NYCA Jamborees 2010
The NYCA run under 18, under 16, under 14 and under 12 inter-association chess events each autumn term. The dates for 2010 are:-
26th September |
U18 & U14 |
13th November |
U12 Championship - 13th November 2010
Headline results:
Pos |
Team |
Score |
|
1 |
Sussex |
34.5 |
|
2= |
South Wales |
34.0 |
|
|
Manchester |
34.0 |
|
4 |
Kent |
27.5 |
|
5= |
Cheshire & N.Wales |
24.5 |
|
|
Lancashire |
24.5 |
|
7= |
Warwickshire |
23.5 |
|
|
Yorkshire |
23.5 |
|
9 |
Berkshire |
21.5 |
|
10 |
Staffordshire |
16.5 |
|
Board Prizes: Matthew Howell and Joseph Allin (4 points out of 4)
Reserve Competition Winner: Jamie Ward
The Team:
Otto Pyper (Captain), Billy Twigge-Molecey, David Liu, Josh Higgs, Brian Tarhon, Edward Critchley, Matthew Howell, Joe Thorley, Michael Stockham, Joseph Allin, Cassie Graham, James Reid, Jamie Ward, Daniel Manvell, Oli Howell (mascot!)
 |
 |
 |
A day trip to Telford was not the most exciting prospect for parents or children but all 14 players (+mascot!) all arrived well before the scheduled 11.15 start time, thanks to some excellent logistics by the parents. There were 11 teams of 12 boards competing in the U12s, which was run as a jamboree, with 45 minutes on the clock for each player for each of four games. Our bottom four boards alternated between the team and the Reserves tournament.
An Under 12 team was a new adventure for most of the players with all bar 2 of the children Under 11 and some much younger, so we were unsure of what to expect going into the first round. However we came away with 8.5 points from 12, placing us in 2nd = along with Manchester but a full 1.5 points behind South Wales.
South Wales turned out to be the Welsh National squad, in their full country’s tracksuit. During the day the Chairman of Sussex was heard plotting out loud to have them removed from the competition which we had always assumed was a county event. Then it was pointed out to him that the NYCA, whose competition this is, is run by a Welshman, and the plan was duly shelved – we’d just have to beat them over the board!
South Wales extended their lead after the second round when they secured 10.5 points from 12 to reach 20.5 from 24 with ourselves achieving 7.5 points and dropping back behind Manchester who moved a point ahead of us into second. Otto Pyper on top board managed an excellent win in this round – mating his opponent with 20 secs left on his clock. The less optimistic amongst us were now looking towards who was in 4th but Yorkshire and Kent were already far behind us.
The third round saw a further 8.5 points for us to remain 1 point behind Manchester but the big news of the round was the South Wales score of 6.5. In a Jamboree, each member of the team is playing against a different county so all you can do is post your scores and hope the other teams around you are not fairing so well. However, in round 3 Brian Tarhon coolly defeated a South Wales player which was a particularly important win.
We saved our best team performance to last and achieved 9 out of 11 posting a total of 33.5 with one game to come. South Wales had already posted 34 with all their games completed and Manchester again had 34 with one to come. Billy T-M was our remaining player and I am unsure as to whether he knew how significant the game was but I am sure the presence of so many Sussex adults around his game probably indicated something! He had for a long time in the game held a material advantage but had been 15 minutes behind on the clock , and although the team were always confident that Billy would convert his advantage, he was down to a nerve-jangling 30 seconds on the clock when he mated his opponent!
This left us on 34.5 with Manchester on 34 with one game to come - at which point the arbiters removed all spectators from the playing hall. It had looked promising to us as the Cheshire player was beating the Manchester player but nothing can be assumed and it was not for a further 10 nervous minutes that we discovered that we had won the National U12 title by half a point.
Every single player scored points for Sussex that made the difference between third and first, so this was very much a team effort; however individual prizes deservedly went to the three players who scored 4/4; Matthew Howell, Joseph Allin and Jamie Ward.
Congratulations to all the players who all contributed to a great team performance and an even greater team spirit. Thank you to all the travelling parents and I hope that you all enjoyed the day and I think that the day proved that chess although very much an individual challenge can be a great team contest. There will be new challenge next year to retain the title and as the current squad will only lose Otto and Matthew, they will be very much the favourites. So a date for the diary Sunday 6th October – Telford !
Sue Howell
U16 Championship - 13th November 2010
Headline results:-
Pos |
Team |
Score |
|
1 |
Yorkshire |
25.0 |
|
2 |
Kent |
22.5 |
|
3 |
Sussex |
22.0 |
|
4 |
Warwickshire |
18.5 |
|
5 |
Berkshire |
17.5 |
|
6 |
Lancashire |
16.0 |
|
7 |
South Wales |
14.5 |
|
8 |
Hampshire |
13.0 |
|
9 |
Manchester |
12.0 |
|
10 |
Staffordshire |
8.5 |
|
11 |
Cheshire & N.Wales |
6.5 |
Board Prizes: Jude Lenier and Arthur Graham (4 points out of 4)
The Team:
Chris Yates, Jude Lenier, Ziyuan Qu, Ramsay Pyper, Johny Burch, Ollie Willson, Will Graham, Arthur Graham
The trip to Telford is a long one and the tournament very tough – 4 rounds of 1.5 hours. A big thanks goes to the parents and helpers who got the team together and provided such great support for the players.
The tournament format is a jamboree and it seemed more like a lottery to me at first as we ended up with 6 out of 8 of our team playing Black in the first round – however, I need not have panicked as the colours balanced themselves out over the 4 rounds.
Finding where to sit in these events is an achievement in itself – the players come in and wander around desperately searching for the scrap of paper identifying their team letter and board number. After 5 minutes of the second round I was very worried as one of our players had failed to show-up at his board – then I spotted him a few boards away playing for Kent! I don’t want to embarrass him further by mentioning his name although I’m sure Chris wouldn’t mind.
The team played really well throughout as can be seen from the consistent scoring and we even had our noses in front after the first round. Kent and Yorkshire then proved to be very strong in the middle rounds and going into the last round we were solidly in 3rd place. Despite another strong showing in round 4 we finished 3rd, just half a point off 2nd place.
Dave Graham
 |
Will is not playing so much these days and when he reached the following position in round 1 I’d written his game off. Just look at the Bishop on a2! It looks like one of those retrospective puzzle compositions where you have to work out how it could have got there. (Just for the record it went via b5, a4, b3........and then sat on a2 or the rest of game.) |
|
 |
Still, what do I know ? Can you believe the game ended in the position opposite ? |
U14 Championship - 26th September 2010
Headline Results:
1st |
|
Kent |
|
41½ |
|
2nd |
|
Lancashire |
|
29½ |
|
3rd |
|
Sussex |
|
26 |
|
4 |
|
Yorkshire |
|
24 |
|
5 |
|
Berkshire |
|
21½ |
|
6= |
|
Manchester |
|
20½ |
|
6= |
|
Staffordshire |
|
20½ |
|
6= |
|
Cheshire North Wales |
|
20½ |
|
9 |
|
South Wales |
|
17 |
|
10 |
|
Warwickshire |
|
16 |
Sussex team take 3rd place at NYCA under 14s
The Sussex U14 team came third place in the NYCA championships at Telford last weekend. Through a mix of player unavailability and last minute illness we were only able to field a team of 10 in what was a 12 board jamboree tournament. We also had a number of younger players and nearly everyone was playing on a higher board than usual. Given the circumstances, to come away with medals in a very close county competition was a fantastic achievement by the players and a testimony to the great team spirit that emerged through the day. Congratulations to Robert Fitzgerald, Amy Hoare, Daniel Sutton, Billy Twigge-Molecey, Otto Pyper, Ollie Wilson, Arthur Graham, David Liu, Joshua Higgs and Joshua Ralph.
With 6 wins and 2 draws from our 10 players we were joint third after the first round, although we quickly knew that the competition would be close with seven of the 12 teams scoring between 6 and 7.5. Only Kent with 9.5 had separated from the pack - a trend which continued as they eventually won the competition by a wide margin. Second round scoring was similar and we maintained third place, just half a point off Lancashire. Sussex teams tend to have one wobbly round in these competitions and sure enough ours came in the third where we scored just 4.5, slipping to 4th behind Berkshire. As the last round began with Kent and then Lancashire clear there were five other teams with a chance of securing bronze. When the going gets tough .... 8 wins and a draw was a terrific response from the players and enough to secure 3rd place medals - a great achievement.
Everyone played their part - including the parents who made the 7 hour round trip and those who offered or gave lifts - thank you for your support. Special mention to Robert Fitzgerald and Ollie Wilson who both scored 3.5 out of 4 securing their respective board prizes and to Amy Hoare who was unbeaten.