NYCA Jamborees 2011
The NYCA run under 18, under 16, under 14 and under 12 inter-association chess events each autumn term. The dates for 2011 are:-
24th September |
U18 & U14 |
6th November |
U12 Championship - 6th November 2011
Results:
1st |
Sussex |
29½ |
2nd |
South Wales |
26 |
3rd |
Greater Manchester |
20½ |
4th |
Warwickshire |
18½ |
5th |
Yorkshire |
17 |
6th= |
Staffordshire |
13½ |
|
Lancashire |
13½ |
9th |
Berkshire |
9 |
The Team:
Ewan Borland, Callum Brewer, Niroshan Ganeshan, Cassie Graham, Josh Higgs, David Liu, Seb Pollard, Michael Stockham, Brian Tarhon, Joe Thorley, Billy Twigge-Molecey and Jamie Ward.
Round one saw Sussex off to a flying start, with Josh, David, Seb, Michael and Joe all achieving early material advantages. These were duly converted, Joe’s being a commendably patient effort against a dogged opponent. Jamie and Ewan’s opponents were absent; Ewan’s arrived late and was quickly polished off, while Jamie won by default. Billy played steadily through a level middle-game before seizing an opportunity for a decisive back-rank finish. On board 1, Brian conducted a superbly controlled pawn storm against his opponent’s king and broke through for a decisive material advantage. Niroshan was under some pressure in a double-rook endgame but bounced back neatly with an adroit mid-board checkmate. Cassie and Callum, seated diagonally opposite, both developed small material pluses from level middle-games. While Cassie converted safely, Callum unfortunately dropped an exchange and bailed out for a draw. Nonetheless, 11½ out of 12 in the first round put Sussex in a commanding position.
Sussex’ nearest rivals were South Wales, and the second round games between Brian and Michael and their Welsh opponents proved decisive in the overall reckoning. Brian’s opponent sacrificed first a pawn and then a piece, creating an unclear position demanding accurate defence – a task to which Brian was fully equal. Michael and his opponent played cautiously through the opening and middlegame, reaching a level-looking endgame where both held two rooks and one minor piece. At this point, Michael used pawn thrusts to force off all the pieces, correctly judging that, in the resulting king-and-pawn endgame, his outside passed pawns outweighed his opponent’s central passed pawn. Elsewhere, it was a rather more mixed picture in this round. Jamie, Seb and Ewan all won smoothly – Seb was never in danger in any of his three games – but Joe, having secured a substantial material advantage, succumbed to a fork. Billy and Josh demonstrated their maturity in patiently accumulating small but decisive material surpluses, while David decided that discretion was the better part of valour and accepted a draw in a queen and rook endgame. Niroshan also drew, having been a pawn down. Callum bounced back from his first round setback to secure a comfortable win, while Cassie battled superbly to clinch a long and fluctuating game, in which she promoted no less than three pawns. 21½ out of 24, giving a comfortable lead of 4½ points going into the final round.
As it turned out, several Sussex players succumbed to fatigue or nerves in the final round, and a string of early losses left the Sussex management in an anxious huddle, with Brian, David and Niroshan still in play and potentially 1½ points needed. It is to their great credit that all three delivered under pressure. Brian wrung victory from an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops, David converted the advantage of an exchange in a volatile position and Niroshan, a model of concentration, proved that his rook and two pawns outweighed his opponent’s two minor pieces in an endgame. So in the end, a fairly comfortable margin of victory, Sussex securing 29½ out of 36.
All players contributed to a thoroughly deserved success, and the atmosphere in the team room was enthusiastic and very supportive throughout. Nobody would have guessed that, remarkably, the twelve players now attend twelve different schools. Brian, Billy, Josh, Cassie, Seb and Michael all scored a maximum 3/3; the medal for top individual performance was awarded to Michael for his exemplary application and concentration throughout the event and his pivotal victory against South Wales in round 2.
We intend that the brand-new NYCA U12 trophy, once engraved, will be passed around between the players and their schools over the next twelve months. Of course, we then intend to win it again in 2012!
On behalf of all the team and SJC, thanks are due to team manager John Higgs, coaching manager Jonathan Tuck and the many parents who provided valuable transport and support on the day.
Tom Borland
U16 Championship - 6th November 2011
Results:
1st |
Greater Manchester |
17½ |
2nd |
Yorkshire |
14½ |
3rd |
Sussex |
14 |
4th= |
Kent |
13 |
|
South Wales |
13 |
6th |
Berkshire |
9½ |
7th |
Staffordshire |
8½ |
8th |
Cheshire & N.Wales |
6 |
The Team:
Morgan Blake, Scott Borland, Jonny Burch, Arthur Graham, Toby Harris, Sam Higgs, Amy Hoare, Ollie Willson, Chris Yates.
The trip to Telford is a long one and the tournament very tough – 3 rounds of 1.5 hours. The tournament format is a jamboree and the time control of 45 mins for all moves is tricky to manage.
This year it was a pleasure to find the tournament well organised and the playing standard high. It was terrific to have Amy heading up the team on board 1 (‘fresh’ from training the under 11 Girls at Lindfield the previous day) and a big thanks to travelling reserve Sam Higgs who found himself propelled from his homework into the playing hall to play in a reserves tournament.
After a slow start in round 1 we found our form in rounds 2 and 3 to finish just half a point off second place. All the team scored and great credit goes to Scott, Chris (on board 2) and Toby who came through unbeaten. Arthur and Ollie showed great character in recovering from a blunder-full first round – with the rounds only 15 mins apart there was very little time to reflect and recover. Jonny scored 2 wins on board 3 and Amy and Morgan chipped in well against very tough opponents.
Whilst luck is not really a factor in chess, I feel we can make an exception here – Morgan went right to the wire in his last game finding some brilliant moves in desperate time trouble to achieve a dead drawn ending but he ran out of time when the opponent had just 2 seconds left. The last minute of play was simply a who-can-press-the-clock-quickest exercise and it was a shame we missed out on the ½ point to share second place by 2 seconds.
Still, a really enjoyable day out and I look forward to next year’s event which may well be closer to home. Thanks to all the parents for supporting this event which makes a considerable dent in your weekend.
Dave Graham
U14 Championship - 24th September 2011
Sussex are NYCA under 14 Champions!
Two days before a trip to Telford for the NYCA Under 14 team championships, we were one player down but up stepped Callum Brewer from Brighton and with the help of Mike Ralph, Neil Fitzgerald, Gary Wilson and John Higgs, 12 players arrived in good time for the 11.15am start. Not an unreasonable time but our Hastings players had set off at 6.30am!
Our first shock was the make-up of the competition. Our opponents were Warwickshire, South Wales, Manchester, Cheshire & North Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire. No opponents from the Southern Counties who had all opted to put one team in the Under 18 event being held on the same day.
We were confident in our team that had had the experience of winning the Under 12 NYCA team championships in 2010 and this was justly rewarded.
After achieving 9.5 out of 12 in the first round, we could see that our rivals would be Lancashire and South Wales, who amassed 8 and 8.5 points respectively. However, a great score of 10.5 in round 2 moved us to 20 points and 3 points clear of both of our rivals and this is how it remained throughout rounds 3 & 4 where we achieved 9 points and 9.5 points.
We totalled 38.5 during the day and everyone achieved at least 2.5 out of 4. 2 players got 100% being Billy Twigge-Molecey (board 7) and Callum Brewer (board 9) and Callum received the Sussex player of the tournament award. Excellent performances by Cosima Keen on board 2, Josh Higgs on board 6 and Toby Harris on board 8 – all with 3.5 points.
The rest of the team was Robert Fitzgerald, Ollie Wilson, David Liu, Brian Tarhon, Matthew Howell, Josh Ralph and Charlie Keen. All achieving 3 or 2.5 points out of 4.
A number of the players are still under 12 and will again be representing us at the NYCA Under 12 event in November, where we hope to retain our title. Some of the older team members will also be called up for the Under 16 championships on the same day so save Sunday 6th Nov as a date in the diary for another trip to Telford.
Congratulations to all the players and parents who all contributed to a great team performance and great team spirit.
Sue Howell
Editor's Note: Thanks also to our travelling reserve and 'mascot' under-9 Oli Howell who picked up a couple of reserve matches and supported the team all day.