LMS - Counties Championship

Welcome to the ECF Counties Championship Results Service.

Championship website: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/counties-championship-2024/
Championship rules: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/County-Champi...
Results for competitions held from 2018 can be found in the Previous Seasons archive above: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/36/previous

2024 Finals

Watch the Open Championship games live from 1:30pm on Saturday 29 June
Northumberland v Surrey from Newark-upon-Trent G135/15
Livechess: https://view.livechesscloud.com/#a146de3b-7629-4faf-adac-1096e93a6aa7
Lichess: https://lichess.org/broadcast/counties-open-2024/round-1/tOCcfkni

There will be live commentary on the final with WIM Natasha Regan and GM Peter Wells starting at 3.00pm on Natasha’s Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/wim_natasharegan

All other Finals are being played on Saturday 6 July
Minor – Sussex v Lincolnshire at Whittlesford
U2050 – Greater Manchester v Cleveland at Bradford
U1850 – Hertfordshire v Greater Manchester at Coventry
U1650 – Greater Manchester v Yorkshire at Bradford
U1450 – Middlesex v Essex at Whittlesford

Navigation

The participating counties in the 2023-24 Counties Championships ECF finals stage are listed in the right hand side panel.

The Championship (Open) and the five other championships that comprise the ECF Counties Championship appear in the left hand side panel.

Fixtures and the draw/results table for each championship can be found within these Events. All fixtures and results tables can also be accessed from the top banner menu.

Match card standard rating display

Championship...FIDE latest for board order (ECF Monthly)
Minor Counties..ECF 1 Sep for eligibility and team average (ECF Monthly for board order)
Rating Limited...ECF 1 Sep for eligibility (ECF Monthly for board order)

Championships schedule
24 March – Close of nominations from the Union stage
08 April - Due by date for publication of the draws following the meeting of the Draw committee - DRAWS ARE PUBLISHED
27 April – Preliminary Round where required
11 May – Open, Minor Counties, U1850 & U1450 Quarter Finals
18 May – U2050 & U1650 Quarter Finals
08 June – Semi Finals of all championships
06 July – Finals of all championships
With the exception of the Finals, matches can be made on the immediately following Sunday or on an earlier weekend by agreement.

Union nominations for 2024 championships
Event EACU1..EACU2..MCCU1..MCCU2..NCCU1..NCCU2..SSCU1..SCCU2..WECU1..WECU2
Open ..........................................................Nland....Yorks......Surrey..Kent...................................
Minor Nfolk....Beds.....Lincs......Worcs....................................Sussex.................Somerset..Devon
U2050 ........................................................G Manc..Cleve'd...Essex...Surrey.................................
U1850 Sfolk....Herts....Lincs.......Staffs.....G Manc..Yorks......Kent.....Msex........Hampshire..........
U1650 ..........................Lincs......Worcs.....Yorks....G Manc....Kent.....Surrey.................................
U1450 ..........................Staffs..... Worcs....Yorks....G Manc....Msex... Essex...................................
Wildcard additional 2024 nominations:
U1450 S3 Kent

Eligibility ratings

Player eligibility for rating limited Championships and calculation of a team's mean rating is determined by the 1 September 2023 Official Original Standard rating list (the blue list), categories A and K only.

Players without a published 1 September 2023 Official Original standard (category K or A) rating will be assigned a competition rating according to their first published category K or A rating in subsequent Official Original standard lists (blue).

Any other player must be registered with the National Controller 7 days in advance of playing with evidence of playing strength so that the National Controller can assign a competition rating for the national stages of the championships, whether or not they were assigned an estimate by their Union Controller.

NB Players with a published partial (category P) rating are deemed to be unrated. Estimates assigned by a Union Controller do NOT carry over into the ECF stage.

Board order ratings

Board orders in all sections save for the Open are determined by the later 1 April (PR) or 1 May (QF) or 1 June (SF & F) Official Original Standard Rating lists according to the match being played.
In the Open the FIDE rating lists apply. By agreement the equivalent ECF rating list may also be used.

Approved players without a September Official standard (blue) K or A rating
GM U1650 344994E 1570 Ogilvie, Leo
LI U1850 358478B 1655 Anderson, George
LI U1650 316918C 1575 Ashcroft, Ben
LI U1650 310497H 1465 Bertins, Tom
LI U1850 362661B 1722 Fray, Gregory 1st K
LI U1850 341197H 1720 Poama-Covaci, Iulia 
YO U1850 357976B 1754 Mupfiga, Climate 1st K
A player's first published K original standard (blue) rating will automatically supercede any estimate above.
Non-September eligibility ratings are shown as L (local) ratings in the LMS player lists.

Qualifying competitions of the Unions
East - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/121006/home
Midlands - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/75914/home
North - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/88432/home
South - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/63543/home
West - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/116497/home

2023 Counties Championship Finals Day, played on Saturday 1st July from 1pm
WIM Natasha Regan and Ben Purton provided commentary for the Open final on the ECF Twitch Commentary Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/ecf_commentary

2023 Champions
Middlesex, Counties Champions to add to their SCCU title. Its 30 titles for Middlesex, extending their record further.
Cambridgeshire, Minor Counties Champions to add to their EACU title. Last won the Minor in 1988.
Essex, Under 2050 Champions, retaining their title, as well as their SCCU title; a hat-trick of championships.
Middlesex, Under 1850 Champions, retaining their title and a hat-trick if the 2019 U160 title equates, to add to their SCCU title.
Yorkshire, Under 1650 Champions to add to their NCCU title; Yorkshire's first U1650/U120
Greater Manchester , Under 1450 Champions. Greater Manchester's first U1450/U100
Control/ Arbiting Team– Chief Arbiter IA Shohreh Bayat; ECF Counties Championship Controller Mark Murrell
Staines – IA Shohreh Bayat and Richard Buxton; Syston – Francis Bowers, Phil Beckett; Thetford – Rob Hammond

Replay the Finals online
Open (all) – DGT Livechess iCloud – https://view.livechesscloud.com#b1efd519-d723-4bb6-8e91-1557822f78b5
Open (all) – Lichess.org – https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-counties-championship-open-final-2023/...
Open (all) – Chess.com – https://www.chess.com/events/2023-ecf-counties-open-championship-final
Minor Counties (1-5) – DGT Livechess iCloud – https://view.livechesscloud.com/#8885abd8-7360-408d-9e6d-5fec827784fd
Minor Counties (1-5) – Lichess.org – https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-counties-championship-minor-counties-f...

Matchcard pairings and results can be viewed at the following ECF LMS links or follow the navigation from the Events panel:
Championship...https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139786
Minor Counties..https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139787
U2050................https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139807
U1850................https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139814
U1650................https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139821
U1450................https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/139828
Overview...........https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/36/today/882

The Finals were played at regional venues chosen by the ECF Home Director as follows:
1:00pm Open & U2050: Hythe Centre, 36 Thorpe Road, Staines-upon-Thames TW18 3HD
1:30pm Minor Counties: Guildhall, Cage Lane, Thetford IP24 2DS
1:30pm U1850, U1650 & U1450 at Syston Community Centre, 18 School St, Syston, Leicester LE7 1HN

Union nominations for 2023 championships
Event EACU1..EACU2..MCCU1..MCCU2..NCCU1..NCCU2..SSCU1..SCCU2..WECU1..WECU2
Open .............................................................Nland..G Man...Msex....Surrey
Minor Cambs..Nfolk...Lincs ......Worcs..............................Sussex..............Devon...Somerset
U2050 ........................Warks..................Yorks....N land...Essex....Surrey
U1850 Nfolk.....Herts..............................Yorks....G Man...Msex.....Essex
U1650 ........................Worcs.....Staffs.....Yorks....G Man...Essex....Msex
U1450 ........................Notts......Staffs.....Yorks....G Man...Surrey...Essex
Wildcard additional 2023 nominations:
U1650 M3 Warwickshire & S3 Surrey; U1450 S3 Middlesex

2022 National Champions
Northumberland, Counties Champions to add to their online & NCCU titles.
Devon, Minor Counties Champions, the first WECU county to do so.
Essex, Under 2050 Champions, retaining their title, as well as SCCU.
Middlesex, Under 1850 Champions, having started in the Preliminary round.
Surrey, Under 1650 Champions as well as SCCU.
Essex, Under 1450 Champions, having played in all 3 rounds.

Finals Day 2022 played on 2nd July.
There was online coverage of the top three sections of the Championships Finals as follows:

The Counties Championship: Northumberland  v Yorkshire in Darlington starting at 2.00pm. Top boards will be broadcast live on Lichess: https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-county-championships-finals-open/round...
Also on LiveChessCloud:  https://view.livechesscloud.com/#db57e803-5e71-4c28-a4f7-2e4271f32f40

Minor Counties: Devon v Norfolk at Knapshill, Woking - Top boards will be broadcast live on Lichess: https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-minor-counties-championships-knaphill-...
Also on LiveChessCloud – https://view.livechesscloud.com/#99024a76-ff89-40c4-b275-92be669a590a

U2050 Essex v Surrey at Wanstead House  - Top boards will be broadcast live on Lichess: https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-u2050-counties-championship-final-esse...
Also on LiveChessCloud – https://view.livechesscloud.com/#6bdc39ed-009c-41e1-8182-71be6d8b2cff