Amazingly, Richard went on to lose from here. White can probably win with 1 bxa4 Kxc4 2 Ke3 Kb4 3 Kd4 Kxa4 4 Kc5 Ka5 5 Kc6 Ka6 6 Kd7 Bf8 7 Ke8 and Black is helpless.
| Bd | Herts | 5½ | 6½ | Essex | 6 | 6 | Herts |
| 1 | Yvette Cook | 0 | 1 | Simon Payne | 0 | 1 | Joel Ward |
| 2 | Joel Ward | 0 | 1 | Matthew Bertuzzo | 1 | 0 | Yvette Cook |
| 3 | Alex Beggs | 1 | 0 | Richard Maynes | 0 | 1 | Rory Scott |
| 4 | Rory Scott | 0 | 1 | William Cheung | 0 | 1 | Alex Beggs |
| 5 | Robert Marx | 1 | 0 | Jonathan Fallman | 1 | 0 | Alex Harrison |
| 6 | Alex Harrison | ½ | ½ | Hamish Hore | 0 | 1 | Robert Marx |
| 7 | Cameron Little | 1 | 0 | Adam Jellett | 1 | 0 | Edward Little |
| 8 | Edward Little | 1 | 0 | Lloyd Carter | 0 | 1 | Cameron Little |
| 9 | George Ward | 0 | 1 | Angus Roberts | 0 | 1 | Daniel Phillips |
| 10 | Daniel Phillips | 1 | 0 | Liam Hough | 1 | 0 | George Ward |
| 11 | def | 0 | 1 | Jake King | 1 | 0 | def |
| 12 | def | 0 | 1 | Chris Sheehan | 1 | 0 | def |
This was not an afternoon which showed Essex Junior Chess off in its best light. Despite the absence of two Hertfordshire players which gave Chris Sheehan and Jake King a free afternoon, we never succeeded in stamping our authority on the match and it was not until the final minute of the last game to finish that we pulled clear.
In round 1, there were some golden opportunites that went begging. Richard Maynes had established a position which caused me to remark to the Herts manager, Jeremy Ward, that in 30 years' competitive chess I had never seen a bishop as bad as Black's. Here is the position in which Richard has White:-
Amazingly, Richard went on to lose from here. White can probably win with 1 bxa4 Kxc4 2 Ke3 Kb4 3 Kd4 Kxa4 4 Kc5 Ka5 5 Kc6 Ka6 6 Kd7 Bf8 7 Ke8 and Black is helpless.
Adam Jellett reached the following playable position as White:-
This provoked the novel idea 1. Resigns. Adam, now a Year 7 at Southend High School, achieved an amazing run of success about 3 years ago and went through a spell in which he won almost every London Junior Qualifier he entered. He hasn't played for a while and the layoff clearly hasn't improved him. In his second game, Adam's opponent made an error which Adam punished unmercifully and he was the first finished as a result.
There were, as ever, some high points. Matthew Bertuzzo was head and shoulders above the remainder of the Essex team, taking control in both games and, in round 2, surprising his opponent with a very fine checkmate involving a bishop pair. Simon Payne played very well in the first round but an error in round 2 cost him the game. Angus Roberts won a long game in the first round and was last to finish. Liam Hough applied himself very well, losing a long game which went down to the last pawn in the first round but overwhelming his opponent in round 2. William Cheung won well in round 1 but succumbed to pressure in the second round and let a good position slip.
Quite remarkably, Essex has qualified from the Herts - Surrey - Essex group in first place. Each team won one and lost one against the others and the points totals were Essex 48½ Herts 48 Surrey 47½.
A special mention should be made of Jonathan Fallman. Another player lacking in match practice, he lost quite poorly in round 1. In round 2, he failed to develop his king-side and a position of something like
was reached after an exceedingly long sequence of checks in which Jonathan was very tempted to take the draw but to have done so would have cost us the match and first place as his was the last game to finish.
Jonathan had only about 2 minutes remaining and on two occasions his opponent made illegal moves but, crucially, was corrected by Jonathan before he had pressed his clock. Had the clock been stopped, Jonathan would have been entitled to 2 extra minutes on each occasion. As it was, there were multiple exchanges and Jonathan then took the game by the scruff of the neck, packing more good chess into the last two minutes than he had played all afternoon. Eventually he succeeded in queening a pawn and delivered the mate that saw us through into the Final with less than 20 seconds remaining.