Ampleforth Junior Masters: 28th - 31st October 2004A number of Sussex players were invited to take part in the Ampleforth Junior Masters competition at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. The tournament consisted of 6 long play matches (40 moves in 1hr 40 plus 20mins to finish) over 4 days. The tournament matches players of all ages together, with first prize being £1000 plus a 6th form scholarship to the college, and automatic entry into the British Championships. At the end of round 5 on the third day, there were 11 players all leading the competition with the chance to win the title, including Sussex players Joe Fraser and Adam Prescott. In round 6, Adam drew his game against Peter Constantinou to finish on a credible 4.5, but Joe secured victory over Simon Fowler after a tense match in which Simon nearly failed to make the time control. This put him as one of 4 players in equal first place, each winning £500. A blitz playoff then followed to determine the title and scholarship, with Joe losing to the top seed Li Wu, who subsequently lost the title to Robert Heaton. Other notable performances in the tournament included: Rhys Cumming, who beat Richard Lobo (125) and drew to Murray David
(132) to finish on 2.5 Other results were Grant Bucher (3.5), Andrew Tucker (3.5) and David Grant (2.5). On the second evening an exchange tournament was held, and this was won by Joe Fraser and Grant Bucher. Other notable performances on the evening included Noel Quinn who played with a Kent parent and scored 1 out of 10, having beaten Christine Turner and Mrs. Dines who finished on 0 from 10! During the evening, a special report on the Ampleforth tournament was written by our special correspondent, 6 year old Sian:
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