CJCC Christmas Buffet

Today was our last meeting before Christmas so all the club were invited to a special Christmas Buffet meeting. Thank you to all the parents who arrived with food. I was impressed - not a bag of haribo in sight. James had even baked some special Christmas cheese stars for the occasion. They were delicious.

Thank you as well to all of you who helped clear up. Tom displayed unexpected enthusiasm for vacuuming which did impress his mum.

Congratulations to Bertie who was my player of the day for his willingness to challenge stronger opponents.

We will meet back on 9th January with the younger half and kick off the UK Chess Challenge (a 7-round tournament for everyone which will run to Easter).

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and good luck to our players going to the London Junior Chess Championships between Christmas and New Year.

Francesca playing Amelie (plus dog).

Bertie (standing) taking on Eddie in the foreground.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

H+H Fire Train and Play 10th December

Bad timing for us today with the snow which meant about half the players who entered couldn't take part. Impressive effort by Dagne battling down from Suffolk to be our Guest Coach.

We had a friendly match and coaching by IM Richard Pert and WGM Dagne Ciuksyte in the morning then split into 4 teams (parents and children) for a team competition in the afternoon.

Findlay's Noisy Knights team (with CJCC players Alexander and Maheep) were the winners with the other 3 teams separated by half a point. CJCC parents Jag and Dee were two of 5 players to score 3/3.

A report and photos will appear on the blog at www.britishchess.co.uk

 Dominique and Charlotte's chess sculpture created at home when they couldn't make the day.

 IM Richard Pert with his coaching group. Anna with her hand up at the front.

 WGM Dagne Ciuksyte's more sedate approach in the classroom.

 Daniel vs Dee in the foreground.

Maheep vs Hugo with Dagne watching at the back.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

H+H Fire FunMaster Mike evening 8th December

Yesterday saw something of a coup for British Chess with an evening of chess with US FIDE Master Mike Klein alongside IM Richard Pert and me at Moulsham School.

Mike is better known as FunMaster Mike from the excellent ChessKid website. ChessKid's one million users worldwide make Mike arguably the world's best known junior chess coach. The juniors who know Mike so well as their online chess mentor had the weird experience of seeing a virtual figure become flesh and blood.

Mike gave a great talk about looking for unusual moves and then took part in a simultaneous match alongside Richard and me against all the juniors. He was brilliant with the juniors and it was a special evening to be part of.

Congratulations to Moulsham and CJCC's Adam Baker who played a very nice combination to be the only winner in the simultaneous match.

Part two of the H+H Fire Christmas Train and Play is tomorrrow's family challenge event. Report to follow.

 Mike illustrating one of the ideas.

 The audience (parents and juniors) really enjoyed Mike's interactive presentation.

 Richard opposite a row of CJCC players watched by Byon.

 Mike thinking about Madison's position watched by Matthew.

A perfect photo for a caption competition!

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Today's Meeting

The older players today and we had a team competition. 4 captains picked their teams for a semi-final and final. Congratulations to Felix whose team of Olga, Ed, Adam, Cody and Annie were victorious. Felix also won the "Player of the Week" trophy for his fighting draw with Ben Pickwick in the first match.

Please remember there is no club next week (5th December) but back with a bang on the 12th December with the Christmas Buffet for everyone.

 Two easily distracted teams in the first match. Alex's team (on the left) won 3-2.

 Ben playing Felix (right) in the first match. Felix's team would go on to win both matches.

Nikita - who seemed to end up playing for all the teams - focused in the first match.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

CJCC 14th November

Busy afternoon at the club today with the older players. Ben Pickwick was our "Player of the Week" for demonstrating one of his own games on the big board to the rest of the club.

Recording your games so you can look over them afterwards with a stronger player is one of the best ways to improve. It also lets you enjoy your triumphs once again.

Thank you to Min for bringing cake for everyone to celebrate Jixuan's birthday.

Good luck to all our players taking part in the EJCA Grand Prix event at Basildon this weekend.

 Josh is carefully recording his game with Olga. We will look at it together at the adult club in Chelmsford on Thursday evening.

Bertie looks to have gone astray in his match. Francesca and Cody are playing in the background.

Hriday and Lawrence keen to get in the picture. Alex is playing Nikita with behind them Ben watching Stewart playing Jake.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Train and Play 12th November

As ever it was great to see so many CJCC players taking part in the latest H+H Fire British Chess Train and Play event in Chelmsford on Sunday. Adam was our top club scorer with 3/3 just pipping Ben Chang and Jake who scored 2.5.

I was just as impressed though by the effort put in by some players who didn't end up with any wins and the great spirit everyone showed. One of these players - CJCC's Alice White - won the "Player of the Day" trophy for this reason.

We had a coaching quartet this time with WGM Dagne Ciuksyte and Lateefah Messam-Sparks joining IM Richard Pert and myself. Although the majority of players come from Essex some come from much further afield. This time Rohan Pal had made the longest journey (from Birmingham) so it was good to see him finish on 2/3 and be part of the winning team.

Team Judit Polgar - managed by Dagne and captained by Chris Willoughby - won with 31 points with the other three teams all finishing on 25.5 or 26. The majority of the winning team were girls and it is always nice to see so many girls at our events.

A full report, results and more photos will appear at www.britishchess.co.uk but in the meantime below are a few photos of the day.

 Lateefah testing out Ranulph in a friendly game.

Kyan on top board for Team Garry Kasparov against Team Judit Polgar.

Rohan keeping a close eye on the top board in the Team Bobby Fischer vs Team Magnus Carlsen match.

The players who scored 3/3 receiving their prizes.

The winning Team Judit Polgar. Chris on the left with the trophy and Dagne standing behind.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

CJCC 7th November

A fun and busy afternoon at the club today. Scott Shelley (one of the strongest players at KEGS and a regular helper at the club) played a six board simultaneous match against a rotating team of 10 opponents. Congratulations to Felix (future KEGS student) on his victory and Ben, Jixuan and Sophie on their hard earned draws.

James Naylor from Moulsham was our Player of the Week for a very neat checkmate against Sophie.

Welcome to Charlie and Kaan who came along for the first time.

Lawrence and Felix "helping" Amelie and Theo. In the background on the left Russell White is playing Jixuan while Ben, Leon and Tom are facing Scott on the right.

 Eddie and Olga in the foreground, Lawrence facing Nikita behind them.

James Naylor - our Player of the Week.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com