NCCU HISTORY
Part
4
1945-1999
The NCCU to the present day
Matches resumed after the second world war with the
main battles between Lancashire and Yorkshire but spirited opposition, usually
from Cheshire, Northumberland and Durham, was increased by the appearance of a
team from Cumberland and Westmorland. The new county boundaries caused a serious
problem when in 1975 a minority group decided to set up a Greater Manchester
County Chess Association. The methods used led to a special meeting of the NCCU
in 1976 to vote “That this Union cannot tolerate the establishment of a County
Association in its area against our will and by deceitful means”. The group
were accepted by the Midlands County Chess Union and have remained there. By the
late 1970’s the NCCU Championship consisted of 8 teams - Cheshire, Cleveland,
Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire, Merseyside, Northumbria and Yorkshire. For
Lancashire players train journeys to York were very familiar. On one occasion a
group were threatened with the police in York railway station cafe - for
gambling, which was the management interpretation of analysing the day’s
games. Road transport became the norm but there were snags. Heading for Hexham
on a beautiful day the Lancashire cars were amused to see a permanent road sign
warning of blizzards. This was less amusing a few minutes later when we were off
the road in a snowstorm! One car turned back. Less intrepid explorers decided to
divide the Championships into east and west leagues. The rules were less than
perfect and on one occasion Lancashire knocked themselves out by annihilating
Merseyside when they would have qualified for the finals with a ‘sensible’
8.5-7.5 victory. With the advent of competitions based on grading limits the
first team, or Open, Championship has become less popular as counties
concentrate on the lower grading limits. So in 1999 we are back where we were in
1871 - Lancashire playing Yorkshire for the Championship.
The
present situation.
With
county competition now based on grading limits, players at all levels now have
the opportunity to represent their county, be it at Open, U175, U150, U125, or
U100 level. The U125 and U100 competitions have proved particularly popular,
though thankfully there have always been at least two counties competing each
section. The 1990’s have proved particularly successful for the smaller
counties. Northumberland have ‘only’ won four county titles since the war
- but that includes a remarkable double of Open and U175 titles in 1990!.
Cleveland not only claimed their first county championship in 1994 - they did a
double by winning both the U150 and U125 competitions, a feat they repeated in
1996 with wins in the U125 and U100 sections. Cheshire and North Wales (who had
merged in 1968) have proved particularly competitive in the U125’s, winning
the Pennine Shield five times since 1987. However a fantastic achievement stands
above all of these - victory for 7 years running (1992-1998) by the Lancashire
Open team, captained by Mike Conroy. Unfortunately (for Lancashire) a resurgent
Yorkshire claimed both the Open and U175 titles in this, the Centenary year.
Which all goes to show that NCCU county competitions remains competitive after
100 years!
English
Championships for NCCU counties:
Lancashire
- 1946, 1948, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1978.
Yorkshire - 1921, 1982
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