CJCC in Competition 19th November

I slipped two CJCC teams into a Year 7 and 8 school team competition KEGS were hosting and I was controlling on behalf of the English Chess Federation. Most of the players were in Year 6 and potentially joining KEGS next year.

It was a fun afternoon with the games played in excellent spirit. The CJCC players did pretty well but more importantly had a nice introduction to chess at KEGS.

CJCC A (Toby, Charlie, Evan, Luv and Karunya) scored wins over CCHS B and KEGS Yr 7 B in their 4 matches. CJCC B (Maheep, Adam, Hector, Hriday and Pankil) also beat CCHS B and drew with KEGS Yr 7 B. The A and B tags are misleading as I balanced the strength of the CJCC and KEGS teams.

Both KEGS Year 7 teams were led by current CJCC players. CJCC were also represented by current or former players in the victorious Brentwood A team, CCHS A, CCHS B and KEGS Year 8s.

 CJCC B heading for a tied match with KEGS Year 7 B. Hector and Pankil look deep in thought.

 Toby and Charlie looking focussed against CCHS B team.

The final game to finish drew a big crowd. In the picture are 6 current or former CJCC players representing 5 schools. This interest in and enthusiasm for the chess was great to see.

Next Tuesday (26th) will be a normal club meeting for the older players at CJCC.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

No Club 19th November and Brentwood Invitational

It was great to welcome Obi, Joshua and Louis to the club this week and Pankil and Amil last week.

No club next week (19th) as I'll be running a Year 7 and 8 school competition at KEGS. There is a strong CJCC interest.

Dinil, Joshua, Logan and Felix will be playing for KEGS. Alice S for CCHS. I've also slipped in two CJCC teams of Year 6 boys potentially going to the school next year.

Brentwood School (with former CJCC players Nina, Max and Jake) have the strongest Year 7 and 8 team in the country and will be favourites to reach the National Finals next week.

Last weekend I was involved in a great chess weekend at Brentwood School with a special Invitational tournament featuring some of the best young juniors in Essex and England. 4 of the 16 players involved - Nina. Max, Olga and Jake - are CJCC graduates. See if you can spot them in the photo at the bottom.

Current CJCC players Dinil, Maheep and Robert took part in a Reserves tournament as part of the same event.

The Invitational players all received a commemorative medal made and designed by Olga. If you would like to commission something unique for an event email Olga at ollachess@outlook.com

Running up to Christmas at CJCC it is 26th November and 10th December for the older players and 3rd December for the younger ones.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Rain!

Chess is an indoor game and rarely affected by the weather.

An unfortunately timed downpour yesterday however meant the boys who walked up as a group from KEGS (thank you Ben and Neil for leading them) turned up looking a little damp. They sportingly lined up for a photo while still dripping.

If the Player of the Week Trophy had been awarded for the neatest checkmate Joseph would have got it for his double rook mate against Luv.

But Adam won it for arriving well before everyone else and setting out the tables, chairs and chess sets. His early arrival also meant he could sit in the dry and watch the other players arrive in various states of dampness.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

CJCC Dates and Club Details

We'll finish this half-term on Tuesday 15th October with the younger players then take a break.

The club will meet back on Tuesday 5th November with the older players then run through to Tuesday 10th December.

The club will be closed however on Tuesday 19th November when I am running a chess event at KEGS.

So...

Older Group - 8/10, 5/11, 26/11, 10/12.

Younger Group - 1/10, 15/10, 12/11, 3/12.

For those looking for details about the club please email me at the address at the bottom of the posts.

We meet most Tuesdays in term-time from about 4.30pm-6pm. Some children arrive a bit earlier as they come straight from school. Some stay the whole session, others appear for whatever period fits in that particular week. There is no need to make any prior commitment.

The cost is just £2 per week when you turn up plus a bit to buy snacks from Leon's shop. Any profit he makes goes to his chosen charity.

The club is split loosely into an older (Year 5+) and younger (Year 4-) half but the boundaries are flexible. The children play (in between snacking and chatting) with help as needed then we have a short group coaching session in the middle.

The ethos of the club is to encourage everyone to have fun playing and improving their chess. We currently have about 70 active members. Come and give it a try and see how you get on.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Older Group 24/09/19

It was great to welcome (and welcome back) so many of the Year 6s who have been absent for a while studying for the 11+.

So to Adam, Karunya, Evan, Charlie, Hriday and Maheep (sorry if I've forgotten anyone) welcome back to the chess world.

Leon was guest photographer today.

 A nice group shot of the club.

 John and Charlie look oblivious to all going on around them.

 Eva (with the flower) playing Janet with Elizabeth watching.

George (playing Joseph) and Nicholas in matching minecraft tops.

Best Wishes
Robin

Two Weeks In

Two weeks into the new term at CJCC. One week for each half of the club. It has been great to see so many old players and welcome new ones.

This week (17th September) was the turn of the younger half. Welcome to Edith, Sai, Maya, Samira, Kamilla, Petr and Eva. Well done to Shrishti for being my Player of the Week for her smothered knight checkmate.

Nice to see so many girls at the club and also to have so many children borrow a chess book to help them.

We might have had more photos if I had remembered to tell guest photographer Kush to hold the camera still.

Edith, Samira and Kamilla are just learning to play so teamed up against Pranshi. The girls did really well with their learning helped by a rotating group of other children.

Sid (head in hands) and Rishi are carefully watching Posi and Tokumbo. Looking at the board they might be playing one of Tokumbo's special versions of chess.

Best Wishes
Robin

New Season

CJCC will restart on Tuesday 10th September with the older players. 4.30pm to 6pm as before. The dates for the rest of the half-term are below.

Older Players (Year 5 and above) - 10/09, 24/09, 8/10.
Younger Players (Year 4 and below) - 17/09, 01/10, 15/10.

One chess date to mark in your diary:

Saturday 19th October EJCA Grand Prix tournament in Chelmsford.

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com