EPSCA Girl's U11 Championships

The 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 team championships for member associations - Under 9, Under 11, and Girls Under 11.

The U11 Girls Championship is for teams of 12, plus reserves. Unlike the Under-9 and Under-11 championships, there are no qualifying stages, but Sussex usually compete in a local "4-Counties" match before the final in March.

National Final, Barnet - 17th April 2010
4-Counties Match, Reading - 17th January 2010

National Final, Barnet - 17th April 2010

U11 Girls Final photo

Saturday 17th April and  the Sussex Junior Chess under 11 girls set off for Barnet to compete with 11 other teams in the National final.

Big thanks to Kate Lavender who worked so hard to get the side together only to be stranded on holiday in the US because of the volcanic ash and unable to get back for the final. 

Losing Daniela, our board 2, was a major set back but the girls responded really well scoring a fine 23/30 to finish =5th,  just 2.5 points off 2nd place:

1st Kent 31
2nd Barnet 25½
3rd Wey Valley 25
4 Nottinghamshire 24½
5= Sussex 23
5= Oxfordshire 23
7 Berkshire 16½
8 Oldham 15½
9 Lincolnshire 12½
10 Hertfordshire 9
11 Manchester 5
12 Richmond 4½

The team:
Serena Bhargeva, Rosie Burke, Amalia Finnegan, Freya Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Cassie Graham, Alisha Gunn, Poppy Haward, Rosie Hennessy, Annabel Hickson, Isabel Jones, Rhiannon Jones, Cosima Keen, Alexandra Mathison, Katerina Mathison, Phoebe Ralph, Ellie Ransom, Hannah Sutton.

Alisha and her Mum were due to get a lift from Kate and Daniela but after a few frantic phone calls the Sussex Junior Chess luminaries (a.k.a. Jonathan and Trevor) were on hand to provide transport as well as their normal coaching and board stewarding duties – thanks gents for giving up your Saturday for the event, much appreciated.

Travelling to Barnet was made interesting by the M25 which looked for a while like being as effective a barrier as the volcanic ash – thankfully we all made it on time with the final 1/6 of the squad arriving bang on time for the first game – well done to Victoria who found her way around the accident between junctions 9 and 10, no doubt with significant navigational help from her 3 daughters! 

Big thanks also to the Ashdown House Headmaster Dominic Floyd and Annabel Hickson’s mum for bringing the 4 girls from the school, and what an impact they had  - 10 points out of 12! Very well done to Cosima, Katerina, Alexandra and Annabel.

Apart form Daniela, we were also without Helen and Breagh from the team which won the friendly so convincingly, but we had 4 new faces which meant we kept a strong team – Poppy, Alisha and the Jones sisters Rhiannon and Isabel.

Barnet provided an excellent venue and our sincere thanks go to EPSCA and Angela Eyton for all their hard work.

It was a great team effort from the girls and there were some very special performances:

Out of our 18 players, 10 were under 9s and so the future looks bright for our girls team.  Three of those under 9s - Cassie, Freya and Poppy (in her first game for Sussex) - found themselves on boards 2, 3 and 4 and acquitted themselves really well against very strong, experienced opposition. 

Alisha, playing board 5 in her first tournament, was superb winning her first 2 games and was very unlucky to lose out in a long game against Kent in the 3rd round.  Rhiannon scored a very creditable 1.5 out of 3 on her debut and left the coaches wishing the Sussex boys would show similar concentration.  It was great to see Rosie H play again and she made a famous draw  which helped us to a share of second place after round 1.

The reserves tournament was very strong and saw 5 more of our under 9s in action and they all scored.  It is one of the anomalies of these team events that the reserves tend to be from the strong counties as they have the squads to ensure a strong team.  After a tough first 2 rounds, our reserves scored an impressive 4 out of 6 in the 3rd and showed the potential we have.  Well done to Phoebe, Annabel (2 out of 3 and missing a medal by ½ point), Ellie, Ami, Yelena and Isabel.

It just remains to say thanks and goodbye to the older girls who won’t be eligible next year – Cosima, Daniela, Rosie H, Serena, Helen, Rhiannon, Katerina and Annabel – we look forward to seeing you in the U14 squad next season where you’ll just have to put up with the boys!

Report by Dave Graham

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4-Counties Match - 17th January 2010 - Reading

U11 GirlsOn Sunday 17th January, the Sussex Junior Chess under 11 girl’s team travelled to Reading for the traditional 4-Counties season-opener, kindly hosted by Berkshire.   This event is in preparation for the National final which will be held in Barnet on April 17th.

The SJC trainers were a little nervous going into the event; half the team were under 9s,  some of the girls had only started competing in chess events this year, and others hadn’t moved a piece in anger since the final in Bolton back in March last year!

We needn’t have worried – the girls were brilliant and won the event against strong opposition:

 

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Total

Sussex

5.5

9.5

7

22

Barnet

6.5

6.5

6.5

19.5

Oxford

8.5

5.5

5

19

Berkshire

3.5

2.5

5.5

11.5

 

The team:
Serena Bhargava, Rosie Burke, Amalia Finnegan, Freya Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Cassie Graham, Rosie Hennessy, Annabel Hickson, Cosima Keen, Alexandra Mathison, Katerina Mathison, Daniela Parada-Sanchez, Ellie Ransom, Breagh Rose, Hannah Sutton, Helen Todd-Saunders.

Thanks to Team Manager Kate Lavender’s tireless efforts we had a full turnout. Many thanks to the Keen family - Isabel and Cosima journeying from Liverpool, while Matthew mobilised the Ashdown House contingent. Also to the Finnegans for supplying 3/16th of the squad.

With Barnet, Oxford and ourselves so closely matched, the key to success was a fantastic second round performance against Berkshire - 9.5 out of 12.  It really was a brilliant team effort with all players scoring points.

photo from U11 girlsThere were some long games on the top boards where we scored very heavily (10.5 out of 12 from Cosima, Daniella, Cassie and Freya).  Many thanks to Hannah Sutton, Sussex  under 8 champion, who found herself propelled onto board 5 in an under 11 competition and held her own.

There were some terrific individual performances – Cosima (fresh from her 2nd England half-norm in Liverpool the previous day), Freya and Rosie H all scored maximum 3 out of 3.  Breagh, 1 of the 7 debutants, came through her 3 games unbeaten and all the other debutants scored wins too – really well done to the Mathisons, the Finnegan twins (just turned 7!), Annabel and Ellie.

Great credit also to Serena, Rosie B and Helen who worked so hard in the middle boards, enabling our debutants to score heavily on the lower and reserve boards.

All in all a great day out, the girl’s behaviour and play was a great credit to SJC.  Just one unfortunate incident to report – one of the trainers (who shall remain nameless), reduced his daughter to tears after a stalemate in round 2 and is still feeling guilty 24 hours later as he pens this report.

Finally, many thanks to Nigel Dennis and Berkshire for organising this very enjoyable event.

Report by Dave Graham

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