2010-2011 Season Archive - News
South of England Junior Chess Championships in
Yateley on 29-30 January 2011
Several
juniors from Warwickshire were at this year's
championships.
In the Under
14 Closed Championship, Leo Tsoi scored 2.5 / 5.
In the Under
12 Closed Championship, Aloysius Lip scored 3.5 / 5 to finish 2nd=
and Matthew Fergusson scored 3 / 5 to finish 4th=. Both of these
results count for the John Robinson Under 12 Grand Prix 2010-11,
with Aloysius Lip now in joint second place with 12 / 18 and Matthew
Fergusson on 3.5 / 6.
Great
results - well done to all of you!!
MCCU Open Championship Match in Birmingham on 29
January 2011
Warwickshire's First Team under new captain
Simon Smith inevitably lost to the reigning MCCU Champions.
Staffordshire had the advantage by fielding a much stronger team
that outgraded Warwickshire
on every single board, and each player having an average grade of almost 14 points
higher!
Nevertheless
there were several good results that the team can be proud of,
including Tony Hynes skilful game that saw Tony claiming the only
victory for Warwickshire on the day. Another good result came from Warwickshire
Junior Richard Weaving who held IM Lawrence Cooper to a draw.
Indeed, there were many more good draws for Warwickshire against
Staffordshire's higher graded players.
The team
also remains at the top of the MCCU Championship table, and will
progress through to the national stages. Congratulations to everyone
who has played in the team this season!
Detailed
results, a match report from Simon and the updated Open Championship
table are all available here.
MCCU U140 Championship Match in Birmingham on 29
January 2011
Warwickshire's U140 Team captained by Dave
Brelsforth defeated Shropshire to jump over Staffordshire and into
2nd place in the championship table. Positions in the rest of the
table remain unchanged.
Wins for the
team came from Derek Stockhall, Kenneth Warren, Lennie Johnson,
Michael Harrington, Kim Gilbert, and default wins for Christopher
Evans and Ken Wise.
Results and
the updated U140 championship table are available for you to view
here.
Nottingham Rapidplay in Telford on 23 January
2011
There was
only one prizewinner from Warwickshire this year, with Mark
Biernacki (Sutton Coldfield) finishing 2nd= with 4.5 / 6
in the Intermediate
(U135).
Congratulations and well done Mark!
New Rapidplay Grades on 16 January
2011
Have you
played 9 or more rapidplay games in the last 12 months?
Yes? Then
check out your latest English Chess Federation (ECF) rapidplay grade
here.
Your new
grade should be used for the rest of this season.
MCCU U120 Championship Match in Stoke-on-Trent
on 15 January 2011
In their
third game of this season, Warwickshire's U120 Team captained by
Pauline Woodward defeated the Staffordshire Terriers. This puts
Warwickshire in 3rd place, losing out to share 2nd place by just 1.5
points!
Wins for the
team came from Guy Greenland, John Pakenham, Pauline Woodward, Peter
Leggett and Graham Gee. Pauline and Graham have won their games in all
three of the team's matches this year!! Well done to everyone!
Detailed
scores, a short report and the updated U120 championship table are
available for you to read here.
Wrekin Congress in Telford on 8-9 January
2011
Several
players from Warwickshire again took part this year and did very
well.
In the
Premier, Andy Baruch (Warwickshire) scored 3.5 / 5 to finish 2nd=.
Joining him in 2nd place were Don Mason (Shirley) and Russell James
(Warwickshire Select).
In the
Major, Phil Bull (Warwickshire) scored 3.5 / 5 to share 1st prize
with Tim Lane (South Birmingham) and Adrian Walker
(Leamington).
In the
Minor, Louise Coxon (Solihull) scored 3.5 / 5 to share 3rd place
with Richard Leaper(Westminster). Louise also won a Grading
Prize.
Congratulations and well done to all of
you!
London Junior Chess Championships in Harrow on
11-12 and 28-30 December 2010 (Late Report)
Several
juniors from Warwickshire were at this year's
championships.
In the Under
16 Championship, Philomena Lip scored 3.5 / 6 to provide her first
score in the John Robinson Under 16 Grand Prix 2010-11.
In the Under
12 Major Championship, Aloysius Lip scored 5.5 / 9 to give his
second score in the John Robinson Under 12 Grand Prix and a total so
far of 7.5 / 12.
In the Under
10 Major Championship, Ibraheem Malik scored 3.5 / 7.
Well done to
all of you!
MCCU U160
Championship Match in Birmingham on 8 January
2011
Warkwickshire
are the MCCU U160 Champions - irrespective of all other
results!
Warwickshire's U160 Team captained by John Fahy
overwhelmingly defeated Staffordshire for their 3rd straight win of
the season and, with one game still remaining to play, Warwickshire
are already the new MCCU U160 champions.
There were
many board wins for the team, coming from Anthony Sadler, Mike
Doran, Andrew Moxley, Keith Thomas, John Fahy, Ian Brodie, Sean
Ralph, Andy Cottam, Alan Burnet, and Louis Rawson.
Congratulations to everybody in the team on a
stunning victory! Nationals here
we come!!
The updated
U160 championship table, full results and a match report from the
captain are all available here.
London Chess Classic at Olympia in Kensington on
8-15 December 2010
We had a
really great time at last year's inaugural event! This year I
understand it was just as good, if not better!! For the first time,
World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand played in The Classic but,
at the end of a very exciting tournament that had many of us on the
edge of our seats, Magnus
Carlsen (still an U21 junior at just 20 years of age) emerged once
again as victor. However, over the board, England's own Luke McShane
may have stolen much of the limelight, with the tournament
performance of a lifetime!
Luke
finished 2nd= with the highest Performance Rating of anyone in the
Tournament, didn't lose a game, beat Magnus Carlsen and Nigel Short,
and drew against World Champion Vishy Anand and former World
Champion Vladimir Kramnik. Wow!! Actually, if the normal scoring
system had been used, Luke would have finished 1st=. Anyway
it looks as if Luke may have
overtaken Nigel Short to become England's #2 player on the FIDE
Ratings list in January 2011.
The event
attracted VIPs including the
great Gary Kasparov, and guest of honour Victor Korchnoi who
performed simuls again to the delight of many.
Not to be
left out, several chess players from Warwickshire were also at
Olympia to join in the fun, and I'm delighted to report that they
performed very well indeed in the festival's events.
Matt Trigg
(Solihull) finished 3rd= with 4/5 points in the Weekend Classic
U120. Well done Matt!!
Click here for full details of the greatest chess
event to be held in England for over 25 years.
Bury Rapidplay in Bury on 5 December
2010
This event
was part of the Midlands U150 Rapidplay Grand Prix.
Heavy snow on the day wasn't enough to keep
eager chess players away, including from Warwickshire!
John-Paul
Taylor (Warwick University) played in the U170 section and took home
a share of the U160/145 Grading Prize with a score of 3½/6. It's
amazing to note that John-Paul's grade last year was just 85, and
the previous year only 29! Wow!! A fantastic achievement and a very
well done to you!!!
My thanks to
Mick Norris (President of the Manchester Chess Federation) for
contacting me with these results.
MCCU Open
Championship Match on 4 December 2010
Nottinghamshire unfortunately could only raise a
team of about 8 or 9 players and defaulted the match. Hence
Warwickshire win, although not in a particularly satisfying way.
This puts Warwickshire back at the top of the championship table
(after Staffordshire's earlier defeat of Greater
Manchester).
The latest
Open championship table and full scores are available here.
MCCU U140 Championship Match in Beoley on 4
December 2010
Warwickshire's U140 Team captained by Dave
Brelsforth, unfortunately lost to Worcestershire. The match was full
of suspense as two of the players (boards 3 and 11) had already met
earlier in the week in a B&DCL match! Worcestershire's U21
players continued to be on form and Warwickshire had a default on
board 8. Wins for the team came from Alan Burnet, Derek Stockhall,
Ralph Weber, Gary Evans and Kim Gilbert. Warwickshire consolidated their 3rd place on
match points in the championship table (pending results from
yesterday's other two U140 championship matches).
The updated
U140 championship table and full results are available here.
Warwickshire Junior Chess Championship in
Solihull on 27 November 2010
144 juniors
came along and competed in the Warwickshire Junior Championship.
This was a fantastic turnout given it was a wintery day with ice and
snow on the ground! Everyone
enjoyed a fun day of chess with many smiles on faces and games
played in a wonderfully sporting manner.
Warwickshire
Champion titles for U21, U18, U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8 juniors were
up for grabs and were won by eligible players.
U14 to U21
section:
26 players
competed in a combined senior section.
Henrik Stepanyan and Richard Weaving scored 5½/6
to tie for overall 1st place. Kyle Reed took overall 3rd place with a score of
4½/6.
The titles
of Warwickshire Champion
were then awarded according to age and eligibility for each of the
U21, U18, U16 and U14 age groups. Faraz Malik took the title of U21
Champion with a score of 4/6; Richard Weaving the U18 Champion;
Henrik Stepanyan the U16 Champion; with Nathen Chung, Sam Beardmore
and Wesley Blackhurst becoming joint U14 Champions after tying on
3½/6.
U12
section:
There were
39 juniors who played, and from them Joseph Friar scored 5½/6 to
finish in 1st place. Ashwin
Kalyana and James Kearney followed next with 5/6 to tie for 2nd
place. The title of
Warwickshire U12 Champion went jointly to Ashwin Kalyana and James
Kearney.
U10
section:
This was the
biggest section of the event with 55 players! Ibrahim Malik finished
in 1st place with a perfect score of 6/6. Well done Ibrahim!
Krishnan Kaushal took 2nd place with 5½/6. Aroun Kalyana and Rohit
Kale then shared 3rd place on 5/6 points. The title of
Warwickshire U10 Champion went to Ibrahim Malik.
U8
section:
From the 24
players on the day, Arjan Ubhi scored a perfect 6/6 to finish in 1st
place. Well done Arjan! Next was William Kendell who scored 4½/6 to
take 2nd place. There was then a four-way tie for 3rd place shared
by Victor Hartas-Moody, Thomas Jennings, Lucas Marshall and Oliver
Thomas who finished with 4/6. The title of
Warwickshire U8 Champion went to Arjan Ubhi.
Schools:
Titles for Warwickshire Schools' Champion for
each of the U12s, U10s and U8s were won by eligible schools whose
top 4 players collectively scored the most points. This year, Hallfield School (coached by
Malcolm Hunt) made a clean sweep of all 3 titles!!
Amazing!
Tony Miles
Award:
Was awarded
to Richard Weaving as the junior who contributed the most to chess
throughout Warwickshire during 2009-10.
Full
Results:
Click
here for full information and results, including a
crosstable for the U14-U21 section.
Congratulations to each of the champions, and
well done to all of the schools and individuals who took part in the
event. With a special "thank you" to all parents for braving the
weather and for looking after their children on the
day.
MCCU U120 Championship Match in Birmingham on 20
November 2010
Warwickshire's U120 Team captained by Pauline
Woodward drew against Worcestershire to keep the team in 2nd place
in the championship (pending the Staffs Terriers vs. Leicestershire
result). Wins for the team came from Richard Leaper, Pauline
Woodward, Peter Leggett, Graham Gee and Sam Doran. Well done to
everyone!
The current
U120 championship table, scores and a short report are available for
you to read here.
MCCU U160
Championship Match in Birmingham on 13 November
2010
Warwickshire's U160 Team captained by John Fahy
beat previous table leaders Nottinghamshire to move up from 3rd
place and snatch Nottingham's place as current championship leaders!
Wins for the team came from Robert Reynolds, Anthony Sadler, Darren
Lee and Andy Cottom. Well done to all of the team!
The latest
U160 championship table and full scores are available here.
Updates
It has taken
a fair amount of work, and there is more yet to do, but there are
now several significant updates to the website including:
- Read all
about it - a roundup of late summer and early season news (see
further below!!)
- Results
for County Matches, and the Birmingham and Leamington Rapidplays
- Leagues
and Clubs pages
- Information regarding Eligibility to play for
any of the County Teams
- County
Match Fixtures and lots of new Events and Entry Forms on the
Calendar
- Archiving
completed
- Site
Architecture redesigned and a few minor cosmetic changes completed
Calendar Updates
A few
upcoming events that you simply must not miss, including:
- Charity
Christmas Congress in Dudley
- UK Chess
Challenge 2011 Megafinal, Gigafinal and Terafinal
- National
Chess Club Championships
- and many
more on the calendar
4NCL
Division 1 (Group A) Matches in Daventry on 6-7 November
2010
In round
one, newly promoted Warwickshire Select 1 started the season with
their first match against the formidable Barbican 4NCL 1.
With
Barbican seating a Grand Master on board one, five more
International Masters, plus two other titled players, Warwickshire
Select were outgraded on every single board by 200-300 points. The
team nonetheless worked hard and finished with a very respectable 1½
points against Barbican's 6½.
Tony Hynes
won his game to take a full point against IM Sam Collins (2431). And
Richard Weaving drew against (FIDE Master) FM Jonathan Rogers
(2338).
Round two
saw the team do slightly better with points against Betsson.com
achieving a score of 2 against Betsson's 6.
Two tough
matches saw John Pitcher earn a draw against IM Simon Ansell (2402)
and FM Nick Thomas earn a draw against IM Andrew Ledger
(2430).
A good start
to the season against some very tough opposition! Well done to all
the team!!
4NCL
Division 3 Matches in Daventry on 6-7 November
2010
Warwickshire
Select 2 got off their mark in new season with an immediate victory
against e2e4.org.uk 3.
Well done to
Malcolm Hunt and Henrik Stepanyan who both took full points in their
games. With a further four draws, the team suffered no
losses!!
Round two
unfortunately didn't go quite so well, and the team narrowly lost
with 2½ points against the 3½ points scored by Oxford 2.
A promising
start to the season. Well done to all the team!!
Birmingham
League Rapidplay in Birmingham on 24 October
2010
A third of
the total twenty-four prizewinners consisted of six juniors at
school, plus another two young adults at university!!
Amongst all
winners, there were several players from Warwickshire who did very
well.
In the Open,
junior Richard Weaving (Solihull Checkmates) scored 4½/6 to share
first prize. Donald Mason (Shirley & Lucas) scored 4/6 to share
3rd prize. Tony Hynes (4NCL Warwickshire Select) finished on 3½/6 to
share double the Grading Prize.
Golam Ali
(Sutton Coldfield) scored 5½/6 in the Major (U176) to take first
prize and he also picked up The Peter Gibbs Trophy.
In the
Intermediate (U151) section Cory Hazlehurst (South Birmingham)
finished with 5/6 to take the £60 second prize. And junior Leo Tsoi
(Boldmere St Michaels) scored 4½/6 to take a share of the 3rd place
prizemoney.
Results in
the Minor (U126) saw Ben Hill (South Birmingham) and Kim Gilbert
(Shirley & Lucas) tie for first place with 5/6 points. However
there was then a massive six-way tie for 3rd place on 4½/6 which
included two juniors from Birmingham Checkmates: Kyle Reed and
Ashwin Kalyana, who each took home £5.
Full
crosstables and a complete list of prizewinners are available
here. Congratulations and well done to all of
you!!
MCCU Open
Championship Match in Newcastle on 23 October
2010
A new season
and a new captain! Previous captain Joey Stewart would be proud!!
Warwickshire's First Team under new captain Simon Smith comfortably
defeated Greater Manchester to take first lead in the MCCU Open
Championship. There were plenty of wins for the team coming from
junior Richard Weaving, Phillip Holt, Tony Hynes, Alan Lloyd, Keith
Escott, Tony Green, Ed Goodwin, Gary Hope and John Fahy. What a
fantastic start to the season!
The latest
Open championship table and full scores are available here.
MCCU U140
Championship Match in Bramcote on 23 October
2010
In a
promising start to the season, Warwickshire's U140 Team captained by
Dave Brelsforth drew against reigning MCCU champions
Nottinghamshire. Wins for the team came from Kenneth Warren,
Christopher Evans, John Green, Kim Gilbert and Peter Hodkinson. Well
done to all the team!
The current
U140 championship table and full results are available to read
here.
MCCU U120
Championship Match in Birmingham on 16 October
2010
In their
first match of the season, Warwickshire's U120 Team captained by
Pauline Woodward comfortably defeated Nottinghamshire to take 2nd
place in the championship. Wins for the team came from Joe Rourke,
Wilf Morgan, Matt Trigg, Pauline Woodward, David Rowe and Graham
Gee. Well done everyone!
The current
U120 championship table, scores and a short report are available for
you to read here.
MCCU U160
Championship Match in Newcastle on 9 October
2010
Warwickshire's U160 Team captained by John Fahy
comfortable defeated Greater Manchester to take 3rd place in the
championship table. Wins for the team came from Anthony Sadler, Mike
Doran, Ed Goodwin, Sean Ralph and Alan Burnet. A superb start to the
season!
The latest
U160 championship table and full scores are available here.
Leicester
Chess Congress (H. E. Atkins Memorial) on 1-3 October
2010
Several
players from Warwickshire were among the prizewinners!
In the
major, Alan Ruffle (Birmingham) took a share of the U150 Grading
Prize after scoring 3/5.
And in the
minor, Marek Biernacki (Sutton Coldfield) scooped £75 after scoring
4/5 to share 2nd place, and Aron Buxton took the U120 Grading Prize
with a score of 3.5/5.
Well done to
everyone!!
English
Chess Challenge Finals on 18 September 2010
With thanks
to Nick Thomas for letting me know, several junior players from
Warwickshire finished in the prizes:
- Andrew
Smith came 2nd in the Under 11.
- Aaron
Crowder finished 1st= in the U10.
- Jasmine
Close also finished 1st= in the Under 8 Girls tournament.
- And last
but definitely not least, Victor Hartas-Moody took sole 1st place
in the Under 6 event.
Congratulations and well done to all of
you!!
Leamington
League Rapidplay in Leamington on 12 September
2010
Several
Warwickshire players did very well on the day.
These
included junior Richard Weaving (Solihull Checkmates) who scored 4/6
to share both 3rd place and the Grading Prize in the Under 210
tournament.
And in the
U175, Ammar Karim (Birmingham) shared 2nd place with a score of
4.5/6 and another junior Astghik Stepanyan (Sutton Coldfield) scored
4/6 to share the Grading Prize.
Junior Leo
Tsoi (Boldmere St Michaels) scored 5/6 to share 2nd place in the
U150.
Again
similar to last year, the U120 section was perhaps the most
challenging, as some extremely strong ungraded players took the top
prizes!? Louise Coxon (Solihull) therefore did very well against
such competition, scoring score 4/6 to take home the Grading Prize
of £20.
Full details
are available here. Congratulations and well done to all of
you!!
4th Leyland
Chess Congress on 30 August 2010
In the Under
135 Minor section, Kyle Reed (King Edward's Camp Hill School) scored
4.5/6 to win the U127 Grading Prize and, also from Warwickshire,
Stuart Calderbank (Stratford) scored 4/6 to win the U106 Grading
Prize. Kyle and Stuart each took home £50. Well done to you
both!!
2010-11
Season's Standard and Rapidplay Grades on 28 August
2010
The
finalised English Chess Federation grades to be used for the new
chess season are now available here.
UK Chess
Challenge Terafinal in Warwick on 21-22 August
2010
Fifteen
junior players from Warwickshire did extremely well in the national
northern gigafinal to win through to the UK final of the
competition. Two players qualified for the Terafinal itself, and
another six for the Challengers A runners-up tournament, and seven
for the Challengers B.
In the
Terafinal, Kaiser Malik (King Edward's School) placed highest from
Warwickshire at 34th= out of 57 and Ibraheem Malik (Birmingham
Checkmates) finished 55th=, each of them winning £30.
In the
Challengers A, Chris Smith (King Edward's Five Ways School) placed
highest from Warwickshire at 6th= winning £50. Chris was followed by
Astghik Stepanyan (North Birmingham Academy) 15th= and winning a
Book Prize. Followed by the reigning British U10 Champion Ashwin
Kalyana (Hallfield School), Hari Nijjar (Hallfield School),
Katherine Smith (King Edward's Five Ways School) and Matthew
Fergusson (Hallfield School) who all finished 36th=.
In the
Challengers B, Aloysious Lip (Solihull Checkmates) finished 11th=
and won £50 as Joint Top U11. Also finishing 11th= were Philip
Purcell (King Edward's Five Ways School) and Philomena Lip (King
Edward's High School) who each won a Book Prize. Finishing next from
Warwickshire was Sophia Emanuel (King Edward's Camp Hill School) at
19th=. Followed by Andrew Fergusson (Hallfield School) at 27th= who
won £10 as Joint Top U9, and Felicity Parker (King Edward's Five
Ways School) at 40th=.
A huge well
done to each of you!! Let us not forget that these finalists fought
their way from a total initial entry of 66,000 children from across
the UK!!
You can read
the official report on the finals here.
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