The U1650 semi final between Lancashire and Kent took place on Saturday 13th June. The teams travelled to Ullesthorpe in Leicestershire to do battle.
The Kent team board average was higher than Lancashire, 1598 to 1554, but not significantly so. In the end the match was decided by 3 winswith White for Kent, against Lancashire’s solitary win on the day Pete Edhouse winning with the Black pieces. All the other games being hard-fought draws.
It was a close match and after nearly 4 hours the score was 5.5 to 4.5 in Kents favour with remaining matches with board 7 (David Tuke) and 11 (Richard Smith) having very drawn positions but needing to win both games as Kent would have won on board count. Unfortunately David’s position became dead drawn and Richard weakened his position, in trying to win the game, and eventually lost leaving a 7-5 win to Kent who now go onto face our neighbours Manchester in the final.
Still a great achievement for the team, as Lancashire slowly rebuilds it’s county teams after the fiasco of Covid and the frozen accounts, which nearly saw Lancashire fold as a county.
Special thanks to all the players who played this season, the car drivers and the captain Richard Smith.
Well Done Everyone!
| Board | Rating | Kent | V | Lancashire | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ( W ) | 1557 (1693) | Dinley, Max | 1 – 0 | O’Rourke, T Ben | 1613 (1702) |
| 2 ( B ) | 1646 (1667) | Flaherty, Kevin | ½ – ½ | Barrow, Peter | 1647 (1681) |
| 3 ( W ) | 1588 (1624) | Brown, Chris D | 1 – 0 | Almond, Dave S | 1630 (1644) |
| 4 ( B ) | 1641 (1596) | Eagle, Joe | ½ – ½ | Aspinall, David E | 1595 (1628) |
| 5 ( W ) | 1584 (1595) | Benson, Tom | ½ – ½ | Taylor, Neil | 1604 (1614) |
| 6 ( B ) | 1583 (1594) | McKenna, James F | ½ – ½ | Jackson, Paul Robert | 1544 (1581) |
| 7 ( W ) | 1568 (1584) | Gilbertson, Cindy | ½ – ½ | Tuke, David | 1580 (1578) |
| 8 ( B ) | 1620 (1580) | Panesar, Jagdev | ½ – ½ | Jones, Steve | 1545 (1572) |
| 9 ( W ) | 1570 (1577) | McKenna, John R | 0 – 1 | Edhouse, Peter | 1278 (1541) |
| 10 ( B ) | 1643 (1577) | Newman, Martin E | ½ – ½ | Head, Graham | 1534 (1532) |
| 11 ( W ) | 1573 (1576) | Brockwell, Lee | 1 – 0 | Smith, Richard | 1595 (1513) |
| 12 ( B ) | 1603 (1549) | Clifford, Gary R | ½ – ½ | Moxham, John | 1473 (1466) |
| Average | 1598 | 7 – 5 | 1554 |