EPSCA U11 ChampionshipThe English Primary Schools' Chess Association (EPSCA) exists "to advance the education of primary school aged children by teaching, supervising and developing the playing of chess by those children." E.P.S.C.A. holds three annual championships for member associations - Under 9, Under 11, and Girls Under 11. The U11 Championship is for teams of 20, playing 3 rounds in a 'jamboree' format. Sussex compete in a local "4-Counties" friendly before the zonals stage in March, and the national finals in May. National Final, 9th May 2009, High Wycombe SW Zonal, 21st March 2009, Basingstoke 4-Counties Friendly, 15th February 2009, Maidenhead National Final, 9th May 2009, High Wycombe Report to follow.
Congratulations to the reserve boards who came second in their tournament with 10 points, only just behind winners Barnet on 10½. The team: Well done to Tom Haxby, Sol Knipe, Josh Ralph and Jared North who all achieved 3 points out of 3. SW Zonal, 21st March 2009, Basingstoke Report to follow.
The team: Robert Fitzgerald, Sambhav Aggarwal, Toby Harris, Harriet Tomlin, David Liu, Jonathan Finn, Otto Pyper, Charlie Keen, Cosima Keen, Sol Knipe, Tom Haxby, Ben Simpson, Katie O'Nunain, Matthew Howell, Joe Whitehill-James, Ollie Willson, Daniella Parada Sanchez, Jared North, Emily Yates, Frank Brand, Savya Aggarwal, Josh Ralph. 4-Counties Friendly, 15th February 2009, Maindenhead
The four counties U11 Team Event in Maidenhead on Sunday 15th February turned out to be a roller-coaster from start to finish!! Sussex have a reputation for being extremely well prepared for tournaments such as these and a quiet and calming 45 minutes of "top tips" from the coaches will generally be served up to get the children in the right frame of mind before the often daunting first round. Unfortunately, 45 minutes before the scheduled start our team room was virtually empty, with 3/4 of the squad enjoying major disruption on the M4. By 2pm we had around half the team in situ and thankfully the organisers kindly agreed to delay the start til 2.30pm to accommodate Sussex. Even by 2.30pm when the tournament simply had to start we were still a few short but the show had to go on regardless. The top 6 boards all came away empty handed against our first opponents, Berkshire, demonstrating the value of preparation, although in fairness Berkshire were fielding some very strong players on this occasion. Our middle and lower boards held their own and we ended up in third place overall with 8.5 points out of 20. Although there was a fairly rushed turnaround, we managed to regain our composure and a resounding 15.5/20 points against Oxfordshire, with the top 10 boards dropping only 1.5 points to completely redeem themselves!! This result put us back in contention for the last round against Buckinghamshire although we still trailed Berkshire by a point. With the wind in their sails Sussex were unstoppable in the final round with every player in the bottom half of the draw chalking up a point. The final scores put Sussex in front with 39.5 ahead of Berkshire 37, Oxon 25 and Bucks on 18.5 making the whole afternoon thoroughly worthwhile. Maximum points were earned by Tom Haxby, Cosima Keen, Harriet Tomlin, Joe Whitehill-James, Ollie Willson, Jamie Miles, Frank Brand, David Liu which was fantastic considering the less than perfect start and well done to Bart Rayson and Jozeph Yandle who, together with Ollie and Jamie made their Sussex debut with solid performances. Those name checks take nothing away from the other players who all showed great character and played some great chess on the day. Congratulations to all the players involved and we now look forward to the Zonal, which is the start of the knock out stage in Hampshire next month. Thanks go to Sussex team manager, Matthew Keen, and also to Jim Wadsworth
and Nigel Dennis of Berkshire Junior Chess for organising the event. Trevor Norton/Matthew Keen |