Notts lost their quarter- final tie to Middlesex played at Milton Keynes on 16.5.15 . The game like the General Election campaign seemed in balance throughout. Although we were outgraded by on average 8 points, a board default from Middlesex, and wins on the top 2 boards from John Collins and Hamzah Ali appeared to present a good platform for  victory. Even with the last board in play the likeliest result appeared a Notts. win on board count. Taylor Pearson's opponent hadn't read this script and cleverly found a way to win in a deceptively drawn-looking position. Gambit players scored particularly well with 2 wins and 3 draws. Our Northern-based players  performed like the  Labour Party in Scotland. A half-point from our car (Bob, Stan, George or myself) would have given us the win. We failed to take our chances... The Home Counties  prosper whilst the regions stubbornly refuse to climb out of recession. 

Greater Manchester U160 v Notts U160  4-10  Notts Rampant

7/2/15. A razor-sharp Notts put their opponents to the sword. The 10 individual winners included Geoff on Board 2 and Bob. Neil assembled a very strong team with Tim Lane, our regular Board 1 in previous campaigns on Board 13. He even managed to get Jerry to turn out in a County match for the first time in recorded history, although without a happy ending. For details see http://www.mccu.org.

Notts U180 v Warwichire U180       Notts 6.5- Warwickshire 9.5

Saturday 24/1/15 at Bramcote

With half the regulars missing, Neil called up the reservists. Notts. fielded 9 team members graded under 150. The opposition fielded two. We made a good contest of it. The top 8 boards were halved including wins from Brian Thompson on Board 1 and Dave Flynn.  Six players gained well-earned draws, most against higher graded opponents  We even shaded the bottom four boards, as I got lucky. The victory was secured by the clean sweep on Boards 9-12. Hopefully, this tie will have helped to fine tune the play of those who will be appearing soon in the decisive County U160 qualifying match against Greater Manchester.