Suffolk Chess

The Suffolk First Team today won both their matches, against Hertfordshire (12 - 4) and Cambridgeshire (10½ - 5½).   The final league table looks like this:

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Game Points	Match Points
Suffolk	8	6	1	1	72	13
Cambridgeshire	8	5	1	2	75½	11
Norfolk	8	5	1	2	74	11
Bedfordshire	8	2	0	6	50	4
Hertfordshire	8	0	1	7	48½	1

These two wins capped a tremendous season for the team, which lost only one match (to Norfolk) back in November.   Four players won both their games today: David Spence, Dagne Ciuksyte, Graham Moore and Richard Lamont.   Those on 1½ points included Shaun Munson, Ian Wallis (capt.), Mike Cook, Nick Savage, Silas Peck, Leon Burnett, Rob Sanders and Steve Ruthen.

Of course Suffolk are the current Minor Counties Champions (see here) and will now compete in the National Quarter-Finals in May, against the runners-up from the Midlands Counties zone.   Although there are three qualifying places (so Cambridgeshire and Norfolk also qualify) it was particularly important that Suffolk finished first.   The second and third-placed counties must play in a preliminary round, due to take place on the same weekend as the Great Yarmouth Congress at the end of April.