Sussex Junior Chess

NYCA Championships 2002 - 2003

Under-14, Feb 2003

Under-16, Nov 2002

Under-12, Sep 2002

NYCA U14 Championship: Feb 2003

Sussex were unable to retain the National under 14 title they have held for the last 2 years, but had to give way to an exceptionally strong Richmond team who were able to field England Juniors down to board 11! Congratulations to them. However, with 7 England players of our own, Sussex were odds on to be runners up, and this target was achieved, although somewhat fortuitously after a poor third round.

The first round went very well indeed, with Sussex amassing 9½ points out of 12, only one point behind Richmond. Adam picked a difficult opponent on board one and narrowly lost to a British Champion. The rest of the team posted 8 wins and three draws. Of the draws, Stephanie had a hard fight against her Richmond opponent, and Abi was unfortunate to concede a draw from what had looked a won position.

Round two was completely identical in the scoring. This time the unlucky loser was Felix, with draws from Joe Fraser, Katherine Rattle and Daniel Khoo against one of Richmond's younger stars. Unfortunately, Richmond performed even better, only dropping the half point against Daniel in all their 12 games.

The third round was one of those one likes to forget. Having been 2½ points clear of third place at the start, by the end we were lucky to remain in second place, and only Joe Richardson's fantastic win against Richmond secured the runner's up spot. Whether some of the team relaxed with 2nd place seeming assured I don't know, but we dropped full and half points in games which should have been relatively straight forward. However, in the end it turned out alright, so well done to all the team for a generally solid performance.

The stars on the day with three points were Joe Richardson and Sebastian Pozzo. Both gathering their wins with unassuming confidence. Well done to them. Neil Carter also deserves a mention for continuing his excellent recent form with 2½ points.

The last crumb of comfort came from the fact that in the head to head against Richmond, we actually won 2 - 1. Perhaps if all the teams were as strong as Richmond, we might have done better ?

NYCA U16 Championship: 16 Nov 2002

A young Sussex team ventured to Stoke-on-Trent hoping to improve on the good performance of the previous year by finishing in the top three. With some of the weaker teams from last year not attending and with some of our experienced players missing, this was going to be a hard task.

The first round of this three round jamboree started well with Joe Fraser and Ellie Hayden recording very quick wins. However, this early impetus vanished and only 4 more points were recorded, one from our reliable board 1, Thomas Rendle. A total of 6 points and a mid-table position left the team room hopeful, but not too confident of achieving the top three objective. At this stage, the leaders Warwickshire were a distant 4½ points ahead on 10½, with Richmond and Oldham 'A' in joint second on 8½.

Round 2 started in exactly the same way with another quick win for Ellie on board 12, but this time the positive results kept coming, and a fantastic score of 9 out of 12 was achieved. Top honours went to Adam Prescott on board 3 by persuading the current British under 12 champion to miscalculate a sacrificial attack. This total meant Sussex had effectively won the round jointly with Richmond. Sussex were still in fourth place, but now only ½ a point behind Oldham.

The 3rd and final round was one of the best ever turned in by a Sussex Team. Not a single game was lost and only 4 drawn. However, with all the team returned, Sussex still needed Oldham to lose their final game against Lancashire to creep into third place. The reports from the knowledgeable onlookers were favourable, and Lancashire finally delivered the result we needed.

Unfortunately due to the hall being booked for another event, the prizegiving took place immediately the last game had finished and many of the team missed collecting their silver trophies at the ceremony.

Although Sussex performed admirably and achieved the early objective, we all came away from Stoke wondering what might have been if the performance in round one had been on a par with the later rounds. Very well done to all, especially the top scorers Thomas, Adam and Ellie. As most of the team will be appearing for the under 14's in March, we can certainly look forward to retaining that title for a third year.

NYCA U12 Championship: 28 Sep 2002

Under 12's are NYCA runners up!

Many thanks to Rebecca Tuck for this brilliant report.

As the new chess season begins, the Sussex under 12 team travelled to Stoke on Trent to play in the national under 12's team final.

As usual the Sussex team arrived on time and raring to go even though most of the players had to get up at 6am. The team was split in to 2 sections, 'A and B'. Section A were paired against Sussex's bitter rivals Richmond in round 1 whilst section B had slightly easier draw of Lancashire. A few words of wisdom from team captain Andrew Tucker and the Sussex team were ready to play.

Section A was handed a slight advantage because the Richmond team coach was stuck in traffic and arrived 5minutes late. Even with this advantage and section B paired against Lancashire, Sussex only managed to score 5.5 in round 1. David Kafetz had set a target for the team, which was to get more that 30 points so the team went into round 2, determined to score more points. Their determination paid off as the team scored an impressive 9 points, which took their overall total to 14.5!

The team room seemed to have a happier atmosphere and the players were definitely more relaxed.

In both rounds 3 and 4, the team achieved a credible score of 6.5 and the players were not giving up the hope of wining, despite Richmond being on an overall total after 4 rounds of 33.5 and Sussex on 27.5.

David Kafetz rewarded his players during the break between round 4 and 5 with Toffee Crisps and Aero's, this appeared to have a very positive effect on the team as they prepared for round 5. Section B were paired against Richmond in the last round, but they were all looking for the win against a team who have won virtually every trophy there is to win at junior level. Even though we could hear singing of 'we are the champions' from the Richmond team room, Section B refused to be put off and an attitude of 'we're going to smash Richmond' was assumed. Section B managed to pick up an excellent 3 points against Richmond and the team were in a guaranteed 2nd place position. Section A also managed to score an excellent 4.5 points against Lancashire to ensure that we held 2nd place.

After the final round the team had achieved a fantastic 35 points which beat their target of 30 points and which meant that the team who travelled the furthest distance, Sussex, had come 2nd . Richmond came 1st with a score of 40.5 points and Warwickshire 3rd with a score of 34 points.

A special mention goes to Ellie Hayden who managed to score a perfect 5/5 on board 2.

The team had achieved their goal of 30 points and were extremely pleased to come 2nd. David Kafetz organised a celebratory meal at Warwick services for the team and their families. This day was a big success for the Sussex team.