Upcoming CJCC and Other Chess Dates

CJCC meets back on 6^th June with the older players. Dates up to the end of term are as follows.

Older Group – 6^th June, 20^th June, 4^th July, 18^th July

Younger Group – 13^th June, 27^th June, 11^th July.

18^th July will be the final meeting before we close for the holidays.

We have 3 junior chess events taking place in Essex during June and July.

Sunday 25^th June – the final Essex Junior Grand Prix tournament at Saffron Walden. Entry form available via www.ejca.co.uk

Sunday 2^nd July –H+H Fire Train and Play event at Moulsham School in Chelmsford. Guest coach International Master Harriet Hunt (Britain's highest rated female player). Details and registration at www.britishchess.co.uk

24^th/25^th July – H+H Fire Chess Holiday Camp near Chelmsford. Aimed at junior tournament players with a grade above 30. Guest coach Grandmaster and former British Champion Chris Ward. If you have not received details and an entry form or would like to check if it is suitable for your child please email me.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Camber Sands 21st/22nd May

Last weekend was the English Primary Schools Chess Association tournament at Pontins in Camber Sands in Kent. A number of Essex schools had qualified and I went down with Moulsham School for the two day six-round tournament for teams of five at U11 and U9 level.

It was a great event for Essex with 3 schools in the top 5 (out of 36 teams) in the U11s. Heycroft, West Leigh and Brentwood Prep did brilliantly. It helped that many of their players had attended the Train and Play and Essex Junior Chess Association coaching days over the last year as well as playing in the EJCA tournaments.

Moulsham A raced to 9/10 and the tournament lead before facing the strongest schools and dropping down. Stewart Day’s battling victory in the last round proved enough to earn Moulsham their first ever silver award at U11 level. Moulsham B managed a very credible two wins and every player scored points for the school.

More importantly all the Essex players showed they knew how to win and lose with good grace and were a credit to their schools.

 

Rose talking to Adam ahead of Mousham A's surprise 4-1 win over The Hall B.

Sami (board 1) and Ciaran (board 2) waiting to begin their match with Prince Avenue. This would be Moulsham B's first win.

 The Moulsham players (minus Rose). CJCC player Ed Pickwick with his lucky rabbit ears.

 Moulsham A and CJCC players (l to r) Toby, Felix, Adam and Stewart.

Fraser (left) and Stewart did a brilliant job leading their teams. Fraser would win this game and Heycroft would finish 2nd overall. Both boys will start at KEGS in September which is great news for their chess team.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Essex Megafinal 14th May

Today (Sunday) was the Essex Megafinal. This was a major event with about 200 entries from Essex and elsewhere. Players were competing to become the best boy (Supremo) and girl Suprema) in age groups from U7 to U18. In addition anyone scoring 4/6 or better qualified for the South of England Gigafinal in July.

17 players from CJCC took part (not the same group as yesterday – two events in one weekend was too much for most!). Without any responsibility for the tournament I spent the day in the sunshine chatting with the children and parents from across Essex.

9 of our players scored 4/6 or better to qualify for the Gigafinal and congratulations to them. It was also the first tournament for some of the club so a good learning experience.

Above is a photo of a few of the Chelmsford winners. From left to right are Alice, Jixuan, Anna, Olga and Jerry with Harry hiding in the goal. Olga, Jerry and Harry all got 6/6 in their sections.

Harry has also won the English Chess Federation U7 Grand Prix (a compilation of tournament results over a whole year) so a double celebration for him this weekend.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Brentwood U12 Open Tournament 13th May

Today was the Brentwood Open U12 Tournament which included a simultaneous match for everyone against GM Jon Speelman. We ended up with 68 players despite Sunday’s Megafinal and an U14 match. It was a fun and trouble-free day of chess. Details of our next event (in Chelmsford) at www.britishchess.co.uk

 

CJCC was represented by 15 players, some of whom were playing in their first tournament. All 15 won at least one match and can be pleased with the effort they put in. Pride of place went to Jake who became Brentwood Prep Champion and Olga who shared the girl’s prize. Special congratulations to Lawrence as well who in his first tournament was one of only two players to hold GM Jon Speelman to a draw.

CJCC player Neil (on the right) in his first ever tournament game.

 Laura watching carefully in round one.

 GM Jon Speelman facing Tomas (who secured a draw).

Jon facing Nina and (writing her move) Charlotte who both shared the girl's prize with Olga. IM Richard Pert is in the background who was Jon's simul partner against the stronger juniors.

 Later tournament action.

Some of our prizewinners.

 

GM Jon Speelman with (from the left) Shlok, Jake, Max and Jerry. Jake won a play-off to become Brentwood Prep Champion. Max beat Shlok and Jerry on tiebreak after all 3 scored 5/5.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Olga's Trophy and Essex U11s

Below is a photo of Olga with the trophy she won for scoring 6/6 in the U9’s at Colchester.

 

Congratulations to Jake, Josh, Stewart and Sebastian for their efforts for the Essex U11’s last weekend. The coach left Chelmsford at 6am (!) for Oldham and the team finished a credible 8^th overall. Jake was CJCC’s best player with 2.5/3 and Josh the best sleeper on the coach. Ben, James and Alexander were also invited but couldn’t make it.

 

Good luck to everyone this weekend playing at Brentwood on the 13^th or the Megafinal on the 14^th. For some players this will be their first tournament experience so fingers crossed in particular for them.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

CJCC Tournament Successes and County Players

Ben Pickwick was our UK Chess Challenge Champion and he is pictured below with the trophy and chess book he won. Congratulations to Ben who will be taking part in the Essex Megafinal on May 14^th.

Congratulations also to Stewart, Josh, Jake and Ben Chang who have been selected to play for Essex U11s in the National Final next weekend. The coach leaves Chelmsford for Manchester at 6am so it promises to be a test of stamina as much as chess strength.

All 4 boys took part in the EJCA Grand Prix tournament in Colchester last weekend alongside quite a few other CJCC players. Stewart won his first EJCA trophy by finishing 3^rd in the U11s (half a point ahead of Josh). Olga won the U9s with 6/6. Dinil won the trophy for Best Newcomer.

Olga and Dinil were part of the Essex U9 team that finished an excellent 5th in their National Final last month. Both of them managed to score 3/3 in their individual games.

Best Wishes

Robin

chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com