Crowborough Grand Prix, 18th September 2011

The new season opened in style with a round 100 competitors from Sussex, Berkshire, Kent and Surrey.

It was particularly pleasing to see 40 players in the U18 section - a 25% increase on last season - and a warm welcome back to almost all of last years Under 11 County squad. Another really encouraging statistic was the number of girls - 25% of the entry, and 25% of the prizewinners! In fact in the U11 Minor 6 out of the top 15 placings (those scoring 4 or more out of 6) were girls. Also noteworthy is the number of emerging chess 'families' - the U18 section featured 5 sets of siblings while the U11 Minor managed 6; including 4 sets of twins!

As always there was a good representation from Sussex schools with a long chess tradition - St. Lawrence, Copthorne Prep. and Broadwater. Additionally, it was excellent to see many emerging schools well represented - Heron Way, Lindfield Primary, Lewes Old Grammar School, UCTC and Sackville. Competition for School team prizes in the age-group competitions coming up later this term should be very exciting.

Starting with the U11 Minor the arbiters reported that standards of play, concentration and behaviour were high, especially considering some of the players were under 8 years old. It is a big step from school chess club to a competition where players have to keep 'bouncing back' for 6 rounds, and there were many tired faces by 5pm. Congratulations to newcomer Joe Widdowson who scored a perfect 6 out of 6. Excellent performances too from Joshua Francis and Archie Stokoe, who both found that even scoring 4.5 wasn't enough to secure a place on the podium in this hotly contested section. Commiserations to Archie who just missed out to Joshua for the Under 10 prize on progressives (tie-break). Other noteworthy performances from Sophia Martin, Oscar Udsholt-Clayton, Leif Monteith and Hardy Burch who all scored 4 points, just missing out on prizes.

The U11 Major was a scary place to be and well done to Henry Austin, Oli Howell and Hannah Sutton for challenging themselves by entering this very strong section. A very confident performance from Callum Brewer saw him storm to the top spot with 6 out of 6. Well done to Edward, Nikolai and Matthew (an Under-10) who couldn't be separated by the tie-break rules and so shared second place. The fact that they secured second place with 4 points is testament to the competitiveness of this section. Commiserations to Freya and Thomas, who despite some very good individual games, were squeezed out of the prizes. Regular readers will know this happens a lot to Freya! Luckily our system of promoting prizewinners up to the next sections means that there is constant throughput, and the arbiters commented that there are many candidates in the U11 Minor who would make worthy challengers in the Major next time.

Finally, the U18 section featured 4 England squad players, and two-thirds of the entry have represented Sussex in national competitions.....so again, a very strong event offering a high level of challenge. Very well done to newcomers Mary and Esther Sturch, Tanith Davies, Timon Walshe-Grey and Richard Kay for persevering and scoring against more experienced players - it does get easier after your first event. Strong performances and some great individual results from Jamie Ward, Ewan Borland, Matthew Howell and Jimmy Warwick, who all just missed the prizes this time.

Finally, thanks to all the parents for supporting the children throughout the highs and lows of the day. Thanks also to the tournament control team - Dave and Will on pairings; Andy, Mike, Trevor, Shaun, Tom and Brian for board stewarding, and last but not least, the fabulous catering team (Ed, Derek and Debbie).

We hope to see many of you back to compete again - our next grand prix is on October 22nd where the sections will be slightly different - Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, and Under 18. Look out also for our age-limited tournaments for the Under 8s (Nov 5th) and Under 9s, Under 11s, and Under 13s (Nov 27th). All these events additionally include team prizes where there are three or more players from the same school.

Finally, we are a voluntary organisation and can always use extra pairs of hands, either at events or handling administration behind the scenes. Please speak to an organiser if you would like to get more involved.

Below are the headline results; full crosstables are here, updated Grand Prix placings here and photos here.