CCC

n°	Grade	Cumbria	2½	9½	Opponent	Grade
1	177	John Jarmany	½	½	Peter Kirby	174
2	171	Dave Phillips	½	½	John Cooper	174
3	170	David Jarmany	½	½	Paul Jackson	171
4	161	Dave Siddall	0	1	Matthew Webb	167
5	160	Jim Woodburn	0	1	Tom Pitcher	168
6	157	Dave Cole	0	1	Dennis Owen	168
7	153	George Horne	0	1	John Lyth	168
8	149	Peter Shaw	½	½	Andrew Shepherd	168
9	143	Philippe Gleizon	½	½	Tim Turner	162
10	142	Syd Cassidy	0	1	Dave O'Toole	156
11	141	Dave McMath	0	1	Richard Collins	161
12	127	Trevor Blower	0	1	David Wedge	163

This year, the county match was organised as a one day Jamboree at Bradford, in the premises of the Football Club stadium. Compared to the previous years, the one day jamboree had the benefit to reduce the amount of travelling for the competition. There were a total of six sections where teams could enter. After the re-evaluation of the grades from the ECF, Cumbria could enter either a slightly stronger section (U180) or a lower section (U160), compared to last year. Cumbria decided to enter a team in the U180 section, which gave the higher graded players an opportunity to play for the team.

As it appeared on the day, except for the mighty Yorkshire and Lancashire, Cumbria was the only other county from the NCCU to enter a team, all sections included. Although we had only one team, this was very positive for chess in Cumbria, as it showed our dynamism. One might say with humour that if our team had not been there, the Jamboree could have been nicknamed “the roses match”!

Except for the first five boards, our team was clearly outgraded. We eventually got 2.5 points out of 12 boards, from five draws from the Windermere and Cockermouth players. Nonetheless we did not give it easily and many games were hard fought, as for instance Syd Cassidy’s game, which was looking even until he took a pawn that diverted a key piece and consequently weakened his king. John Jarmany on top board had the better position and probably a win in hand if it had not been for the time pressure. With only two minutes left on his clock and no clear quick win, accepting the draw offer was a wise decision. Peter Shaw was the last player of the team to finish, showing a good resilience by securing a draw while being a pawn down in the endgame.

We did not qualify for the quarter-finals but it was a very enjoyable day. I would like to thank all players that participated and also those that volunteered but could not be selected.