Uckfield Academy
About Chess Academies
Sussex Junior Chess established the Chess Academy concept as a way of encouraging wider participation in chess.
The programme seeks to liaise with schools within a geographic area and then to tailor fun, innovative, and age and experience appropriate chess events to suit that community. It is hoped that this will bring chess to a new audience, encouraging them to learn to play chess and offering them a path for progression through local clubs to County and even National level events.
Brian Stockham, a coach with many years experience in junior chess is the Academy Director for the Uckfield area.
5th Uckfield Academy Event - Holy Cross CEP School, 28th October 2011
4th Uckfield Academy Event - Holy Cross CEP School, 18th October 2011
5th Uckfield Academy Event - Holy Cross CEP School, 28th October 2011
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We experienced a downturn in our fortunes at this Academy event, as from seven schools only 16 registered. However we were pleased to welcome as a guest for the morning session a sibling from a new school to the Academy – Chyngton at Seaford. We have consulted with parents and learned that our decision to delay promotion of this event until after the new-style 4th event previously reported on meant that many parents had already booked arrangements for this holiday and in many cases our circulations to schools just did not reach potential entrants. Having learned that, we will aim to do better next time.
The morning session was entitled `Rook around the Clock’ and linked to training sessions provided by the Director on the use of rooks on open files, the importance and power of connecting them for attack and defence, together with pawn structure and development. Unusually checkmate was not allowed and games were won either by completely eliminating the opponent’s pawns, or promoting one of your own. The loss of rooks was promoted as deplorable and definitely to be avoided. Back rank checkmates were outlawed to achieve the goal of using rooks powerfully towards the declared aims. Further coaching and advice was offered preparing the attendees for tournament play and the use of clocks, some of whom were playing with them for the first time.
By way of encouragement, whether win, draw or lose a range of scores were available from 1-5 in each match and it was again pleasing that no-one scored the minimum. Trophies were awarded for the first three in the tournament, full results as follows:-
| Pos | Name | Age | School | Score |
1st |
George Richenberg |
U15B |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
28 points |
2nd |
Michael Stockham |
U12B |
UCTC |
26 |
3rd |
Aaron Smetham |
U15B |
UCTC |
22 |
4th |
Finn Bazard-Ferns |
U12B |
UCTC |
21 |
5th |
Zion Mapemba-Taylor |
U11B |
St Philip’s |
19 (60 Tie-break) |
6th |
Will Walshe-Grey |
U9B |
Lewes Old Grammar Junior |
19 (52) |
7th |
Timon Walshe-Grey |
U13B |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
18 (79) |
8th |
Angus Paterson |
U9B |
Framfield |
18 (65) |
9th |
Theo Richenberg |
U13B |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
18 (62) |
10th |
William Harris |
U13B |
UCTC |
17 (53) |
11th |
Tallis Groves |
U9G |
Framfield |
17 (48) |
12th |
Ben Figg |
U11B |
Lewes Old Grammar Junior |
16 |
13th |
Duncan Paterson |
U8B |
Framfield |
15 |
14th |
Jemima Richenberg |
U8G |
Chyngton, Seaford |
13 |
15th |
Rohan Huxley |
U8G |
Holy Cross |
9 |
The concept of age and size making no difference to the ability to play chess was heavily emphasised during the day (we had players aged from 7-15 !!) and it is a fact that those in the lower half of the above list have broadly speaking less experience in the game, but hopefully will have learned a great deal.
Additional prizes were given for year groups as follows:-
Under 8 |
Duncan Paterson |
Framfield |
Under 9 |
Will Walshe-Grey |
Lewes Old Grammar Junior |
Under 11 |
Zion Mapemba-Taylor |
St Philip’s |
Under 12 |
Finn Bazard-Ferns |
UCTC |
Under 13 |
Timon Walshe-Grey |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
In addition, Angus Paterson (U9 – Framfield) was awarded a special prize for his high score and placement as an Under-9, and William Harris (U13 – UCTC) for growing in confidence in his first tournament as each round passed.
For the presentation of prizes at the end of the morning session, we were pleased to welcome Mrs Verity Huxley, Chair of the Governing Body at Holy Cross (and mother of the youngest entrant!).
The schools trophy was always designed to be an overall trophy for performance through the day, and on this occasion Lewes Old Grammar had been split between Senior and Junior schools after their last win at an Academy event, to be fairer to other smaller Junior schools. After the morning session UCTC were ahead of Lewes Old Grammar Senior by four placements.
The afternoon session was entitled `Speed Star’ and was an opportunity rarely offered in school coaching sessions because of time restrictions to play a lightning form of fun chess with all of the pieces in a tournament context – this being a real test of mental agility and concentration. Coaching was again given on the use of clocks but in continuing advice and encouragement, the children were urged to check for their own mistakes and capitalise swiftly on the mistakes of opponents, with otherwise the full normal rules of chess applying, which were also enforced.
The same points system was in place and again the first three won trophies, results being as follows:-
Pos |
Name |
Age |
School |
Score |
1st |
George Richenberg |
U15B |
Lewes Old Grammar School |
27 |
2nd |
Michael Stockham |
U12B |
UCTC |
26 |
3rd |
Will Walshe-Grey |
U9B |
Lewes Old Grammar Junior |
21 (75 Tie-break) |
4th |
Theo Richenberg |
U13B |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
21 (69) |
5th |
William Harris |
U13B |
UCTC |
19 |
6th |
Zion Mapemba-Taylor |
U11B |
St Philip’s |
18 |
7th |
Timon Walshe-Grey |
U13B |
Lewes Old Grammar Senior |
17 (66) |
8th |
Finn Bazard-Ferns |
U12B |
UCTC |
17 (60) |
9th |
Tallis Groves |
U9G |
Framfield |
16 |
10th |
Angus Paterson |
U9B |
Framfield |
14 |
11th |
Duncan Paterson |
U8B |
Framfield |
10 (37) |
12th |
Adam Hawes |
U11B |
Little Horsted |
10 (35) |
Again additional prizes were given for year groups as follows:-
Under 8 |
Duncan Paterson |
Framfield |
Under 9 |
Tallis Groves |
Framfield |
Under 11 |
Zion Mapemba-Taylor |
St Philip’s |
Under 12 |
Finn Bazard-Ferns |
UCTC |
Under 13 |
William Harris |
UCTC |
This time special awards were given to Theo Richenberg (U13 – Lewes Old Grammar Senior) who was unlucky to have missed a 3rd place trophy with a score of 21 and by just 6 points on a tie-break; also to Timon Walshe-Grey (U13 – Lewes Old Grammar Senior), whose play has improved enormously as evidenced throughout the day, which had also been acknowledged at the Sussex Under-18 tournament at Worth Abbey the weekend before when his talent had been spotted by another Sussex coach. 
We were very pleased to welcome Dr John Higgs, the Sussex Junior Chess Academies Co-ordinator, who presented the afternoon prizes.
Certificates for all entrants will be forwarded to schools for presentation.
Finally the schools trophy was awarded. Most competitions rely on the scores of the top three players from each school to differentiate between schools as a single criterion. Whilst this was retained as one criterion the design for my Academy areas is that schools with a large number of entrants should also be rewarded as we are seeking to constantly expand the number of children in each area playing and developing in the game, so this was also added as a criterion, together with total points scored and then the average score per player from each school. If a tie occurs, which has not happened yet in this process, then there would be a final split on the basis of each school’s top scorer, i.e. the Captains Challenge, including if necessary the result between the two.
Both Little Horsted and Holy Cross, as previous high performers in Academy events, were hampered by having only one player and finished 7th equal; also with only one player, but with slightly higher performance, were Chyngton in 6th place and St Phlip’s in 5th place; six placements ahead were Lewes Old Grammar Junior in 4th and a further five placements in front for 3rd place was Framfield, their highest ever position at an Academy event. The competition for first and second was fierce and had to be re-checked three times for certain accuracy, but it emerged that Lewes Old Grammar Senior had in the afternoon session won by four placements – exactly the same as UCTC had done in the morning! Therefore for the first time in the short history of this Academy it had to go to the Captain’s Challenge and because George Richenberg had won both tournaments, clearly Lewes Old Grammar Senior could be declared the winners over UCTC – but by just three points in that Challenge! Never was it more apparent the difference which just one player can make and all schools were encouraged to seek higher numbers attending in the future.
Finally thanks are due to Holy Cross for the use of the school as a venue and particularly to Caretaker Bob for his assistance. This was a family-run event for families and I also thank my wife Tessa for help in preparation and registration and support through the day.
It is gratifying that the Academy programme has led to eight more school teams this year from my two Academy areas entering the Sussex Primary Cup, so the next month or so will be busy in that regard. There will be an Academy event in the Christmas/New Year holiday, which is likely to be a rapid play winter championship rather than a lightning event, particularly as this will be midway through the Primary Cup and players will need the practice at the full game to match more experienced schools and will need to be encouraged and coached to use the extra time wisely. However we have learned from this event and intend to give much earlier notice this time to help parental planning and ensure better attendance.
Brian Stockham
SJC Academy Director – Uckfield
4th Uckfield Academy Event - Holy Cross CEP School, 18th October 2011
This event was completely different to any Academy event before in our history, as it presupposed that there would be sufficient interest from children and parents for them to be in most cases picked up from their own school and delivered to Holy Cross for just two hours of activity. Any worries that this may prove a step too far were dispelled from a high number of entries, with 24 children from eight different schools registering. These numbers were boosted on the day by 7 others from the host school, Holy Cross, who were present for their normal chess club and thereby took part in the early stages of this event. We were particularly pleased to welcome three pupils from St Philips RCP, the first time this school has participated.
The event was titled “Terminator – Rook Class” and was entirely focused on the basic skill of checkmating with a Rook and King against a King. As the standard the rook and king were placed on a8 and h1 respectively, with the attacked king on d5. Within the briefing, short coaching was given on the art of control as opposed to meaningless checks of the opponent and the shortest method of pressing for a conclusion. Technique was also expanded as regards the importance of touching and moving pieces fluently and the clock button being pressed with the same hand as moved the piece. In pre-planning the obvious question arose of who would be the quickest to demonstrate the skill, which in turn led to the notion of finding the fastest child in the Academy area. Organisationally this produced a plan of finding eight quarter-finalists, then to whittle them down to the final pair for by now a well rehearsed shootout. In the initial stages basic chess clocks were used and for any potential organisers out there, this was the most stressful period – whilst the clocks were crucial to the children time was also finite for this Director due to the short timescale for conclusion! From the semi-final stage digital clocks were used, which at least produced complete accuracy rather than the need for precise judgement evident from using the older style clocks.
From the initial stages there were eight clear quarter-finalists. However, sadly Amy Manvell [Holy Cross] would have qualified but had to leave early. The quarter finals were also hectic, but the winners became very clear, with commiserations to those who lost:- Timon Walshe-Grey [LOGS Senior], Leia Derrick [Holy Cross], Jason Lyons [Blackboys] and Zion Mapemba-Taylor [St Philips].
With the use of the digital clocks in the semi-finals, we can be assured of accuracy and sadly both Will Walshe-Grey [LOGS Junior] at 63 seconds and Elinor Thomas [Holy Cross] at 66 seconds seemed to make slight errors whilst under the greater pressure of the occasion.
The final was between two worthy contenders who had demonstrated their prowess right from the start and a strong level of consistency which evidenced complete grasp of the technique, one who can be described as experienced with years of training and one who has nothing like the same background but has begun to make a major impact in Academy activities. The runner-up was Joseph Light [LOGS Junior] with an excellent performance at 40 seconds and indeed someone who managed a time closer to 30 in the earlier rounds – no doubt a future Sussex candidate! The winner was Michael Stockham [UCTC] who managed it in 31 seconds, but had posted a time of 27 seconds in the semi-final, which is the fastest we are aware of in such conditions (although there is a rumour that someone completed this at a Sussex training session closer to 10 seconds !).
The event proved to be a great success and there is no doubt both this event and the after-school concept will be used again. The emphasis on techniques and the opportunity for repeated practice under competition conditions with children outside of their own school environment hopefully cemented this basic skill for all, with clear improvement seen amongst the younger ones and beginners. Parents were welcome throughout the event and many were present both at the briefing and first coaching as well as the presentation. It was emphasised that this basic skill is something you can try at home and hopefully many parents will have learned sufficient for this to be at least practised on them by their children in spare moments. It was emphasised that it is essential to hone this skill for advancement in the game and that anyone representing Sussex not only has to be practised, but timely, for those competitive matches when time becomes paramount and pressed. There was one parental complaint that the younger inexperienced entrants were merely cannon fodder for the older experienced ones, but that is ever the case at such events – at least the complainant reports that the child did really enjoy it and wants to try again!
We were pleased for the presentation to welcome Mr Justin Heath, Head Teacher at Holy Cross, who presented medals to the losing semi-finalists and trophies to the winner and runner-up. In due course certificates will arrive at schools for presentation to all who attended.
It is pertinent here to thank the school, particularly Bob the caretaker, for their help with the venue and the event. This coincided with the recent presentation to Holy Cross of their certificate for 2011-12 as the Sussex Junior Chess accredited school centre for the Uckfield Academy.
For those schools not yet engaging with us in a partnership to develop chess as an important activity, Justin’s response as an experienced teacher is worth noting:- “At Holy Cross School, we recognise the many benefits of chess and the enjoyment that it provides. So, it is an honour for the school to be the venue for the Chess Academy and play a part in offering children this opportunity to experience both challenge and excellence.”
Brian Stockham
SJC Academy Director – Uckfield