Junior Squad Championships 2012
These were held at Tiffins School in Kingston Upon Thames and attracted 144 players in four sections including many of our best juniors. The U16s was the smallest with the closeness of GCSE persuading many to stay away (although intelligent chess players have nothing to fear!!). 17 took part and the lead changed hands when the early leader, Oskar Hackner, was defeated by Joseph Levene. Joseph, in turn, was defeated by Jamie Tilston and, as Oskar won his last game these two shared first place with Kumar Dixit and Philip Knott third equal on 3.5. There were 27 U14 players and, again, this was closely contested. Ananth. Balaji and Akito Oyama drew in Round Four and were joined on 3.5 by Adam C Taylor. The final round saw Ananth. Defeat Adam, whilst Leo Tsoi beat Akito. This left Ananth. Sole winner with Leo and Taran Jina second on 4 points. Akito, Adam and Prashast Vir were 4= a further half point behind. The U 12s was the largest section with 59 players and was very hard fought. Dion Huang, Jake Liang, David Liu and Yang-Jian Zhou were all on 3\3 but then all drew to be joined on 3.5 by James Kearney and Joshua Higgs. In the final round Jake beat James, Joshua beat Dion and Yang-Jian beat David leaving three joint winners. Matthew McLachlan and Richard Zhu shared fourth place. The U10s had 41 players with Nikolai Hinterreither and Koby Kalavannan sharing first place and Joshua Altman, Anantha Anilkumar and Charlie Mclaren loint third.
Thanks are due to Marc Shaw for arranging the venue and arbiting, Alec Webster for doing the entries and finance as well as arbiting and Rob Wilmoth for helping with the sections. I would also like to thank Tiffins School for hosting the event. Unfortunately, try as I can I have been unable to get full results on our results page - sorry.
Date for your diary
2013 Squad Championships will be the usual weekend after Easter 6\7 April at Barcelo Daventry Court Hotel. The Junior 4NCL will also be there but Mike Truran and I have looked at the lists and there is practically no overlap whilst we get a free venue in the middle of the country.
No entry forms yet but please note the date.
West of England Championships. Swindon 2012
There was a record turn out of 350 players for this event. It was well supported by squad members and some excellent chess was played. Congratulations to Peter Batchelor and Marcus Harvey (U18), Ananth Balaji, Roman Mitra, Akito Oyama and Adam C Tayor (U14), Vincent Lee (U12) in winning their sections.
Trzebinia 2012
The full report is to be found on the Squad Trips page. Thanks to Ian and Geoff for running the trip.
English Closed Yateley Manor
Please see under squad events for a full report of this event. Congratulations to winning Squad Members Aditya Yanamandra (U10 1st=). Jake Liang (U12), Ananth Balaji, Adam C Taylor, Daniel Abbas and Leo Tsoi (U14 1st=) and Peter Batchelor (U16). Congratulations are also in order to Beatrice Steele, Eva Ressel, Vincent Lee, Ryan Wong, Alex Kitshoff, Ragul Sudhakar and Pavin Murali all of whom gained their second norms. We are very pleased to welcome them in to the squad and hope they enjoy their time in the Squad.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SQUAD MEMBERS AND FAMILIES
Under 12 Training Weekend
This annual event moved to a new venue this year, Suites Hotel in Knowsley. It proved a successful change with good playing facilities, a decent pool, all bedrooms being suites and a decent menu. 50 players attended, and were treated to a varied coaching programme from chief coach Andrew Martin, GM Nigel Davies and IM Graeme Buckley. Some coaching on the Laws of Chess and a swimming session were provided by Peter Purland and the whole event was organised by Glynis Purland. The four coaching sessions took up the full day on Saturday and, after evening meal, a two hour plus session of crazy lightning was enjoyed by just over half the players and a few parents. Unusually the top places were gained by established England players, Aloysius Lip, Joshua Higgs and Billy Twigge-Molecey showing that, not only are they good players but they are lucky as well! On the Sunday the three chess coaches divided the morning up and had three hours of coaching before we sat down for a roast lunch. After lunch we had a themed tournament where the players were given openings then had a blitz game afterwards. This session was won jointly by Aloysius and Joshua. We then had the closing ceremony where the duty manager asked to say something and said that of all the junior parties who have stayed at the hotel this was the politest and best behaved. This is a great credit to our players who had put a lot of effort in to the weekend, enjoyed themselves and created an excellent impression of young chess players. Well done!
London Junior Chess Championships
Congatulations to the following squad members who were champions (or joint champions) in this prestigious event. U18\21 Joseph McPhillips (aged 14), U16 Peter Batchelor, Henry Broadley, U14 Patrick Smith, U12 Matthew Wadsworth. Very well done to all these players. Also to Taran Jina and Alfred Wong who gained their second norms. We rae pleased to welcome them in to the squad.
Quadrangular North, Midlands, Scotland, Wales.
A report on this event will be found on the Squad Trips page. The results are below!
| | Under 16 | | | | | | |
| Letter | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | Posn |
| 1 | Scotland | xxxxxxxx | 3 | 3 | 2½ | 8½ | 2nd |
| 2 | Midlands | 3 | xxxxxxxx | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4th |
| 3 | Wales | 3 | 4 | xxxxxxxx | ½ | 7½ | 3rd |
| 4 | North | 3½ | 5 | 5½ | xxxxxxxx | 14 | 1st |
| | | | | | | |
| | Under 14 | | | | | | |
| Letter | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | Posn |
| 1 | Scotland | xxxxxxxx | 5½ | 9½ | 2 | 17 | 2nd |
| 2 | Midlands | 4½ | xxxxxxxx | 8 | 3 | 15½ | 3rd |
| 3 | Wales | ½ | 2 | xxxxxxxx | ½ | 3 | 4th |
| 4 | North | 8 | 7 | 9½ | xxxxxxxx | 24½ | 1st |
| | | | | | | |
| | Under 12 | | | | | | |
| Letter | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | Posn |
| 1 | Scotland | xxxxxxxx | 4½ | 7½ | 7 | 19 | 2nd |
| 2 | Midlands | 5½ | xxxxxxxx | 8½ | 8½ | 22½ | 1st |
| 3 | Wales | 2½ | 1½ | xxxxxxxx | 6 | 10 | 3rd |
| 4 | North | 3 | 1½ | 4 | xxxxxxxx | 8½ | 4th |
Congratulations to squad members James Bowler, Matthew Fanning, Matthew Walsh, Andrew Horton, Judd Bennett, Daniel Abbas, Stephen Whatley and Ashwin Kalyana who scored 3\3. We should also congratulate Alex Jarvis, Seth Tsang and Thomas Kelly who also got 3\3. Perhaps we have three potential members here!
World Championships
Eight squad members, Yang Fan Zhou, Brandon Clarke, Jennifer Ehr, William Foo, Katharine Shepherd, Ravi Haria, Cosima Keen and Akshaya Kalaiyalahan took part along with Anthony Zhang who we hope will qualify fir the squad shortly.All nine played well and were a credit to their country. Special congratulations go to Yang Fan and Ravi who were each placed sixth in their sections.
New members
Congratulations to Paul Calderon and Charlie Keen who gained their second norms at the Leeds Rapidplay and are now fully fledged members of the Junior Squad.