19 counties from the five home unions participated in the national stages of the various events that comprise the ECF Counties Championship, with Cleveland making a welcome return to union and national competition.
Each union can enter at least two of their regional counties into each event by way of nomination, and for the most part nominations are determined by union-run qualifying competitions. Well supported qualifying competitions earn an additional place. Each region has different qualifiers best suited to their demographics, which tends to see the East and West unions focus on the average team rating event (Minor Counties, with a team cap of 2050) and U1850 rating limited competition. These two sections at the national stage are the best supported events, and often the most competitive. 2024 was no exception.
The competition began at the Sheffield Chess Centre with the sole match in the preliminary round (triggered by more than eight nominated teams), where in the U1850 event Yorkshire, often one of the fancied teams along with Middlesex, found that runner-up status in the qualifier (one of five second nominees) had landed them with an extra match against Staffordshire at an excellent venue that had the benefit of live display boards.
The following month saw the start of the Minor Counties, U1650 and U1450 events, with the open and U2050 events not starting until the semi-final stage in June, mainly due to the lack of entries from the Midlands, which has struggled for teams following the two-year hiatus occasioned by Covid, not helped by the loss of the Greater Manchester teams to the North. The open and U2050 were North vs South contests.
The South dominated the U1450 section, fielding teams with a high percentage of rapidly improving junior players and producing three semi-finalists and both finalists. Essex saw off the Northern Counties and then the Midland Counties Champions, but fell well short of Middlesex, the Southern Counties Champions in the final, who gained their first national title in this event at the Whittlesford Memorial Hall.
The North were dominant in the U1650 section, with convincing semi-final wins by Greater Manchester and Yorkshire over Midlands (Lincolnshire) and South (Surrey) opposition. Yorkshire hosted Greater Manchester at the Bradford Latvian Club, looking to become another regional chess centre (after Ilkley and Sheffield), and managed to field a team with an average of 1638 by the time the match was played. Greater Manchester had improved too over the season, averaging 1629 in comparison, so Yorkshire really had to earn their second successive national title.
Having made short work of Staffordshire in the U1850 preliminary round, Yorkshire were fortunate to prevail in the quarter-finals against Hampshire, who were considerably lower rated, before encountering Hertfordshire (qualifying via the East rather than the South) who stopped them in their tracks rather convincingly - the underdogs for the second match in succession. In the other half of the draw Greater Manchester had to battle all the way to the final, first defeating Middlesex, who looked odds on for a post-Covid indisputable U1850 triple crown that was not to be. Before Covid Middlesex were the last U160 Champions, with the trophy now presented in the U1850 section. Another tight victory over Lincolnshire then followed in the semis. The final, which had been intended to be played alongside the open competition, was switched to Coventry at Warwick University and produced an 8-8 thriller, with Greater Manchester prevailing on board count (a better result on the higher boards) - a union and national double for Greater Manchester, who last won (U160s) in 2012.
The U2050s started out as a North vs South affair, but did not finish that way. Greater Manchester (NCCU Champions) had a narrow win over Surrey, while Essex (SCCU Champions), with a long pedigree in this section, were comfortable dispatched by Cleveland to set up an all-NCCU final also played at Bradford, mid-way but still an all-Yorkshire trip for Cleveland. The final proved to be something of an anti-climax, with a comprehensive Greater Manchester win. They last won this trophy (U175 back then) in 1993.
Going into the 6th July finals day Greater Manchester were contesting three of the six titles, and converted two of them, marking their return to NCCU competition in some style.
In recent years Lincolnshire have been strong contenders in the Minor Counties and were again in 2024, cruising to the final with comfortable wins over Bedfordshire and Somerset. In the final at Whittlesford they faced Sussex, who had had to battle hard to survive each round. These days Sussex players only compete as an open team in the Southern Counties competition, so are used to toughing it out over a long campaign. They survived a quarter-final scare against Worcestershire, winning narrowly against lower-rated opposition to meet Norfolk in the semi-final. There was nothing to separate the teams on paper at the start of play, and there was nothing between them at the close following an 8-8 tie. The cluster of wins in the middle order outweighed Norfolk’s cluster lower down to give the tie-break win to Sussex. A late player withdrawal gave Sussex a slight rating advantage in the final, with the top six boards being broadcast live. The match went to the wire, with a second 8-8 tie in a row for Sussex. This time it was greater success at the top of the order that proved decisive, and gave Sussex a well-earned trophy. Sussex last won this competition in 1996.
The 103rd Counties Championship Final was played at Newark-Upon-Trent a week earlier on 30th June to accommodate Surrey’s England representation at the World Seniors with the sporting agreement of Northumberland. All games were broadcast live, with WIM Natasha Regan and GM Peter Wells providing live commentary too.
Northumberland as NCCU Champions met Kent in the semi-finals and pulled off a narrow victory over 12 boards despite being outrated. Surrey had an unusually comfortable victory over Yorkshire, who will no doubt be back with a vengeance. There is a new order in the North with a resurgence in county chess started during the Tim Wall NCCU presidency, and looking like continuing with the welcome return of Lancashire to competition in store for 2024/2025.
The final was too close to call on team exchange and for a long part of the afternoon, before Surrey’s middle order took control to win an eighth Championship after the disappointment of being runners-up on tie-break in 2023, another union and ECF double too.
My thanks to the arbiters who have supported the championships around the country during the knockout stage: Peter Ackley, Lara Barnes, Phill Beckett, Francis Bowers, John Bowley, Richard Buxton, Chun Chui, Adrian Elwin, Rob Hammond, Harrison Marriott and Robin Slade.