World Youth Chess Championships, Halkidiki, Greece 22 October - 3 November 2003

All results from this important event are now in. Some 17 girls from the British Isles, comprising 6 English, 5 Welsh, 4 Scotch and 2 Irish, competed. It was particularly pleasing to see a strong Scottish contingent this year, after last year's absence, and they performed very creditably.
The English girls who played were:
U 18: Teresa Khoo 5/11
U 16: Jessie Gilbert 6½/11
U 14: Naomi Miller 6½/11 and Chantal Sirisena 5/11
U 12: Selina Khoo 6/11
U 10: Sheila Dines 5/11
Playing for Wales were:
U18: Suzie Blackburn 4/11
U 16: Olivia Smith 5/11
U 12: Sioned Rees 4/11 and Gwen Francis 3½/11
U 10: Megan Owens 3/11
Playing for Scotland were:
U 16: Louise Macnab 5/11
U 14: Natalie Donohue 4½/11
U 12: Amy Officer 5/11
U 10: Rhian Hughes 5½/11
Playing for Ireland were:
U 18: Emily Alfred 1½/11
U 16: Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly 4/11
You can see all of the girls' individual results in a table Here.

Ampleforth Junior Masters, 30 October-2 November 2003

Of a total entry of 90, some 16 of England's strongest girls took part in this very strong invitation event. We have all of the results Here, courtesy of David Fryer who was present at the event.

IF YOU LIVE IN THE SOUTH - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER...!!

...the BCF/ECGCF All England Girls Chess Championships! 8 November at East Grinstead, Sussex. There is a printable Entry Form Here., and a printable map of how to get there is Here.
This is a very important new initiative for girls by Claire Summerscale, the new Director of Women's Chess. If it can become established, it will be of benefit to the whole of the girls' chess scene in England. YOU ARE STRONGLY URGED TO SUPPORT IT BY ENTERING!!

Wey Valley London Junior Qualifier, Leatherhead 19 October 2003

139 players including some 15 girls took part. To see the full results, including all the boys, Click Here.

SCCU U14/U90 Competition 2003-2004

Last Season, the Surrey Girls team played in the above competition, and came within half a point of getting into the finals. This season, almost all of last year's team are still available, and if we can get our best players out, we can not only get into the Finals, but win the competition. We're the ONLY girls' team this year, Middlesex Girls having decided to call it a day. We have been placed in the Eastern Division, with Sussex and Kent, which means playing home and away fixtures against each of these two Counties. The home matches will be at Coulsdon Chess club. The dates of the fixtures are not known yet, but will be advised on this site as soon as they are settled.
I have made up a squad of 21 players on whom I would like to call to play in this team. You can see the squad of players Here. This list is NOT in board order at all. The older players will probably be invited most, as the younger ones are still available for EPSCA, etc. but we will need to have strong teams out.
If anyone on the list wants to be taken off it, please let us know by email a.s.a.p. Teams are of 12 players for each match. Of course, you'll get plenty of notice of fixtures and if you are busy, there are enough others waiting for a chance to replace you.

National Junior Minisquad, Solihull 4-5 October 2003

In the U10 Section, Sophie Williams [Lancashire] was placed =6th with 4/6, while in the U9 Section, Megan Owens [Monmouthshire] was =3rd, (score unknown).

Lancashire Junior Congress, Darwen Vale 11 October 2003

These events are divided into sections by chess strength rather than age. The strongest are the Kings and the Queens, and in these two sections, no girls were playing. However, there were plenty of girls in the other Sections:
In the Rooks, Rosanna McCurrie [Lancashire] was top girl with 4/7; also playing were Shannon Pools [Lancashire] 2½, and Sarah Carrington [Cheshire] 2.
In the Bishops, the overall winner in front of all the boys as well, was the very promising Rachel Cass [Lancashire] with 6/7. Also playing, Victoria (?surname!) 4/7, Abigail Pritchard, Grace Thomas, and Niamh Stafford, each 1.
Knights: Jessica Elsden 3½/8; Alex Barnes and Moira O'Rourke each 1.
Pawns: Claire Edhouse 7/8 joint winner in her first Congress!! Also: Emma Kelly, Christine Newbury each 3½; Rachel Ball 3; Becky Elsden and Katy Wilkinson, each 2½. All girls Lancashire unless otherwise stated.
These results courtesy Ian Hughes. Note that Lancashire came third in this year's Whitehead Cup, and won the Northern Region ECGCF earlier in the year. Make no mistake, these Lancashire lasses are going to have to be taken very seriously by all opponents.

All Surrey Championships, Redhill 4 October 2003

A large number of girls took part in this busy event, and with some very good results. Fay Birch was the clear winner of the U10 Section with 5/5, with Stephanie Dye second on 4½, while in the U11, the clear winner was Sheila Dines, 5/5. Meanwhile, our other U11 star Jessica Thilaganathan sought stronger opposition by playing in the U14s.
You can see all of the results, boys as well: Here for U11 and younger: Here for U12 and older.

Maps now available on this website

We have now made available on this website maps showing the venues of all important coming events. These maps, which can be printed out on your own computer, can be accessed by going to our list of events Here, then if the word 'MAP' appears in blue at the right hand side of an event's description, clicking on it will produce a clear coloured map showing how to get to the venue. Public transport information is included on some of the maps.

Coulsdon Rapidplay, 4 October 2003

Selina Khoo [Surrey] was joint winner of first prize in the U140 Section. Hannah Dale [Lincolnshire, ex-Surrey] scored 2½/6 in the U110 Section. Several other girls took part, but as yet we have no details.

Don't get depressed if you make a blunder!

Most of us make blunders at some time or other, but the strongest player in the world, Gary Kasparov, seems quite immune from this tendency...until recently! When playing against Alexander Huzmann of Israel in the European Club Championship. Gary committed what must be the worst blunder he has made since he was a small junior. Kasparov, who had the black pieces, had a pawn on d5 which was menaced by a white rook on d1, but the pawn looked very well protected, by three pieces - a knight on f6, the queen on d8, and a bishop on b7. Kasparov, to move, moved his b7 bishop to c8, so that the d5 pawn was now only protected by two pieces. Huzmann played 21.Rxd5!! when Kasparov saw to his horror that recapturing the rook with either his knight or his queen was impossible - the former allowed checkmate and the latter allowed a white knight to fork his king and queen. Worse still, the d5 pawn had been protecting another pawn at c4 which was lost the move after. Two pawns down with no compensation, Kasparov resigned.
He had made the sort of blunder I would not expect from the better Surrey Girls players!

WHY NOT SPONSOR A TROPHY!?

The new All England Girls Championship, which kicks off at East Grinstead on 8 November, will require a lot of new Trophies - for age groups U18, U14, U12, U10 and U8 in each of four Regions, plus another lot for the Final - some 25 in all.
As a user of this site, you are invited to sponsor one or more of these Trophies. You pay the cost of the Trophy, and YOU decide its name - you could name it for a recently-departed loved one, for instance, or perhaps even for a place that you love. Of course, a commercial company could be named, e.g. The Bruddlesford Building Society Cup.
You can choose the Region, and the age-group, you want. The older age groups will have larger Trophies, naturally more expensive. Those for the Finals will be more expensive than the Regional ones, as they will be gold-lacquered. To see which Trophies are still available, WITH PRICES, please Click Here.
The Trophies will be returned year to year, so that you will be creating something permanent which will always be associated in the way you decide. The name of each Trophy will, of course, be engraved on it, as well as the names of each year's winner.
If you are interested, please email or telephone as soon as possible.

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