September 2008 - August 2009 Season

2008 - 2009 Season Review

Junior chess continues to thrive in Sussex with both teams and individuals enjoying considerable success this season. We saw many of our most experienced juniors moving on to compete in adult events, while some very encouraging new talent emerged in our younger age-groups.

As usual we hosted 9 training days at various locations around the county; each attracting upwards of 50 children aged between 6 and 14. Almost all our coaches were able to attend all the events - a commitment which meant that the juniors benefited from continuity and built good relationships within their coaching groups.

Our series of 11 tournaments all attracted strong entries. In particular the series of 6 grand prix events attracted a very loyal following. As in previous years, we hosted a ‘Megafinal’ for the “British Land UK Chess Challenge” which saw 350 entrants - and were pleased to put over 100 of them through to the regional Gigafinal. At the Gigafinal, 16 of our juniors qualified for the final stage - the Terafinal - 6 of them qualifying in style as section winners.

We entered teams in various national competitions at U9, U11, U11 girls, U12, U13, U14, U16 and U18 levels! For the first time we entered both a boys and a girls team into the U13 competition.

All our teams put in enormous effort and acquitted themselves well - in particular, the U12s becoming the NYCA National Champions and the U14s retaining their title. Both the U13s and the U13 girls finished second in their competition, although in the interests of impartial reporting we have to admit there were only two teams in the girl’s tournament! There were also some very near misses - the U11s were just squeezed into 4th place, the U11 girls finished 6th, and the U9s 7th.

Finally, congratulations to Otto Pyper (U10), Sambhav Aggarwal (U11), and Daniel Sutton (U12) who all qualified for the England squad this season.

It just remains to thank all the parents and other volunteers - without them giving their time freely it simply would not be possible for us to offer the range of chess experience that we currently do.

Full results and photos from the season are available on our results pages. We look forward to seeing you again for the new season in September.

(This article first appeared in "Sussex Chess News" August 2009

Results and photos from previous seasons can be found by clicking the 'Previous Seasons' link above.