Stan Lovell writes:

Earlier this year We received an enquiry from Bernard Duthoit, a member of the French BCA, asking if there might be sufficient support for a match between the French BCA and the UK BCA.  After a few weeks enquiries we were able to raise teams of 15 for each side.  Each association included some of its overseas members in their teams.  The match was played over two legs with the French playing with the white pieces in the first leg and the UK having the white pieces in the second leg.  At the time it was thought games would generally be played via Skype or Lichess, but when Microsoft pulled the plug on Skype the alternative platform became Jitsi.

In the early rounds UK built up a lead, but the French gradually caught up and ended the round with a lead of 8 to 7.  In the second leg the French gradually increased this lead and finished by winning 17 to 13.

The match was played in a great spirit and there have been some discussions about the possibility of more international matches in varying formats.  Sincere thanks are due to Bernard, who originally came up with the idea and to Philippe De Coninck, who acted as organiser throughout, providing the Jitsi links and keeping us up to date with a regular commentary of the scores.  Thanks are also due to all who joined our team.

Here are the final scores in board order, with the UK players named first:

1 Steve Burnell v Pierre Lambert 0.5 – 1.5

2 Brandan Read v Juliano Caputi 2 – 0

3 Norman Wragg v Pascal Pourteau 1 – 1

4 Stan Lovell v Clementine Kruk 0 – 2

5 Eamonn Casey v Phillippe De Coninck 2 – 0

6 Ben Fletcher-Harris v Yves Le Brun 2 – 0

7 Mahendra Galani v Jean De Lusatts 0 – 2

8 Mark Hague v Monica De Fazio 1 – 1

9 Voldi Gailans v Andre Vincent 1.5 – 0.5

10 Malcolm Jones v Regis Gerbeaux 1 -1

11 Lea Ryan v Catherine Dib 2 – 0

12 John Ramm v Michel Farfallini 0 – 2

13 Irene Hampton v Alain Valmallette 0 – 2

14 Marilyn Bland v Laure Soubrier 0 – 2

15 Abi Baker v Yves Ortis 0 – 2

Total UK 13 – France 17