NYCA ChampionshipsU12 - 29 September 2001U14 - 10 November 2001U14 - 10 November 2001If any aspiring team manager wants to learn how to win the competitions their teams enter, they could do no worse than have a word with Martin May whose under 14 teams have maintained a fantastic 100% record under his leadership. The team started the tournament with high confidence, being defending champions and only losing two players from last year’s successful venture. On board 1, Theo Penty was unlucky in the first round to draw the top player in the competition, Li Wu from Warwickshire. Li has just returned from the world championships in Spain. However, quick wins from Joe Richardson and Nick Campion showed the way forward, and from there on positive results kept coming in. The last game to finish was Mattthew Linnett who conjured a super win with only seconds left on the clock from Kent, thereby pushing Sussex into clear first place on 9½ with Warwickshire in second, one point behind. The second round saw the Sussex Blues return with a disappointing 7 points, which let Warwickshire catch up to draw level in first equal. Theo got back on track with a good win against the Wiltshire No. 1, but an unfortunate incident on board 11 against Norfolk gave what should have been a guaranteed point away. Round 3 started well with quick wins for Grant Bucher, Joe Fraser and Daniel Khoo who made up for his slip in the previous round. However, Theo came up against another 170 plus player on board one and was unable to make up the difference. A mixed bag followed with untimely losses for Joe Richardson and Stephanie Barraclough, but hope was kept alive by Felix Sullivan registering the first perfect score. This was followed by a win on board 2 for David Barraclough against Richmond and another win for Matthew Linnett giving him the second perfect score of the day. It was soon apparent that Warwickshire had lost too many points to stay on equal terms, and that Kent were the likely contenders. A draw from Adam Prescott gave Sussex the points needed to ensure at least joint first place, and when Kent lost the final match the cup was won outright. Apart from the Sussex performance, it was good to see strong performances from Warwickshire and Kent, but Richmond will have to try again to achieve their stated aim of a clean sweep of all EPSCA/NYCA trophies. With many of the Sussex players stepping up next year, the under 16 tournament should be interesting ! The final word should go to James May, who also managed a perfect 3/3 in the reserve competition, demonstrating the strength in depth within Sussex at this level. Congratulations to all !! U12 - 29 September 2001The Sussex team set out with high hopes but returned disappointed from Stoke on Trent. Whether it was the early start or a lack of match practice was unclear, but quite a few of the team could not match their performances from last year's under 11 team successes. The notable exception (again!) was Joe Fraser who scored an almost perfect 4½ out of 5. Rapidplay team events are certainly to his liking. In the event, the Sussex downfall was sealed by being placed third at the end of round 4, and thereby drawing the runaway winners Richmond in the last round. This proved to be too much at the end of a long day, and as the losses mounted Sussex could only watch helplessly as Oldham took their chances against significantly easier opposition to leapfrog them and take the final medal position. Well done to all who participated.
Team Results
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