Junior News Archive

Page published 18 February 2014

Junior News in the 2012-3 season

Most recent reports at the top of page

Midlands players at UK Chess Challenge Terafinal

17 & 18 Aug 2013. The Final tournament of the 2013 UK Chess Challenge took place at Loughborough with nearly sixty players in the terafinal and about 40 players in each of the Challengers tournaments. Andrew Horton (Manchester GS) was highest placed Midlander in the Terafinal placed 5-11th. Jamie Horton (Ashton) shared first place in Challengers A; Craig Whitfield (Cheddleton & Leek, Staffs) was 2nd and Joseph Friar (Hagley, Worcs) shared third in Challengers B; and Joseph McPhillips won all his games while James Friar (Hagley, Worcs) shared third place in Challengers C.

Midlands players gain British titles at Torquay

16 Aug. Dan Fernandez (Marple, Greater Manchester), competing in the British Championship itself was awarded the British Under-18 title.
6 Aug. Sharon Daniel (Worsley, GMC) on five points points in the Under-11 Championships tournament is the British Under-11 Girls' Champion. Nugith Jayawarna (Ashton, GMC) shared second place with 5½ points from 7 games in the Boys' Under-11 British Championship tournament.

England win Glorney, Robinson and Gilbert Cups

24 Jul David Levens reports from Cardiff. The Glorney Cup for under 18 boys was won relatively comfortably by England ahead of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Gilbert cup for under 18 girls was won in sensational style by our girls who scored 17½ out of a possible 18 and only once looked like losing a single game. This is a record that will stand for a very long time! The other two competitions held were the Robinson Cup for under 14 boys and the Stokes Cup for under 12 boys. England won the Robinson Cup after a gruelling 6 rounds of play, but sadly our Under 12s, which included Jacob Boswell of Staffs and Taylor Pearson of Notts just missed out in the Stokes Cup to a determined Irish side by half a point! Read more and see pics on ECF website.

Midlands juniors at the British

23 Jul Mick Norris, David Levens & Ray Collett report. We have spied Aditya Munshi (Nottingham), Thivyaa Rahulan (Newcastle-u-Lyme, Staffs), Abhishek Thakar (Notts), Anthony Atiomo (Nottingham), Susie Wang (W Nottingham), Kevin Ye (Ashton, GMC), Taylor Pearson (W Nottingham), Jacob Boswell (Cheddleton, Staffs), Sharon Daniel (Bolton, GMC), Nugith Jayawarna (Heywood, GMC), Hambel and Jonah Willow (West Nottingham), John and Harry Croasdale (Nottingham), Karam Sangha (Nottingham), Jason Lau (3Cs, Oldham, GMC), and brothers Joseph and James Friar (Hagley, Worcs) have entered.

Dominic Holmes at Wolverhampton's Chess in the park

21 Jul, Ray Dolan reports. Dominic, Staffs under-8 champion, played members of the public at the Wolverhampton Show at Wolverhampton Club's stand organised by Paul Walters. Visit Wolverhampton Club's website for pics of Dominic with Ray Dolan, MCCU CEO. Dominic started playing 3 years ago after visiting Wolverhampton CC's stand at the Wolverhampton Show.

Midlands winners in Northern Delancey UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal

14 Jul. In the six-round tournaments at Manchester, Players under-18 to under-11 played on Sunday. Among winners were some well known youngsters from league and county play: Craig Whitfield (under-18, Staffs) 5 points, 2nd; Amy Milsom (under-17, Lincs) 4 points, 1st; Alexander Cartlidge (under-16, Staffs) 4½ points, 1st; James Friar (under-16, Worcs) 4 points 2-3rd; Andrew Horton (under-15, Gtr Manchester Couunty, GMC); Ben Scattergood (under-15, GMC) 5 points, 2-3rd; Joseph McPhillips (under-15, GMC) 5 points, 2-3rd; Hambel Willow (under 14, Notts) 4 points, 2nd; Andrew Smith (under-14, Warks) 4½ points, 2-7th; Joseph Friar (under-14, Worcs) 4½ points, 2-7th; Eva Ressel (under-13, Northants) 4½ points, 2nd; Ashwin Kalyana (under-13, Warks) 4½ points, 3-4th; James Kearney (under-13, Warks) 4½ points, 2-5th; Harry Bowman (under 13, Northants) 4½ points, 2-5th; Daniel Abbas (under-13, 1st) 5 points, 1st; Carmel Barwick (under-12, Grappenhall, GMC) 5½ points, 1st; Taylor Pearson (under-12, Nottingham Boys Sch) 5 points, 2nd; Karan Sanga (under-12, Nottingham Boys Sch) 5½ points, 1st; Hari Solomonides (under-12, Nottingham Boys Sch) 4½ points, 2-4th; David Collyer (under-11, The Grange Sch, Northants) 4½ points, 3-4th; Helena Constantinou (under-11, West Nottingham) 5 points, 2nd; Neha Bagewadi (under-11, Bolton Girls Sch, GMC) 4½ points, 3-5th. All these players will be invited to the Terafinal tournament at Loughborough in August. A further twenty players from the Midlands won places in the Plate tournaments at Loughborough. Full results are posted on the Delancey UK Chess Challenge website.

13 Jul. Star under-10 Midlands players on Saturday were: Reuben Hinch (under-7s, John Clare Primary, Northants) 5 points, 2-3rd; Dominic Holmes (under-8s, Moorfield, Staffs/Bloxwich Junior Chess Club) 5 points, 2-4th; Kim Enkhe-Mergen (under-8s, Old Basford, Notts) and Matthew Lo (under-8s, Fairfield Prep Sch, Leics) 5 points, 2-4th; Susie Wang (under-8s, W Nottingham CC) 5½ points, 1st; Adam Bennett (under-9s, Bramcote Hills, Nottinham) 6 points, 1st; Aditya Munshi (under-9s, Nottingham High Junior) 6 points, 1st; Neel Badhe (under-9s, Nottingham High Junior) 4½ points 3-7th; Kavin Velmurugan (under-9s, Bolton, GMC) 5 points, 2-3rd; Thivyaa Rahulan (under-9s, Newcastle-u-Lyme, Staffs) 5 points, 2nd; Amerleen Hundle (under-9s, Bolton Girls) 4½ points, 3-5th; Asta Knight (under-9s, Jesse Gray Sch, Notts) 4½ points, 3-5th; Nugith Jayawarna (under-10s, Canon Burrows Primary/Tameside Jun CC) 5½ points, 1st; Shyam Modi (under-10s, Fairfield Prep, Leics) 4½ points, 3-6th; Jonah Willow (under-10s, W Nottingham CC) 5 points, 2nd. All these players will be invited to the Terafinal tournament at Loughborough in August. A further twenty players from the Midlands won places in the Plate tournaments at Loughborough. Full results are posted on the Delancey UK Chess Challenge website.

Manchester and Bolton juniors win national school trophies

9 Jul, Andrew Martin reports. The ECF National School under-19 national schools champions are Manchester Grammar School. In the final they comprehensively beat Reading School 5 - 1. Their 6-board team sported Dan Fernandez on board 1 and their lowest graded player was 166. Bolton Girls School claimed the under-11 title with 13 points. In the national under-11 team event, St Edward’s School, Leek, Staffs was 7th on 7½ ponts. For further details visit the ECForum.

Yang-Fan Zhou scores grandmaster norm

30 Jun ECF website reports. At the Purley Big Slick tournament, Yang-Fan was first on 7 points ahead of GMs Arkell, Gormally and WGM Susan Lalic all on 5½. Yang-Fan is eighteen and plans to achieve GM status in his gap year before studying chemical engineering at Cambridge University.

Northants win under-13 Minor Counties trophy

30 Jun, from Yogesh Jina on ECF website. Northamptonshire juniors scored 15½ points and were 2½ points clear of runners-up Kent and Sussex in the ECF National under-13 team Championships held at Elstree. The best performing Midlands county in the under-18 team event was Greater Manchester on 12 points who ended in mid-table. Greater manchester were also best Midlands team In the Open under-13 championships, where they were tenth on 5½ points.

East Midlands Chess Festival

16 Jun. Teams from Nottingham Junior HS took first and second places in the team tournament. Ben Raine (Sheffield) was first with a score of 14 points in the individual tournament ahead of Aditya Munshi (Nottingham Junior HS) and Harry Madden (Landau Forte, Derby) on 13 points. The event at Riseley, Derbys was organised by David Levens and Chris Dunworth. Full results (.pdf).

Bloxwich Juniors celebrate third anniversary 12 Jun. Ray Dolan reports. English Chess Federation President Roger Edwards and International Arbiter Matthew Carr joined this successful club for their third birthday party. Matthew brought a giant digital demonstration board and the club's members, now nearly thirty strong, celebrated that fifteen of them had recently qualified for the UK Chess Challenge Northern Gigafinal where they will be competing for trophies and £200. Picture from the Express & Star used with permission.

Phillip Serrell - Ben Chin-See match in BBC's antiques show

11 Jun. Worcester News reports that BBC's antiques programme Put you Money Where Your Mouth Is featured RGS Worcester pupil playing dealer Phillip Serrell to decide how much to pay for a chess set bought at a car boot sale. See report.

Nottinghamshire placed fourth in under-11s final

11 May. Winners were Sussex followed by, Barnet and Wey Valley. Other Midlands teams were Manchester (7th), Staffordshire (13th) and Oldham (18th). Midlands players who won all three games were Adam Bennett, Noah Pettigrew, Matthew Shipway, Abishek Thakar, Rohan Shenoy and James Clarke-Kellaway all from the Notts team. The English Primary Schools Chess Association finals were played at Nottingham High School. Full results are on the EPSCA website.

Joseph McPhillips' lifetime best at Bunratty

9 Feb. Joseph, Bolton's 15 year-old Wunderkind, was placed 4-5th with 4½/6 behind winner GM Michael Adams (5½/6), GM Short and IM Richard Bates. Staffs' IM Lawrence Cooper finished mid-table. Midland GM Mark Hebden won the Bunratty Classic. More results on the Chessdom.com website.

Bloxwich Juniors give ECF President a hard time

2 Feb. The winning juniors were: Karthik Selvan, Alex Jarvis, Luke Barenbaum, and Dominic Holmes. Roger Edwards, ECF President, did well to hold Manpreet Sangha (graded 170) to a draw. The youngest player to draw was Gurpreet Khangara, who is only 8 years old. Other players drawing with Roger were Aaron Cowley, and Jay Sanga. Winning juniors received book prizes presented by local Councillor Julie Fitzpatrick. Pictures are on the ECF website. The event was organised by Eunice and Ray Dolan.

Midlands juniors pick up prizes at Telford

6 Jan. Ashwin Kalyana (Birmingham Checkmates)was first equal in the Major tornament of Shropshire Chess Association's annual congress with 4 points. Francis Rooney (Church Stretton, Shrops) won thye Shropshire junior prize in the Minor tournament.

English Chess supremo to presents Bloxwich juniors' trophies

6 Jan. Roger Edwards, ECF President, presented 24 gold medals to oustanding juniours in the Bloxwich club. Among the winners were junior internationals Alex Jarvis and Karthik Selvan and Staffs under-8 Champion Dominic Holmes. Adults David Watton, club secretary received a special gold medal and Matthew Carr was awarded honorary membership of the club for their help over the year. See more about this club on the Staffs website.

Nottingham High School win Birmingham & Dist Junior League trophy

3 Dec, Richard Simpson reports. Among elite company, King Edward's Camp Hill Birmingham won the Birmingham & District Junior League's Members' trophy. King Edward's School Edgbaston Birmingham were second on game points and King Edward's Five Ways Birmingham were third. Visiting teams, however, dominated with Nottingham High School just ahead of Haberdasher Aske's. Ten school teams competed.

Bloxwich Juniors go down Midlands medley

17 Nov. West Midlands Medley beat Bloxwich Juniors 14-3. The junior team was led by Liam Berenbaum and junior winners were: Alex Javis, Karthik Selvan and Luke Berenbaum. Organiser Ray Dolan and Controller Peter Broomhall thank all adults and their junior opponents.

Ryders Green School take first and second at West Bromwich

24 Oct. Ryders Green School Sandwell won the inaugural CSC West Midlands Tournament. The same school also won second place and third placed was Barr Beacon School. Six teams played at West Bromwich Town Hall organised by CSC co-ordinator Andrew Moore.

Amy Milson wins Scarborough Minor

20 Oct. Amy Milson (Louth, Lincs) was one of the few Midlanders to make an impression at the annual congress at Scarborough. She won both a junior prize and her section. Full list of winners.

Young Midlanders qualify for English Closed Under-11 Championship

Oct 14 David Levens reports. Seven Midland players qualified for places in next year’s England Under 11 Team trial: Jonah Willow (Nottingham) scored 4; Joseph Boswell (Staffs) 3½; Andrew Fergusson (Birmingham), Akilesh Huria (Nottingham), Helena Constantinou (Nottingham), Sam Smith McGloin (Nottingham) all scored 3. Some young players such as Adam Bennett (Nottingham) were too young to qualify this year neverthless scored a very healthy 4 points from 5 games. The winners were Anantha Anil Kumar (Kent) and Koby Kalavannan (Surrey). Fifty competed with a large home congingent from Nottingham of which nine achieved half-norms.

King Edward VI Camp Hill School, Birmingham mid-table in ECF Schools' rapidplay

23 Sep 2012. Played at Eton College, Berks. King Edward's Camp Hill, the only Midlands School in this competition finished on 17½ points and was placed 9-10th out of 17 teams.

For 2011-2 season news click here