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This Essex under 9 side is probably the best the County has produced in 10 years' competition for the Peter Ayckroyd Trophy. We have won twice, in 1996 when Essex scored 26½, enjoying a winning margin of 1 point over Kent, and in 2000, when an Essex score of 28½ gave us a 3½ point margin of victory over the second-placed team, NW London. To improve on that score by 2½ points yet not win is a very bitter pill to swallow, but one has to acknowledge the excellence of a Richmond team who lost only one game in the first 24 played and, in spite of a "poor" third round of only 9 points (!) still managed to cling on to their lead.
Of the 36 games played, Essex lost only three, one in each round, and oddly enough it was the first Essex result declared in each round. After that, our players were magnificent, all of them scoring at least 2/3 and in some cases turning round difficult positions to achieve a favourable result. More often, the Essex player simply overwhelmed the opponent. George O'Toole, on top board and still 5 weeks short of his 8th birthday (and, incidentally, in his 4th season of EPSCA Competition) appears to have no equal in Britain in his age group. George had no trouble reaching 3/3, 6/6 for the season. Simon Payne, on board 2, scored 2½ on the day and only conceded a draw as, try as he might, the opposite coloured bishops ending would yield nothing. Subin Sen is clearly stronger than most other Counties' top boards - 6/6 for the under 9s so far, and 9/9 including the under 11s. Adam Jellett scored 2½/3, winning easily in two of his games and running out of time in the other. Katie Hale reached 3 points without the slightest difficulty, and Jonathan Fallman also won all his games in superb style, always in control. Hamish Hore's 3/3 was against some tough opposition, including a third round against Richmond, and Jamie Burgoyne, promoted from the reserves, managed 3/3, sometimes with a bit of good fortune, but he stuck bravely to his task. The fact is that there was no Essex player in the top half who was at any stage in danger of losing a game.
However, the problem with the Jamboree format is that with 16 teams and only 12 players per team, the leading teams have too few opportunities to compete with one another head-to-head. In the first round, Essex did not get to play Richmond, whose only loss was on board 2 against Hertfordshire. In the second round, Adam Jellett played a superb controlled game against the Richmond board 4 to win a piece and eventually reached an ending in which he had a rook and two connected pased pawns against his opponent's rook. Such endings are not as easy as they look (a couple of years ago in the British Championships Jon Speelman played on in such a position againt Nigel Short: Short won, but it was tricky) and Adam could definitely have done with more time. He finally agreed a draw when both flags were beginning to lift. The only other Essex encounter against Richmond was on board 9 in round 3. Hamish Hore blew his opponent away.
Adam was not the only player for whom lack of time affected the result, and EPSCA would do well to examine carefully the rule change they introduced this season, reducing the amount of time in the under 9 competition from 50 minutes per player to 40. Strong players need more time, and to reduce the time controls because weaker counties find their teams spending more time playing football than they do playing chess is dumbing down in the extreme. In round 1, the game between Richmond and Manchester was heading Manchester's way, but the Northern player, in spite of having an extra rook, started to panic as he had so little time left. The result was that the Richmond player managed to queen a pawn and went on to win the game. There were several occasions in both the heats and the finals in which critical games were subject to a time shortage which would not have happened under the old rules.
Essex went into the last round two points short of the Richmond total. Although Hampshire had scored 10 points in the first round, they managed only 4½ in round 2, so the competition became a two-horse race. Essex needed someone other than Hamish Hore to score points against them, and two other teams did indeed oblige. At one point, Gavin Wall, the Richmond Coach, conceded that Essex had shaded it, but this assessment was based upon an error by the scorers, who had marked up a loss for the Richmond board 11. Essex needed to overhaul the Richmond total: a tie would have done us no good because the first tie break is the number of wins. Richmond won 31, drew 1 and lost 4; Essex won 29, drew 4 and lost 3.
The Southern domination of the competition did not end with Essex and Richmond. Wey Valley maintained a high standard, and their 26 points in some years would have been enough to win. Hertfordshire, for whom this was a first-ever EPSCA final other than when they have been hosts, also scored well, managing 21½. Hampshire, after an impressive start, fell away but still scored well, ending on 21, and Barnet, hosts for the day, scored 20. Nottinghamshire and Manchester each scored 19½, but after that there was a very big gap as the remaining eight teams found points very hard to come by.
It seems to be the case that the stakes in EPSCA events are becoming higher year by year, and that for a team to expect to compete successfully, a great deal of preparatory work has to be done by the coaches and parents to ensure that this high standard is maintained. The Richmond Junior Club's scheme is of course legendary. Barnet now offer regular courses (and several Essex juniors have taken advantage of these), Hertfordshire are clearly improving rapidly, Sussex are a force to be reckoned with, and of course we have a good deal going on in Essex. Do other counties take this competition as seriously as we do in the South-east? It remains the case that Suffolk is the only county without a London border ever to win the under 9 Championship.
Finally, after a thorough check of all the results slips to ensure that every result had been recorded correctly, Richmond were declared the winners and Essex second. This was a great performance by Essex and is almost certainly the highest-ever score by the runners-up.