U12 Brentwood Open

Well done to everyone who took part yesterday in the 4th U12 Brentwood Open. We ended up with 63 players in total including 14 from CJCC. Thank you to everyone who helped make the tournament such a success.

Congratulations to Nina for winning the overall event and becoming Brentwood Prep Champion at the same time. They'll be a report, crosstable and photos at www.britishchess.co.uk in due course.

Along with our regular club on Tuesday I'll be coaching this week at Brentwood Senior School, KEGS, St. Cedd's, Elm Green and Moulsham Juniors. The players will range from Reception at St Cedd's to Year 12 at Brentwood. Great to have so much interest in the game.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

May chess news

It was the younger half of the club this week. A couple of photos below (plus one from the previous week).

A busy week with the older players last week.

 Aarav, our youngest player, pausing mid-game againsy Shray.

Solan concentrating hard against Nye.

Prady received his trophy today for finishing as the highest-placed player in the UK Chess Challenge from the younger half (and second overall). John was Player of the Week.

Congratulations to Jixuan who was our best scorer at the EJCA Colchester tournament last weekend. Good luck to everyone playing at Brentwood this weekend (quite a few in their first tournament).

Finally welcome home to our former players Nina and Max who have just returned from the World Junior Championships in Turkey. Max scored 5/9 in the U9s. Nina 6/9 in the U11 girls to finish 7th.

Best Wishes
Robin

Next Term Dates and Other News

Chelmsford Junior Chess Club has stopped for the holidays now. Please note the club will be closed on 23rd April. We'll meet back on 30th April with the older players (Years 5 and above). The dates up to half-term are as follows.

30th April - Older Players
7th May - Younger Players
14th May - Older Players
21st May - Younger Players

Over 70 players took part in the UK Chess Challenge. Congratulations to our trophy winners Dinil (our overall winner) and Prady (the highest scorer from among the younger players).

Dinil (along with Olga, Anna, Maheep and Jixuan) represented the Essex Junior teams this term. The U11 mixed team finished 6th in the National Final. The U11 girls became National Champions for the first time.

Two nice junior chess tournaments coming up in May. Details at www.ejca.co.uk and www.britishchess.co.uk

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Essex Girls U11s - National Champions

Many congratulations to the Essex Girls U11 team on becoming National Champions this weekend.

CJCC were well represented by Olga and Anna with the team captained by former CJCC player (and former U8 and U9 British Girls Champion) Nina.

Anna standing and Olga sitting on the left. Nina holding the trophy.

Best Wishes

Robin

chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

CJCC news and new members

A lovely if a busy afternoon at the club as we welcomed seven (!) new members. So hello to Logan, Luca, Jamie, Emily, Jaden, Lucia and Kitty.

Last week we welcomed Lucas, Laurel, Gabriel and Shrishti so the club is certainly thriving.

Congratulations to Olga, Dinil, Jixuan and Maheep who all played for the Essex U11 team at the weekend. Between them they scored 9/12. Essex finished 3rd in the competition so have qualified for the national county final later this month. Andrew was also invited but unfortunately unable to play.

Double celebration for Dinil because a final round draw with Ben saw him clinch the UK Chess Challenge tournament with 20 points.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Train and Play Chess Day 3rd March

Yesterday was the British Chess Train and Play Day hosted by Brentwood Senior School. 115 juniors between 5 and 17 came along to enjoy two coaching session and a 4-round tournament within groups based on playing strength.

20 players from CJCC took part including some at their very first chess event. Well done to all the newcomers. Vivaan and Solan top-scored from these with 3/4. Congratulations also to Anna for winning the Best Girl prize in her section and Rishi (Year 3) for beating a student from Year 12.

Thanks are due to Brentwood School for all their support of the event (including a free packed lunch for every player!) and the EJCA for the loan of the equipment. Thanks also to all the volunteers who gave up their day to help everything run smoothly.

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

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

 GM Matthew Sadler delivering his talk in the smart surroundings of the Wessex Auditorium.

 Rishi in action against his second Year 12 opponent of the day on the top board in his section.

Impressive focus in Group B.

CJCC dates and tournament standings

Hector and Kai are our joint leaders at the moment on 16 points so well done to the pair of them. The current standings are below. A few players are still on 100% so might well catch our frontrunners before Easter.

Hector had that bit of good fortune all winners need last week when Jixuan thought Hector had checkmated him when in fact he could have simply taken Hector's queen! Well done to Jixuan for taking his oversight in good spirits.

Congratulations to Andrew Podgorski for being our Player of the Week for spotting the winning idea in our demo board position and for being selected for the Essex U11 team.

We'll meet back on 26th February and the dates up to Easter are as follows.

Older Group - 26th Feb, 12th March, 26th March.

Younger Group - 5th March, 19th March, 2nd April.

Don't forget to sign up for the Train and Play event on 3rd March. Learn from one Grandmaster, one International Master, one Women's Grandmaster (and me!). Details at www.britishchess.co.uk

Best Wishes
Robin