | 178 | 0 | David Sedgwick (Sy) | 176 | 1 |
| 3 | Julien Shepley (Sy) | 173 | ½ | Ivor Smith (E) | 173 | ½ |
| 4 | John Dodgson (Sx) | 170 | ½ | James Stayt (O) | 175 | ½ |
| 5 | Philip Stimpson (Sy) | 171 | ½ | Chris Hann (Sx) | 171 | ½ |
| 6 | David Millward (E) | 172 | 0 | Dave Hackett (O) | 175 | 1 |
| 7 | Nicholas Jones (O) | 167 | ½ | John S White (Sy) | 169 | ½ |
| 8 | Stephen Hawes (Sx) | 167 | 0 | Colin Ramage (E) | 163 | 1 |
| 9 | Neville Twitchell (E) | 162 | 0 | K P Mynett (Sy) | 167 | 1 |
| 10 | Andrew Fleming (Sx) | 165 | 1 | Sean Terry (O) | 165 | 0 |
| 11 | Philip Vainker (O) | 162 | 1 | Ian Hunnable (E) | 161 | 0 |
| 12 | David Spearman (Sy) | 165 | ½ | Jim Graham (Sx) | 164 | ½ |
| 13 | Dave Bruce (O) | 158 | 1 | Paul Dupre (Sy) | 160 | 0 |
| 14 | Andy King (E) | 159 | 0 | Ian Kelly (Sx) | 163 | 1 |
| 15 | David Ratcliffe (Sx) | 157 | 1 | Nicholas Hepworth (O) | 153 | 0 |
| 16 | Thomas Phillips (Sy) | 156 | ½ | Dave Pearse (E) | 155 | ½ |
| 17 | Richard Weeber (E) | 154 | ½ | P Bell (O) | 150 | ½ |
| 18 | Chris Clegg (Sy) | 154 | 1 | Laurence Rackham (Sx) | 150 | 0 |
| 19 | Paul Watson (Sx) | 152 | ½ | John Philpott (E) | 153 | ½ |
| 20 | Peter Hastings (O) | 145 | 0 | Ian McLeod (Sy) | 139 | 1 |
Placings:
1 Surrey (average grade 163.0) 6½
2 Oxfordshire (average grade 162.8) 5½
3 Essex (average grade 162.5) 4
4 Sussex (average 163.6) 4
An enjoyable contest between four evenly matched teams, with Surrey picking up a number of early victories and always keeping ahead of the opposition. Although the Essex bottom boards turned in solid performances, a number of losses in the middle order meant that the County was never in serious contention.
WANSTEAD HOUSE 18 APRIL 1998
| Board | WHITE | Grade | Score | BLACK | Grade | Score |
| 1 | Peter Farr (Sx) | 179 | 1 | Julien Shepley (Sy) | 174 | 0 |
| 2 | Andrew Brett (E1) | 173 | 0 | George McNally (E2) | 172 | 1 |
| 3 | Rod Nixon (O) | 175 | 1 | Leon Wooldridge (Bu) | 174 | 0 |
| 4 | Roger de Coverley (Bu) | 173 | 0 | Trevor Coote (E1) | 173 | 1 |
| 5 | Bill Saunders (E2) | 171 | 1 | James Mansson (Sx) | 178 | 0 |
| 6 | Robert Thomas (Sy) | 174 | 1 | Phil Vainker (O) | 174 | 0 |
| 7 | Michael Stott (Sx) | 177 | ½ | Majid Mashayekh (Bu) | 173 | ½ |
| 8 | Chris Clegg (Sy) | 168 | 0 | Neville Twitchell (E2) | 160 | 1 |
| 9 | Graham Chapman (O) | 172 | 1 | Roy Heppinstall (E1) | 170 | 1 |
| 10 | Larry Marden (E1) | 169 | ½ | Michael Reddie (Sx) | 168 | ½ |
| 11 | Malcolm Armstrong (Bu) | 166 | 1 | Anthony Andrews (Sy) | 161 | 0 |
| 12 | Andy Hartland (E2) | 160 | ½ | Jim Stayt (O) | 166 | ½ |
| 13 | Paul Batchelor (Sx) | 168 | 0 | David Bruce (O) | 166 | 1 |
| 14 | David Millward (E1) | 168 | 1 | Paul Dupre (Sy) | 158 | 0 |
| 15 | Matthew George (Bu) | 160 | ½ | Dave Pearse (E2) | 158 | ½ |
| 16 | Andy King (E2) | 156 | ½ | Steve Law (Bu) | 156 | ½ |
| 17 | H Trevor Jones (Sy) | 152 | 0 | Ivor Smith (E1) | 161 | 1 |
| 18 | Nick Jones (O) | 166 | ½ | Adrian Pickersgill (Sx) | 169 | ½ |
| 19 | Eugene Bolduc (Bu) | 135 | ½ | Sean Terry (O) | 160 | ½ |
| 20 | Paul Barclay (E2) | 156 | 1 | Colin Ramage (E1) | 167 | 0 |
| 21 | R John Wilcox (Sy) | 152 | 0 | Ian Kelly (Sx) | 167 | 1 |
| 22 | Arthur Hall (Sx) | 163 | 1 | Richard Weeber (E2) | 154 | 0 |
| 23 | Les Crane (E1) | 164 | ½ | Ivana Houska (Bu) | 123 | ½ |
| 24 | Peter Ball (O) | 150 | 1 | John Nyman (Sy) | 146 | 0 |
| 25 | Mark Weighell (E1) | 161 | 0 | Will Burt (O) | 149 | 1 |
| 26 | Syringa Turvey (Bu) | 119 | 1 | Paul Selby (Sx) | 153 | 0 |
| 27 | Roy Watts (E2) | 153 | ½ | Fred Manning (Sy) | 133 | ½ |
| 28 | Paul Watson (Sx) | 147 | 0 | Sid Kalinsky (E1) | 157 | 1 |
| 29 | Dr Krishna Mehendale (SY) | 132 | ½ | Andrew Hill (Bu) | 115 | ½ |
| 30 | Simon King (O) | 142 | 1 | Thomas Winter (E2) | 147 | 0 |
Placings
1 Oxfordshire (average grade 162.0) 7½
2 Essex 2 (average grade 158.7) 6
3 Essex 1 (average grade 166.3) 5
4 Bucks (average grade 149.4) 5
5 Sussex (average grade 166.9) 4½
6 Surrey (average grade 155.0) 2
Essex hosted the April 1998 event as part of the County's Centenary celebrations. When the hoped for entry from Kent failed to come about, a second Essex team was organised in order to have the optimum number of sides (six) for a ten board jamboree. In the event the two all Essex games both finished in favour of Essex 2, effectively scuppering the chances of Essex 1 who only made it to 50% when Sid Kalinsky won a long ending. Essex 2 did well to finish second, but the event was convincingly and deservedly won by Oxfordshire.
Andrew Brett (Essex 1) - George McNally (Essex 2)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.h4 h5 13.Bg5 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Nde2 b5 16.Kb1 b4 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bf5 19.Rc1 Qb6 20.g4 b3!! 0-1
COULSDON 28 OCTOBER 2000
| Board | WHITE | Grade | Score | BLACK | Grade | Score |
| 1 | Philip Stimpson (Sy) | 169 | ½ | Trevor Coote (E) | 179 | ½ |
| 2 | Ivor Smith (E) | 174 | 1 | Chris Rice (K) | 179 | 0 |
| 3 | Mark Robertson (K) | 169 | 0 | Chris Clegg (Sy) | 167 | 1 |
| 4 | Paul Dupre (Sy) | 162 | 1 | David Barnes (K) | 168 | 0 |
| 5 | Robert Everson (K) | 168 | 1 | Neville Twitchell (E) | 168 | 0 |
| 6 | John White (E) | 166 | ½ | Joseph Skielnik (Sy) | 156 | ½ |
| 7 | Ian Deswarte (Sy) | 144 | 0 | Peter Doye (E) | 164 | 1 |
| 8 | Colin Ramage (E) | 158 | 0 | John Lewin (K) | 165 | 1 |
| 9 | Default (K) | 0 | H Trevor Jones (Sy) | 145 | 1 | |
| 10 | L Evbuomwan (Sy) | 139 | 0 | Jerry Anstead (K) | 163 | 1 |
| 11 | Richard Hobell (K) | 161 | 0 | Ken Clow (E) | 157 | 1 |
| 12 | Mark Weighell (E) | 156 | 1 | Morris Bernadt (S) | 160 | 0 |
| 13 | Dr Krishna Mehendale (S) | 130 | 0 | David Smith (E) | 150 | 1 |
| 14 | John Philpott (E) | 146 | 1 | Sydney Jacob (K) | 161 | 0 |
| 15 | David Morris (K) | 157 | 1 | Fred Manning (Sy) | 123 | 0 |
Placings
1 Essex (average grade 161.8) 7
2 Surrey (average grade 149.5) 4
3 Kent (average grade 165.7) 4
The CMC Trophy was therefore won for the first time by Essex.
WANSTEAD HOUSE 22 APRIL 2001
Essex failed to retain their title, finishing with a disappointing 4½/10 despite wins by Ivor Smith and John White. The event was won for the first time by Hertfordshire. Details will appear here shortly. In the meantime consult the SCCU website.