32 players sat down at just after 1.30 for the Staffordshire v Leicestershire Inter-County match. Staffordshire had a junior player on board one, Leicestershire had a junior player on board two.

Comparing the grades suggested Leicestershire had the edge. The matches finished one by one. There was never more than a point in it. Staffs took an early lead; Then Leics caught up and overtook them. With just three boards still playing, Staffs had a one point lead. With just board one to finish, the teams were level.

15 games had finished, but it would all depended on the outcome of just that one final game. Craig Whitfield had a king + pawn against the Leicester player's king, but Craig was in time trouble and that pawn was a long way from promotion. Could he promote and give checkmate before time ran out? As the clock continued to tick, he marched the pawn up the board, promoted to queen and just a few moves later ..... checkmate!

Well done to Craig, the whole team, and everyone involved with today's victory. And of course well played to all the Leicestershire players, especially their board two.

Bd Grade STAFFORDSHIRE Score Score LEICESTERSHIRE Grade
1 141 Craig M Whitfield 1 0 M Cowley 146
2 148 Simon R Edwards 1 0 B Clarke 122
3 146 John Staniforth ½ ½ A Jex 141
4 143 Phillip D Porter 1 0 D Farrell 137
5 134 David Daniels 0 1 P Colbury 135
6 129 Peter Leary ½ ½ I Dodds 134
7 Ung Kevin D Hadley 0 1 PK Harrison 133
8 126 Max Wooton ½ ½ S Turvey 133
9 125 Stephen R Wilcox ½ ½ S Wyle 132
10 124 Manoj Arora ½ ½ M Tate 131
11 120 Kenneth McNulty 1 0 O Hardy 131
12 118 Ken AJ Francis ½ ½ P Marlow 130
13 114 K Roger Grainger 1 0 R Collins 128
14 Ung Andy Lenz ½ ½ K Potter 127
15 111 Stephen M Harris 0 1 F Katumwa 122
16 102 John E Button 0 1 D Busby 94
TOTALS 8½ 7½

My thanks to all the players, including the reserves (Ray Dolan, Peter Evans and Matthew Carr). Also to the players who wanted to play, but had other commitments that stopped them from taking part. Finally, as substitute team captain, my thanks to Steve Wilcox, Martyn Harris and David Anderton etc for asking players in their club whether they would be interested. I do appreciate it!!!

Greater Manchester v Staffordshire
Unfortunately, Stephane stood down as team captain for personal reasons just before the match against Greater Manchester. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing him well. But he did stay on as team contact to minimise the risk of communications going astray or similar.

As a temporary measure, Andrew Davies stepped in to put a team together for the final fixture against Leicester.

Staffordshire 4 - 12 Nottinghamshire
Match played 1 December 2007 at Brewood

Bd Grade STAFFORDSHIRE Score Score NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Grade
1 148 Simon EDWARDS 0 1 A J WRIGHT 149
2 140 Trevor OWEN 0 1 M McBETH 149
3 138 Stephen HILL 0 1 W PLACE 148
4 134 Dave DANIELS ½ ½ A COMBIE 148
5 132 Martin MAY 0 1 T A LANE 145
6 132 Diarmid GIBSON ½ ½ S HUNTER 141
7 131 Frank WOOD ½ ½ B THOMPSON 141
8 129 Derek PERKS 1 0 D TOMS 138
9 129 Peter LEARY ½ ½ L MESSAM-SPARKS 137
10 124 Manoj ARORA 0 1 B M HAYWARD 136
11 126 Max WOOTTON 0 1 J K WALTERS 130
12 125 Steve WILCOX 0 1 N GRAHAM 129
13 120 Ken McNULTY ½ ½ J DAY 127
14 118 Ken FRANCIS 0 1 R P TAYLOR 129
15 111 Steve HARRIS ½ ½ J TASSI 128
16 98 Est Ray DOLAN 0 1 O EXTON 126
TOTALS 4 12

Staffordshire 4 - 12 Warwickshire
Match played 3 November 2007 at Brewood

Bd Grade STAFFORDSHIRE Score Score WARWICKSHIRE Grade
1 146 John STANIFORTH 0 1 C Eckloff 148
2 143 Philip PORTER ½ ½ R Wallman 148
3 139 Martyn HARRIS 1 Def DEFAULT 146
4 134 Dave DANIELS 1 0 T Robinson 146
5 129 Derek PERKS ½ ½ R Reynolds 144
6 129 Peter LEARY 0 1 R Walker 143
7 126 Max WOOTTON 0 1 R C Reynolds 142
8 125 John DAY 0 1 K Thomas 141
9 120 Ken McNULTY 0 1 G Hope 140
10 118 Ken FRANCIS 0 1 J Fahy 135
11 117 Alan DOBSON ½ ½ P Bull 135
12 114 Roger GRAINGER 0 1 A Draper 135
13 111 Steve HARRIS ½ ½ A Wilson 128
14 108 Kelvin JONES 0 1 A Burnet 127
15 104 Peter SHAW 0 1 C Evans 124
16 138 Stephane PEDDER 0 1 S Ralph 117
TOTALS 4 12

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