| Position | Teams | Pl | W | D | L | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lincolnshire | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Worcestershire | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Warwickshire | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Dec | Warwickshire v Lincolnshire | 5½-10½ |
| 21 Jan | Lincolnshire v Worcestershire | 10-6 |
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 13 May | Lincolnshire v Somerset | 16-0 |
| 10 Jun | Lincolnshire v Norfolk | 6-10 |
Warwickshire v Lincolnshire
Report from Nigel Birtwistle
After an enforced absence of almost three years due to the pandemic Lincolnshire finally returned to playing county chess again when they met Warwickshire at Syston. The personnel of the team had changed quite a bit with several players having retired from competitive play since our last match. But we were able to welcome three recruits into the team. Eric Gibbon from Stamford and our most promising junior Alex Royle were making their Lincolnshire debuts. The other recruit was not so new. Martin Pettinger formerly of Grimsby Chess Club and a three-time Lincolnshire Champion returned to play for the county of his birth. Martin has only recently started playing chess again after a thirty-year absence and travelled over from Chesterfield to take his place in the team.
Lincolnshire got off to a flying start with a quick win from Sam Milson and raced in to an early four-point lead at the halfway stage. Warwickshire did manage to pull a couple of points back, but the result was never really in doubt and Lincolnshire ran out convincing winners by a 10½ - 5½ margin. The fighting team spirit and will to win of old was once again in evidence and it was great to see the county team back in action once more. Hopefully we can use this result as a springboard and continue to rebuild the team into the force that we were before. Our next match is against Worcestershire at Syston on Saturday 21st January.
| Warwickshire (Home team) | Lincolnshire (Away team) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board | Colour | Name | Club | Grade | Score | Name | Club | Grade |
| 1 | B | Shabir Okhai | Sutton Coldfield | 2296 | ½-½ | Nigel Birtwistle | Grantham | 2244 |
| 2 | W | Henrik Stepanyan | Sutton Coldfield | 2265 | ½-½ | Steven Prior | Grantham | 2218 |
| 3 | B | Russell James | Solihull | 2137 | 0-1 | Jason Dilley | Grantham | 2212 |
| 4 | W | Jude Shearsby | Kenilworth | 2077 | 0-1 | Samuel Milson | Louth | 2196 |
| 5 | B | Mircea Mesesan | Warwickshire | 2010 | 0-1 | Nick Stead | Grimsby | 2154 |
| 6 | W | Mark Cundy | Olton | 1946 | 0-1 | David Coates | Lincoln | 2001 |
| 7 | B | Tony Hickey | Oscott | 1918 | 0-1 | Kevin McCarthy | Grantham | 1982 |
| 8 | W | Golam Ali | Sutton Coldfield | 1924 | 1-0 | Eric Gibbon | Lincolnshire | 1949 |
| 9 | B | John Mildenhall | Suton Coldfield | 1898 | ½-½ | Graham Ladds | Newark | 1923 |
| 10 | W | Keith Escott | Sutton Coldfield | 1897 | ½-½ | Francis Bowers | Grantham | 1897 |
| 11 | B | Gary Hope | Olton | 1853 | ½-½ | Stuart MacDonald | Grimsby | 1874 |
| 12 | W | Richard Reynolds | Olton | 1861 | 0-1 | Martin Pettinger | Lincolnshire | 1872 |
| 13 | B | Roy Lawrence | Sutton Coldfield | 1799 | 1-0 | Andy Hebert | Grantham | 1862 |
| 14 | W | Keith Thomas | Oscott | 1779 | ½-½ | Denis Georgiou | Scunthorpe | 1827 |
| 15 | B | Arjun Pyda | Sutton Coldfield | 1754 | ½-½ | Ben Mason | Grantham | 1784 |
| 16 | W | Mike Biddle | Oscott | 1728 | 0-1 | Alex Royle | Grantham | 1721 |
| 5½-10½ | ||||||||
Lincolnshire v Worcestershire
Report from Nigel Birtwistle
Lincolnshire played their second and final match of the MCCU season against Worcestershire at Syston. After having convincingly won our first fixture against Warwickshire before Christmas we knew that a win in this match would be enough to qualify for the national stages of the Minor Counties competition. Preparation in the run up to the match had not been great. On Friday evening we were three players short of a full team. Fortunately, Rod Wardlaw, Alan Nelder and Allan Marshall stepped in at the last minute to dig us out of a large hole and maintain the proud Lincolnshire record of having never defaulted a board during almost fourteen years of my tenure as captain.
Having successfully plugged the gaps and suffered no further setbacks we finally managed to get sixteen players sat at the board. On paper it looked like being a close match. At one stage the match was delicately poised at 4½ - 4½ but a strong final session saw us crank up the pressure on our opponents and in the end, we ran out comfortable winners by a 10-6 margin.
I am fortunate to have a dedicated group of players again this season. We have lost a few players for various reasons since the pandemic, but we have also recruited some new faces into our team as well. Despite the changes in personnel the core factors behind the team’s success have never changed. A great team spirit and determination to win still runs deep in our team and hopefully it will help us when we come up against more difficult opposition when the National knockout stages of the Minor Counties competition get underway in early May.
| Lincolnshire (Home team) | Worcestershire (Away team) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board | Colour | Name | Club | Grade | Score | Name | Club | Grade |
| 1 | W | Nigel Birtwistle | Grantham | 2246 | 1-0 | John Edge | Halesowen | 2085 |
| 2 | B | Steven Prior | Grantham | 2219 | ½-½ | Lee Davis | Malvern | 2083 |
| 3 | W | Samuel Milson | Louth | 2196 | 1-0 | Dan Lambourne | Redditch | 2072 |
| 4 | B | Nick Stead | Grimsby | 2147 | 1-0 | Stephen Mellor | Worcester | 2059 |
| 5 | W | Joe Kilshaw | Scunthorpe | 2032 | 1-0 | Joe Friar | Kidderminster | 2045 |
| 6 | B | David Coates | Lincoln | 2022 | 0-1 | Kevin Hurney | Greenlands | 2028 |
| 7 | W | Graham Ladds | Newark | 1930 | 0-1 | Peter Kitson | Worcester | 2026 |
| 8 | B | Martin Pettinger | Lincolnshire | 1900 | 1-0 | Brian Turner | Malvern | 1977 |
| 9 | W | Eric Gibbon | Lincolnshire | 1899 | 1-0 | John Wrench | Kidderminster | 1948 |
| 10 | B | Stuart MacDonald | Grimsby | 1897 | 0-1 | Harry Evans | Redditch | 1894 |
| 11 | W | Keith Palmer | Louth | 1829 | ½-½ | Stephen Woodhouse | Greenlands | 1891 |
| 12 | B | Chris Hill | Grantham | 1795 | 1-0 | Gavin Cartwright | Longbridge | 1889 |
| 13 | W | Chris Holt | Grantham | 1786 | ½-½ | Nigel Towers | Redditch | 1821 |
| 14 | B | Rod Wardlaw | Scunthorpe | 1785 | ½-½ | Paul Sharratt | Stourbridge | 1757 |
| 15 | W | Alan Nelder | Grantham | 1618 | 0-1 | Tony Shaw | Worcester | 1759 |
| 16 | B | Allan Marshall | Boston | 1578 | 1-0 | Eric Horwill | Stourbridge | 1700 |
| 10-6 | ||||||||
Lincolnshire v Norfolk
| Lincolnshire (Home team) | Norfolk (Away team) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board | Colour | Name | Club | Grade | Score | Name | Club | Grade |
| 1 | W | Stephen Prior | Grantham | 2229 | ½-½ | Michael Harris | Broadland | 2312 |
| 2 | B | Nigel Birtwistle | Grantham | 2197 | ½-½ | Martin Walker | Norwich Dons | 2193 |
| 3 | W | Paul Cumbers | Grantham | 2193 | 0-1 | Gerald Moore | Broadland | 2150 |
| 4 | B | Jason Dilley | Lincolnshire | 2166 | 1-0 | Ken McEwan | Broadland | 2124 |
| 5 | W | Nick Stead | Grimsby | 2136 | 0-1 | Geoffrey Moore | Norwich Dons | 2103 |
| 6 | B | Joe Kilshaw | Scunthorpe | 2060 | ½-½ | Philip Bonafont | Norwich Dons | 2097 |
| 7 | W | David Coates | Lincoln | 2047 | ½-½ | Vivash Samarakoon | Norfolk & Norwich | 2093 |
| 8 | B | Kevin McCarthy | Grantham | 1999 | ½-½ | Roy Hughes | Broadland | 2049 |
| 9 | W | Martin Pettinger | Lincolnshire | 1965 | 0-1 | Alexander New | Norwich Dons | 2013 |
| 10 | B | Raymond Ilett | Lincolnshire | 1943 | 0-1 | Steve Pullinger | Broadland | 2003 |
| 11 | W | Alex Royle | Grantham | 1919 | 1-0 | Nathan Abbott | St Johns Norwich | 1972 |
| 12 | B | Francis Bowers | Grantham | 1916 | 0-1 | Andrew Slough | Aylsham | 1944 |
| 13 | W | Graham Ladds | Newark | 1901 | 0-1 | David Hall | Norwich Dons | 1911 |
| 14 | B | Eric Gibbon | Lincolnshire | 1853 | 1-0 | Mervyn Hughes | Norwich Dons | 1871 |
| 15 | W | Stuart MacDonald | Grimsby | 1850 | 0-1 | Samuel Gaffney | Norfolk | 1868 |
| 16 | B | Andrew Hebert | Grantham | 1848 | ½-½ | Steve Moore | Norwich Dons | 1841 |
| 6-10 | ||||||||