EPSCA U9 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 U9 Championship is for teams of 12, plus 4 reserves. The Championships have two stages; regional heats (known as zones), followed by the final. To prepare the players, Sussex U9s usually compete in a local "4-Counties match" kindly organised by Berkshire, before the zonal stage.
National Final - 2nd April 2011 - Nottingham
South Zone - 12th March 2011 - Thatcham
4-Counties Match - 27th February 2011 - Chessington
4-Counties Match - 8th January 2011 - Twyford
National Final - 2nd April 2011 - Nottingham
Headline Results: Sussex 1st - National Champions 2011
Team |
Score |
Position |
Sussex |
30.5 |
1st |
Wey Valley |
29.5 |
2nd |
Barnet |
29.0 |
3rd |
Nottingham shire |
27.0 |
4th |
Kent |
25.5 |
5th |
Birmingham |
21.0 |
6th |
Wiltshire |
20.0 |
7th |
Hampshire |
19.5 |
8th |
Yorkshire |
17.5 |
9th |
Essex |
17.0 |
10th |
Oxon |
16.0 |
11th |
Hertfordshire |
15.5 |
12th |
Liverpool |
14.5 |
13th |
Wirral |
14.0 |
14th |
Cheshire & N Wales |
12.0 |
15th= |
Manchester |
12.0 |
15th= |
Berkshire |
11.5 |
17th |
Oldham |
8.5 |
18th |
Tameside |
2.5 |
19th |
The Team:
Joseph Allin, William Allin, Scott Borland, Miles Brown, Freddie Coleman, Daniel Finn, Matthew Finn, Amalia Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Matthew Forster, Oli Howell, Alexander Keen, Sophia Martin, Alexander Miller, George Neale, JuJu Samworth-Calvier, Freddie Smith, Hannah Sutton, Oliver Thorne, Oscar Udsholt-Clayton.
The Holiday Inn:
After concern was expressed at the "worst case" journey possibilities, many of the Sussex team chose to travel up to Nottingham on the day before around lunchtime in order to arrive at the "Holiday Inn" in the early evening. This venue was chosen because it was a nice quiet location away from any Nottingham City Centre stag night party dangers - and also because it was "where we stayed when we won it last time" - fair enough I say! In the event, the rooms were small, the service for our table of 16 was super slow - but the children had a full quota of SJC chess sets, friends, and had a great evening playing non-stop chess - with just an infrequent coaching request to please practice playing "more slowly...!" By the time they finally retired for the evening they had all had great fun, much friendly excitement, and were ready for a good nights sleep.
The Trip to the School
In the morning, after a healthy breakfast, and some more chess fun in the hotel for the Holiday Inn chess contingent, (Including Scott demolishing coach Mike Forster to be a queen for 2 pieces up - only to get swindled for a draw) - the team travelled by Tom-Tom or Tom Borland convoy to the Nottingham High School, (Cunningly relocated to a slightly different post code than the one in our invitation letter!). We arrived around 10:50 - just before our required 11:00 am start to find complete chaos at the venue. The school had helpfully double-booked a swimming gala in the morning - with the result that there were hardly any car parking spaces in the school - and "20 minutes" only parking signs all around.
After the children were set free to head in, the car drivers struggled to find anywhere to stop and were obliged to choose some quite unfortunate locations. With nervous apprehension at what they would find when they returned, eventually the drivers arrived just in time for the 11:15 board stewards meeting with much of the "chess room comestibles / drinks / and goodies" still in the cars. After the news that the "official refreshments stall" had not turned up at the school, however, there was a swift expedition to bring back all the drinks and goodies from the cars to our team room where we had a healthy hydration advantage over our opposition on a warm Spring day. The good news for the team was that as well as the known participants from the Holiday Inn, our entire squad of 20 had all successfully made it to the venue. We were able to submit our team list without amendments, and the children relaxed to a few games in the quite magnificent school - more reminiscent of the cloisters of a monastery, in places, than a city centre high school.
Round 1:
If the Sussex drivers were put off their stride by the car chaos, then their children showed none of it in round 1, with one of the most convincing displays by an under 9 team in many years. While Scott sat patiently for an opponent to turn up.. "He is stuck in traffic in Nottingham.. really close!" - the rest of the team started with a wonderfully slow, methodical demonstration of all that a team coach could ask for.
On board 2, Joseph's fianchetto'd bishop quietly took a pawn on b2, followed by a rook on a1, and he cruised carefully to victory. On 3, as white Freddie C had a queens gambit accepted with opposite sides castling, but the pieces were in play, with dynamic equality - gradually his Wiltshire opponent seized the initiative by sacrificing pawns in front of Freddie's king, and then took advantage of the open lines to force through an attack. From 4 to 12 we had an amazing and wonderful series of wins: On board 4 after a closed opening, Oli Howell was soon a Queen for rook up. Hannah was a Rook and Bishop up, Matthew Forster was level in a symmetrical pawn structure - but then won a rook and won calmly. Freddie had an edge - later going on to mate with Rook and King vs King. Miles and William won quickly in their favourite openings, but they were still much slower than usual..! In the critical game against Barnet Sophia was worse out the opening but bounced back to win a queen and then win. Amalia was black in the opening 1 e3 e5 2. Bc4 - and went on to get a nice plus out the opening. Daniel was playing solidly and carefully and won convincingly. Eventually Scott was awarded a win by default against Hampshire.
In the reserve section late team sheets from many counties had delayed the start of the round, with most not getting settled until their parents had to leave the room. Oliver T won a queen early on and went on to win. George was material down, with two pawns for a bishop - but he had the initiative and managed to turn it into victory with convincing play. Alexander Keen was black and started well to win a piece, but the extra piece was a Knight trapped on b2 and pinned against his queen on a3. Eventually white regained the material and more, to end up, unfortunately for us, with a simple winning position. Yelena was white and with a bishop and knight eyeing f7 she soon won a rook and went on to win. Alex Miller was struggling - with a Rook against Bishop and Knight - but he hung in there and managed to turn it round for victory.
Juju was first a rook up and then more to win well with a mating attack, pausing only to stop his black opponent from playing the illegal move Qxh7 in this position - where his combined threats are unstoppable.
Oscar lost his way in a strange game as white where black tried a quick checkmate and lost his queen for Knight, but then managed to get back into the game after Oscar drifted into trouble. Matthew Finn won a pawn, but was under a fierce attack which was converted into a win.
After round 1, we had 11/12 in the championship - 5/8 in the reserves - and were in outright first place - A brilliant start.
Round 2:
In round 2 we had a tougher draw and were going to have a much tougher challenge - Oli Howell was black against Kent, Hannah was white vs Notts, while Matthew Forster was black against Wey Valley.
Things seemed to start OK on most boards. Scott had a better pawn structure and was heading into an endgame with good prospects. Joseph was accumulating material and a Rook and Bishop up. Although Sophia, Matthew Forster and Freddie Coleman's positions were worse, Oli Howell was a pawn up, Hannah was level in a Rook endgame, and Freddie Smith, Miles, and William were lots of material up. Then came the shock. Joseph had lost to a back rank mate. Except, it later transpired that an interposition was possible - Joseph had lost in a winning position - and once he shook hands it was too late to do anything about it.
Fortunately, in the positions where we were worse things started to turn around. Sophia's exchange down became a won position, and Matthew Forster and Freddie Coleman also turned a material deficit around to be clearly winning. The second shock came when Matthew promoted a pawn against Wey Valley's James Golding and overlooked the stalemate he was creating - Wey Valley had survived again.
On boards 11 and 12 Amalia and Daniel had solid wins. Both Freddies and Miles played well and won. A crucial win was completed when Oli converted his extra pawn into a win against Kent.
We were left with a hard battle on Hannah's board. She was in a close rook endgame with only an f-pawn against doubled g and an e-pawn. Somehow she managed to escape into a drawn king and pawn endgame where with black to play (left), her opponent had no way to make progress.
A few minutes later there was a call for the arbiter. While black had been repeating the position several times hoping for a mistake, Hannah reached this position again and asked for a draw by 3-fold repetition. Her opponent had stopped scoring so she had no evidence on which to make a claim. The arbiter offered to start watching the game, and play resumed. It was then to my horror that I realised it was Hannah's clock that was ticking and she was obliged to make the next move. She had somehow been tricked into reaching the same position but with white to move - and was now lost.
In the reserves we had a much tougher round and struggled to score. Oliver Thorne, George Neale, Alexander Keen, Alex Miller and Juju all lost after a material deficit. Matthew Finn drew in the end with just a king each. Yelena and Oscar did win convincingly leaving us with 2.5 out of 8 this round in the reserves. In the main competition we had 9.5 out of 12. With a total of 20.5 out of 24 - we were still in the lead after round 2!
Round 3.
Going into round 3 we had to lift the team and go out with confidence. Jonathan's decision at the kick-off to choose team letter "F" was both fortunate and fortuitous as we reminded the team we were there because we loved chess and above all "F" stood for fun.
We each walked into the team room past the following photo and the message that "F" was for fun, fantastic, and "First!".
The critical matches this round were Daniel against Wey Valley, and Oli Howell against Barnet. We started with some tough games. Scott was black but had a solid positional advantage. Joseph was a R+N up in a winning position. Although Freddie Coleman was down on material, he had an initiative. Matthew Forster was level. Freddie Smith had a pawn and Rook vs two knights, and Miles was a Queen up. William was a pawn down - and worse. Sophia was in real trouble as black after 1. e4 e5. 2. Nf3 Nc6. 3. d4. ed. 4 Nd4. Nd4. 5. Qd4 Nf6 6. e5. Nh5. 7. Be2 – and soon lost a piece. Amalia was playing solid chess as black and won a central pawn. Daniel was on the white side of a Scandinavian defence where his opponent was playing at blitz speed; in contrast Daniel was completely unfazed and played with great calm, slowing down the pace and keeping complete control. On board 11 Amalia went into a better position with a pawn forking a Queen and Knight, but the pressure of the responsibility of playing against Notts took its toll. She offered a draw while she was still ahead which was gratefully accepted. On board 6 Matthew won a Queen and this time made no mistakes converting it to victory. On board 10 Sophia had somehow turned her position around and won at speed. Daniel too was methodically taking everything on the board and won without incident against his Wey Valley opponent. On board 5 against Liverpool Hannah was white. In this position her opponent had missed a chance to checkmate already and Hannah had just played R takes b7 check, which was met by K to d6 - reaching the position below:
First challenge: Which check for white sets up either a discovered check winning blacks queen, or a skewer winning blacks queen?
Instead after Hannah played Rook takes a7 Black could have played a checkmate in 1 move. What is it?
However, the plot continued, as black missed the mate and played Rook to g2 attacking the queen - when after Rook a6 check and King d7 they reached this position:
Second challenge: Which check from white now, forces mate in at most three moves?
In fact, white played Qh5 here, and black again missed the mate in 1. After Rook g3 check, Queen f3, Rook takes f3, K takes f3, and Q takes d3 check, black was forking the white king and rook, and promptly took the rook.
Happily for Hannah, this walked straight into Knight c5 check, forking the black queen and king. With a knight and pawn vs 3 pawns, Hannah eventually managed to sacrifice her knight for the penultimate pawn, and then used her king to catch the h pawn to reach king vs king - another draw after a really tough battle.
On Board 4 Oli was black and had sacrificed a piece to trap his opponent’s king on e1, with white having a pinned piece on e2 protected by a knight on g1. There was compensation - but his Barnet opponent played very well to gradually deal with the pressure, and go on to win.
Sussex finished the round with 10 out of 12, and were then left to watch the last Wey Valley games slowly completing, hoping and wondering if it would be enough.
In the reserves things were going better for Sussex than in the previous round. Alexander Keen delivered a nice kiss of death mate against a king trapped on e1 with Queen takes e2. Oscar was very pleased with a nice pin which won him the game - and Yelena completed a great day for her with a R+Q windmill mate to score 3/3 which would earn her a medal. Although Matthew Finn, Oliver Thorne, and Juju lost the last game to finish in the whole room was a marathon encounter between George Neale and his Nottingham opponent - where there were very few pawns left in an endgame - and George was fighting on well despite being the exchange down. By the time George finally finished and entered the team room to great applause, we had seen the final Wey Valley games complete and knew that Sussex had won the Under 9 championship for 2010/2011 with 30.5 points and were the EPSCA U9 National Champions for the second time.
The endgame:
Scott accepts the Peter Aykroyd Trophy for Sussex
With this fantastic news Sussex spirits were sky high and we enjoyed the prize giving in a way that only winners can. Captain Scott Borland collected the impressive "Peter Aykroyd Trophy" which will enjoy a tour of Sussex schools over the coming year.
After many goodbyes, photos, and high spirits, most of the team gradually left to head back to southern 'climes.
The coach - Mike Forster - received a wonderful thank you from the team that is very much appreciated.
We finished with a meal in Nottingham, and some very excited children heading back through the city centre in search of a tram back to the school.
Special mentions go to:
On 3 out of 3 - Scott, Freddie Smith, Miles, William, Sophia, Daniel (on 12/12!), and Yelena.
On 2.5 out of 3 – Matthew Forster and Amalia.
On 2 out of 3 – Joseph, Freddie Coleman, Oli, Alex Miller and Oscar
It was the end of another great EPSCA U9 season for Sussex. The most amazing detail I have saved to the end....
Out of our top 12 boards - 7 are under 8!
Out of our top 20 squad – 12 are under 8!
We can only hope that we manage to find even more talent in the current under 7 and 8 school years to join them.
Mike Forster
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This result has generated quite a bit of press interest....
The Resident (Horsham) 15th April
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South Zone - 12th March 2011 - Thatcham, Berkshire
Headline Results: Sussex 2nd and reserves win the reserve tournament!
Team |
Points |
Position |
Wey Valley |
27.5 |
1 |
Sussex |
26.5 |
2 |
Birmingham |
19.5 |
3 |
Oxfordshire |
19 |
4 |
Hampshire |
16 |
5 |
Wiltshire |
15 |
6 |
Berkshire |
11.5 |
7 |
Buckinghamshire |
9 |
8 |
Reserves Tournament:
Team |
Points |
Position |
Sussex B |
10 |
1 |
Oxon |
9.5 |
2 |
Wey Valley |
9 |
3 |
Sussex A |
8.5 |
4 |
Wilts |
6 |
5 |
Berkshire |
4 |
6 |
Birmingham |
5 |
7 |
Hampshire |
5 |
8 |
Berks/Birm B |
3 |
9 |
Bucks |
0 |
10 |
The Team:
Joseph Allin, William Allin, Scott Borland, Miles Brown, Freddie Coleman, Daniel Finn, Matthew Finn, Amalia Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Matthew Forster, Oli Howell, Alexander Keen, Sophia Martin, Alexander Miller, George Neale, JuJu Samworth-Calvier, Freddie Smith, Hannah Sutton, Oliver Thorne, Oscar Udsholt-Clayton.
Sussex arrived in good time before the Southern zonal, and began with many “friendly games” in the team room to warm us up. There was much excitement and anticipation!
Round 1:
There were a few quick games to start: Juju and Oscar winning in just 5mins (Please slow down!), Miles with a loss in just 7 mins! (even more - please slow down..!) Freddie Smith winning in 7 mins, Daniel in 10 mins and Amalia winning in 15 mins. After that furious start the rest of the games progressed much more sedately.
Sophia and George both played very solid chess; developing, getting their kings safe, and going on to attack and win. Matthew Forster won a piece in the opening, and won with due care.
On board 10 Oliver Thorne had been playing well out the opening, with a good position and safe king. Then disaster struck. He blundered his queen and had insufficient material to fight back. Up on board three Freddie Coleman seemed to be playing a very competent Bucks opponent and he lost after a close game.
Daniel won well, and Yelena also won after a strong attack with her opponents king stuck in the centre. Soon after this Alexander Keen won convincingly, while Matthew Finn lost material and eventually the game.
On 2 Joseph Allin was black in a closed position, managed to win a piece, and then played well to convert his advantage. On board 1 Scott won with a strong attack against his opponents king.
Eventually there were just 3 games going on in the room.. All involving Sussex, and 2, involving Wey Valley. Oliver Howell was the exchange down as black against Oxford and under a king side attack, with his white squared bishop on a2 vulnerable to being trapped. Hannah was in a level rook endgame, but playing on well, and William Allin as black had lost a Bishop on b7 after a touch move incident and later got to this position vs. Wey Valley’s Thomas Williams:-
Here he had just played Rda8 to reach this position trapping White's queen. Now White could just take on a8 to reach Rook bishop and pawn vs. Queen, but instead tried Rhe1.
Can you see what black should play now?
Answer: Simplest is 1..Qg5+ and 2..Rxa7 winning a whole Queen. Instead black played to win a rook with 1..Qxe1, and now white should grab the queen with 2. Rxe1. Instead white played 2. Qxa8 giving black another chance to save the black queen by 2..Qe3+ and 3..Rxa8 leaving him a Queen for a piece up. Black actually played 2..Qxd1+ and was the exchange up for a pawn. Soon after white won the exchange back and was winning again. Then white moved a knight to a6 where it was en-prise and terminated. Black eventually won a long endgame.
Meanwhile Hannah’s drawn rook and pawn endgame vs. Wey Valley’s Rahul Desai had slowly become a won one, after lots of patience and active play with her rook winning some queen side pawns. Then she reactivated her rook by moving it behind her passed pawn, forcing black to defend by moving his rook passively in front of the pawn. Her adjacent connected passed pawn then rolled through and the promoted pawn became a Queen and delivered checkmate. It was great endgame play and a big boost to her confidence.
Finally Oliver’s game against Oxford’s Linus Rossington went to a marathon finish. His vulnerable bishop on a2 whizzed all the way back to g8 to interpose against Rh8 check (his King was on f8) to turn the tables on the attack and commence a long endgame win with his central pawns gradually rolling through to victory.
After round 1 we were on 9/12 and tied for first place with Wey Valley
Round 2.
The round started with quick wins for Juju, Alexander Keen, Yelena, Miles (after some confusion and alarmingly quick play) and William - All winning in less than 15 minutes.
Matthew Forster had won material in the opening to reach this position against Oxford‘s James Bridson.
Matthew played Qe2 here, which was met by Qf7. He went on to eventually win, but what should he play in the diagram to force mate in 4 moves?
Also around the half hour mark, Amalia, Sophia and Hannah won - Taking the girls to 8 out of 8 after 2 rounds!
On Board 1 Scott won emphatically - getting a huge lead in development and never letting his opponent escape from the opening.
Freddie Coleman was black against a tough opponent. He defended well & eventually was left with no choice but to agree a draw when he got to king vs king!
Oliver Howell was suffering in a cramped & passive position a pawn down, with 2 rooks and 3 pieces each. After his marathon win in round 1, he was unable to fight back a second time, gradually giving way under repeated pressure.
Joseph played well as black against the strong Wiltshire board 2 who played accurately and confidently to reach a slightly better position. Joseph offered a draw that was accepted after Joseph sensed his position was slightly worse.
George had taken over the fragile board 10 position against Wey Valley and had been suffering. He was behind in development, finding it difficult to activate his pieces, with his opponent keeping his own king in the centre and attacking George's castled king with a Queen on d3 and Ng5 threatening mate. George defended with g6, and fought back in the centre, in something similar to this position:
What should black play here to counterattack and gain the initiative?
Here George could fight on strongly with 1... Qe5+. eg 2. Nge4 f5. 3. Qg3 fxe4 4. Qxg4 exd5 with a strong pawn centre.
Unfortunately George chose to win the pawn on h2 with his knight, which activates the White Rook on h1 into the attack on blacks king. After Qh3! Qe5+ White should now play Nc3e4 when the attack should quickly win. Instead whites Nc3e2? left black back in the game.
After several changes of fortune in this game George later managed to get his pieces active to reach a position something like this:
Can you see the skewer which swaps off a rook to simplify the position?
Instead George played ..Re2+ here and eventually ended up with two rooks vs rook and knight, with white having extra pawns. When his king came under attack from whites King, Knight, and rook - he lost a rook to go a piece and several pawns down, he fought on valiantly but the Wey Valley player converted the win.
Freddie Smith had suddenly become quite ill after the journey up to the venue, but was bravely playing on with great team spirit. On board 6 this round he had a very sharp game against Wey Valley’s Anshu Ramaiya. As white he had won material with his queen capturing a rook on a8, but the price was his king stuck in an open centre, with black's queen and pieces threatening to swarm against him at any moment. With his focus on survival, he defended carefully but missed an opportunity for his queen to deliver mate on e8 as black dropped his guard. Once black was let off the hook, it was eventually black who used his queen to deliver checkmate on e2 - a real end to end chess classic that was well fought by both players!
At the end of Round 2 we had scored 8 points, for a total of 17 - and were in second place.
Round 3
Sussex again started with some quick wins.. Alexander Keen, Yelena, Miles and William all in less than 15 minutes (Taking Alexander to five out of five this season and one of only 2 on 100%).
Oliver Howell won as white after his opponent first blundered a knight on g4 to his queen very quickly, simply allowing Qxg4. Then after ..d5 (trickily discovering an attack on the Queen from his bishop on c8), Oliver slowed down, had a think, and then calmly took a loose pawn on g7 and went on to win without further incident.
In the next diagram - a very unwell Freddie Smith was still managing to fight well on board 6 against Birmingham’s Anshu Banerjee to reach this position - with the black pawns heading down the board:
What should black play here to progress towards a win?
This is a very complicated position that might cause even Grandmasters to have a careful think. Black must keep the pawn on c3 to retain winning chances. One plan is to try and use the Knight to cover the rooks rear attack on the pawn by playing Nc6 or Nc3, and then to use the Black pieces to try and support the black pawns advance. The main risk here is that the white pawn can start a march forward - and it is also close to the end!
Possibly stronger, and probably simpler could be 1..Kb4 planning Kb3 and Kb2 while the Knight and Rook stop the g pawn. Even if black sacrifices the knight for the pawn the rook endgame should be winning. There is therefore plenty for black to think about, but instead, quite quickly, The game actually went.. Rf3+ 2. Kh4 Rf2 3.Rc3 - losing the critical pawn. It was eventually drawn when down to K+N vs K.
So far on board 10 we had achieved zero out of two, but now Daniel won convincingly - even though his moves were rattled out at lightning speed despite some tricky mating attempts by his opponent. A prize competition for the parents will be available in the final for any ideas to get the team to slow down! Daniel’s win took him to 9 out of 9 in U9 matches this season! Only the 2nd player (along with Alexander Keen) to score 100%, and of great credit in view of the opposition played so far.
On board 5 in a tricky opening Hannah was playing Hampshire’s Ryan Pengelly and sacrificed a piece for an attack and 2 pawns, at first Ryan managed to defend the attack. Later Hannah won a rook to go the exchange up, but finally lost the rook to end up in something like this:
White to play, what can she do?
Here its tricky to make progress if black defends carefully, and if black can blockade and slowly win the kingside pawns then black should be winning. If White tries Kg4 then Be2+ with the threat of Bh5 may force white to abandon the h pawn, head for c7 with his king, when the combined threats of advancing the g pawn or capturing on b7 should save the game and get a draw. If white is given the chance to play both Kg4 and f5, though, while the Black king is on g7 then white is probably winning - as white can use the move h6+ to save the h pawn and activate his king.
All very complicated. Instead white left the pawn on f4 and advanced the h pawn to h7 where it was captured. Eventually black had a winning K+P endgame, but just advanced the black pawn up the board instead of his king. Hannah eventually got a stalemate after she made an error allowing her opponent a chance to get the king to the "shepherding square". Again - this was all quite a tricky endgame, but it was played at "full speed ahead" with lots of chances missed by both sides.
Here’s a link to give you a chance to practice this one at home! Watch out for the blockade. http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-training/custom-crafty-position.php?f=8%2F1p3k2%2F1P6%2F6PP%2F5P1K%2F3b4%2F8%2F8&t=3+pawns+vs+bishop
Getting a draw here may be the best you can do.
See this slightly different one below, though, on how things change if white is allowed to safely play f5. See the coaches if you need help winning it. (How would you win if you could get pawns on f6,g5,h6 and a K on e7?)
http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-training/custom-crafty-position.php?f=8%2F1p4k1%2F1P6%2F6PP%2F5PK1%2F3b4%2F8%2F8&t=B+vs+3+pawns+where+f5+works
Amalia was listening to a chess tape in the car on the way to the venue, on "how to get stalemate from a lost position", fortunately she was paying attention, as that is what she got this round despite being lots of material down!
Freddie Coleman was suffering on board 3 as white - he was the exchange up - but then he lost his rook and his opponents active queen and 2 bishops vs a queen and knight should have been enough to win, somehow Freddie managed to fight on and draw.
Joseph A was white in an open game but took a draw to avoid any risk of defeat when he calculated that black had the advantage. Scott’s game was the last to finish. A great win with black vs the Wey Valley board 1 after he crippled white’s pawns and king safety having just captured black's Knight on f3 in this position.
Can you see why white had to recapture with the pawn?
After getting doubled freddies, it becomes very difficult for white’s king to find safety but white did get one more chance to play for perpetual check in the following diagram.
Which move here gets a draw by perpetual check for white?
Scott's win took us to a 3-2 "mini-match" win vs Wey-Valley on the day, despite their overall win by 1 point!
In this round Sussex scored 9.5/12 without losing a game, to finish in 2nd place overall!
Links - http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1538&team=Sussex
Congratulations to:
On 3/3 - Daniel Finn (and still on 100% with 9/9), Alexander Keen (still on 100% with 5/5), Scott Borland (now on 5.5 out of 6 on board 1, the Sussex secret weapon!), Juju, Matthew Forster, William, Sophia and Yelena
On 2.5/3 Hannah and Amalia - taking the girls to a stunning 11/12 on the day!
Sussex had a great day - and are looking forward very much to the final in Nottingham.
Report by Mike Forster, U9 Team coach & manager.
4-Counties Match - 27th February 2011 - Chessington
This year our U9s were pleased to be invited to an extra 4-counties friendly at Chessington, hosted by Wey Valley.
Headline Results:
Wey Valley |
25.0 |
Kent |
19.5 |
Sussex |
19.5 |
Richmond |
8.0 |
The Team:
Joseph Allin, William Allin, Scott Borland, Freddie Coleman, Daniel Finn, Matthew Finn, Amalia Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Matthew Forster, Oli Howell, George Neale, Sophia Martin, JuJu Samworth-Calvier, Hannah Sutton, Oliver Thorne, Oscar Udsholt-Clayton.
Thanks to team manager Mike Forster, who only arrived back in the UK at 3:00am on the day of the match for this report.
Our adventure at Chessington began with an enigmatic message to our website:
>> Interested in a U9 team fixture?
>> Venue: Chessington, Surrey
>> Date : Feb 26th
>> Format : Kent, Richmond, Wey Valley and yourselves (hopefully).
>> Not everyone is signed up yet, but are you interested?
>> End of message
A flurry of emails and frantic phone calls ensued.. as we scrambled to see if we could participate.
In the end - the 27th was chosen as the final date - and after a fantastic response to an appeal for players we managed to find a team of sixteen who could all make it with only around 4 weeks notice.
We travelled to St Paul's school for a true "Southern Counties" battle of the giants. Of our opposition: Richmond won the U9 EPSCA title in 2008, Kent won in 2009 and Wey Valley won in 2010 by the closest of margins from Kent.
In the EPSCA finals of these events there is a Jamboree format - where in each round Sussex tend to play just 1 or 2 players from a particular opposing team. Our Chessington Chess day gave us a chance to play "friendly" matches with the last 3 winners of the competition. With around half of our team still Under eights - this was to be a real test for our young team.
(We didn't tell the team about the advice in Bill Hartston's book "How to Cheat at Chess": The shortest chapter is entitled Friendly Games. The entire text of that one is, "There is no such thing as a friendly game of chess." The next chapter is entitled 'Friendly Games' with the quote marks.)
In round 1 - We were white on odds against Kent - and a really tight contest ensued.
On board 2 an exploration of the Dutch defence by Joseph went awry when a knight captured on g7 with check, and then dominated the board on e6 - allowing a Queen to invade h5 with unstoppable threats. Meanwhile the middle order began to appreciate the challenge before us. William captured a bishop on e7 with his Queen.. only to face a Re8 move pinning and winning the queen against his own king still on e1. Matthew Forster had just regained the exchange in the middlegame, after losing it in the opening.. when a "touch move" accident left him a queen for Rook and Bishop down with an army of queen side pawns moving up the board. The Kent player displayed remorseless technique to finish him off. On the lower boards we fought back - with good wins from Oliver Thorne and Ami Finnegan - but we were still under pressure as Oscar succumbed under a big material disadvantage. On board 10 George was playing a solid defensive game - but lost some pawns in the endgame and then further material after complications that could have gone either way. Oliver Howell and Hannah did a great job on boards 4 and 5 - maintaining enduring pressure to achieve steady wins against robust play from their opponents.
Just as it looked as though we might sneak through to victory a couple of games where we were winning had unhappy endings. Sophia had been playing well to achieve a significant material gain, when the lack of an "escape pod" caught her out with a cruel back rank mate. Freddie had played really well earlier to win a piece (Knight on d6 went to e8 check winning a bishop on f6) - when later in approximately this position - there are two different ways to checkmate in two moves - can you see them?
Sadly - after Freddie chose to make his own escape pod here with 1. Nf7+ Kf5 2. Nd6+ Kg5. and then 3. g3 and then later something like: 3... Rf2 4. Rhh4 f5 5. Ref4 Rg2+ 6.Kf1 Rc2 7. Nf7+ ? Kf6- - black had managed to escape the mate a second time and eventually won with a windmill against a white king trapped on f1.
With our change in fortune and a hard fought draw on board 1 by Scott in the Grunfeld defence we finally lost the match to Kent 7.5 to 4.5 - but it could so easily have gone the other way.
For the start of Round 2 Jonathan arrived to help motivate the team. After a few board shuffles to move people in from the reserves - we set off against Wey Valley with Black on odds.
After a great start for Sussex - Freddie and Oliver Thorne achieved checkmates while still in the opening - Wey Valley started to show their class and why they were even tougher opposition than Kent. Most of the games were still going strong after 50 minutes - and the concentration levels were as good as I have ever seen in an under 9 match. Gradually, Wey Valley built up the pressure. In the end Sophia, Hannah, Joseph and Yelena lost long hard-fought games - forcing their opponents to check mate them rather than give up, while Scott and Daniel were on the winning side of equally tough encounters. Oliver Howell drew a pawn up in an opposite coloured bishop ending. Then there were some rapid changes of furtune. First Ami spotted a checkmate with a "kiss of death" - but sadly the queen was undefended and her better position was now lost. Finally - just as it looked as though we would go under - with William's opponent achieving a ferocious attack with a Queen and Rook - and Matthew Forster's opponent promoting to reach 2 Queens vs R+B - both Sussex players managed to snatch checkmates to take Sussex to the narrowest of victories - Sussex beating Wey Valley 6.5 to 5.5. Fortune certainly favoured the brave - and there was much cheering and rejoicing in the Sussex team room!
In Round 3 we went out with ambitious hopes of snatching victory for Sussex. We just needed to win 12-0, and for Wey Valley to beat Kent by the narrowest of margins, and we could still do it..!
Although we started with a very quick win for Matthew Forster - Matthew Finn suffered his first defeat on board 11 after having scored a great result of 2/2 in the reserves tournament. Things started to prove very interesting though, as we saw Wey-Valley accumulating a huge score against Kent in the other match.
The Richmond team were lacking in experience on the lowest boards, but this was another great round for Sussex in terms of concentration, with our team using their time effectively and moving slowly in response to their fast moving opponents. The results were good: wins for Freddie, Hannah, William, Sophia, Daniel and Juju - while we lost only on board 4 in Oliver Howell's game (where his opponents persistence in removing all the pawn defences round the king - sacrificing a rook and 3 pieces - finally paid off when Oli was unlucky to miss a snap mate).
Oliver Thorne eventually drew a drawn rook and pawn ending via stalemate. The last two boards to finish went right to the end of the session. Joseph was tenaciously suffering 2 pawns down in a bad-bishop vs knight ending while Scott had an extra pawn in a king and pawn endgame. We needed 1 more point to draw level with Kent..! Joseph's opponent played slowly and carefully to win - despite two valiant attempts from Joseph to setup stalemate traps. Manwhile, Scott on board 1 displayed remarkable composure in his ending as the round drew to a close. As his queen delivered the kiss of death - Sussex had beaten Richmond 8.5 to 3.5 - and had caught up and came joint second with Kent!
Big thanks to the Howell's - Sue and Chris for arbiting - organizing in the final week, bringing edible comestibles and for Matthew for helping go through games in the team room.
Thanks also for everyone who came at short notice, the helpers in the team room, and everyone who stayed to clear out our classroom. There was a great team spirit through a really tough day. We'd particularly like to thank Stephen of Wey Valley for organizing this one off event. Thanks also to Jonathan for support on the day, and for Carol and Dave - who helped with emails in the final week while I was on holiday.. I recommend avoiding matches the day after returning by plane in the small hours of the morning - whenever possible!
All in all - lots of fun, and good prospects ahead for the team as we look forward to our zonal on 12th March. The children were a great credit to Sussex and themselve,s and should be very proud of their achievement against the Giants. We learnt a lot, and still scored a fantastic result.
Some notable mentions:
With 3/3 - Daniel Finn.
With 2.5/3: Scott Borland and Oliver Thorne.
With 2/2: Freddie Coleman, Hannah Sutton, Matthew Forster, William Allin, Amalia Finnegan, Matthew Finn, and Juju Samworth.
4-Counties Match - 8th January 2011 - Twyford
On Saturday 8th January, the Sussex Junior Chess under 9 team travelled to Twyford for the traditional "4-Counties Match". We are very grateful to Nigel Dennis and Berkshire Junior Chess who host these events which give a chance for our players to gain valuable experience before the regional zonal jamboree.
Headline Results:
|
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Total |
Sussex |
8 |
9 |
8 |
25.0 |
Bucks |
10 |
6.5 |
4 |
20.5 |
Hampshire |
4 |
5.5 |
5 |
14.5 |
Berkshire |
2 |
3 |
7 |
12.0 |
The Team:
Joseph Allin, William Allin, Miles Brown, Freddie Coleman, Daniel Finn, Matthew Finn, Amalia Finnegan, Yelena Finnegan, Matthew Forster, Oli Howell, Alexander Keen, Alexander Miller, George Neale, Sophia Martin, JuJu Samworth-Calvier, Freddie Smith, Oliver Thorne, Oscar Udsholt-Clayton.
Team co-ordinator and U9 Coach Mike Forster writes:-
"Just a quick note for everyone to say thanks again for supporting our team yesterday. It was a fantastic result and the children should all feel very proud.
Congratulations to Freddie Coleman, and Oscar Udsholt-Clayton who earned the awards for the best-kept scoresheets.
Special mentions go also to Joseph Allin - who coped brilliantly with the responsibility of board 1 with a stunning 3/3..!
Other three out of threes include Miles, Matthew, and Daniel - with George Neale just half point behind after a wise claim for 3-fold repetition while a queen
for rook down..!
Team Freddie had a challenging start on the tough boards 2 and 3 but bounced back towards the end with very convincing wins in the critical round against Bucks.
Well done also to Alexander Keen, who had to go home ill on 2/2 - and for the twins Amelia and Yelena plus Oliver Thorne - who put up such a valiant fight,
and managed to resist so long - that they were the last to finish in various rounds.
Finally - well done to all our new players this season - who have shown their potential with this fantastic start - many are under 8s - and will hopefully have
a chance to move from strength to strength, and play in next years team too."