Sussex v Ireland: 16th - 17th June 2007, Crawley

An inspiring weekend of chess was held in Crawley, West Sussex over the weekend of 16 and 17 June.

The Irish National Junior Team congregated at the Clarion Hotel to play against the Sussex County Junior Chess Team. There were 35 players in each team, ranging in ages from 7 to 16, competing for the Sir Patrick Moore Cup, a biennial event held alternatively in Ireland and England.

Sir Patrick, the famous astronomer, and legendary presenter of BBC’s The Sky at Night programme, lives in Sussex and also played chess for the county in the 1950s. Sussex was defending the trophy won two years earlier by the narrowest of margins in Shannon .

The Rt. Hon Timothy Loughton MP for East Worthing and Shoreham and Shadow Minister for Children welcomed the Irish visitors and opened the tournament by playing the first move in the Board 1 match between George Salimbeni and Hugh Doyle.

Although Ireland played resolutely throughout and scored some impressive individual wins, Sussex took a substantial lead on the first day.

The two teams took a break from chess on the Saturday evening, with 100 people taking part in a Sussex / Ireland ten-pin bowling contest at The Hollywood Bowl in Crawley . This was extremely popular with both the players and the supporting adults giving both sides an opportunity to socialise with their new friends.

The second day began early on the Sunday, to ensure the Irish team could catch their mid afternoon flights.

During the morning David Howell GM made a guest appearance, much to the delight of the children. David, Britain’s youngest ever Grandmaster, lives in Sussex and is also a former winner of the county Under 7, Under 9 and Under 11 titles. He is only 16 and attends Eastbourne College where is studying for his A-levels. He started playing competitive chess aged 6 at the Eastbourne Under 11 Grand Prix event organised by Sussex Junior Chess. He became a Grand Master In January 2007, 10 months earlier than his hero Gary Kasparov. David played a two-hour simultaneous exhibition against members of both the Sussex and Ireland teams, playing 12 players at one time and most unusually with the black pieces in each game.

The Countess of Limerick, accompanied by David, presented the trophy and prizes, before signing countless autographs. Each player was presented with a commemorative photograph of the two teams, a trophy and certificate.

The final results were as follows: