Biel International Chess Festival, July-August 2003

Seasoned Gigafinal-watchers will have noticed the absence from this year's event of star player Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson, who was not able to participate in the UK Chess Challenge event owing to the clash with the Biel Festival. This year, Aly played in the Masters section, an unbelievably strong assemblage of 114 players including 21 Grandmasters, 16 International Masters, and one woman grandmaster.
Aly, who was in fact the lowest-rated of all 114 entrants, achieved a very creditable 4/11, and this included a win over IM Sinisa Joksic of Yugoslavia (2253).

Good News For British Players!

Some 55 years after the states of India and Pakistan received full independence by an Act of the Atlee Government in 1948, the organisers of the British Championships have realised that these countries are not, in fact, part of the British Empire. Henceforth, players from these countries will not be able to enter the British Championships unless they have a bone-fide birth or residence qualification. This has to be good news for British juniors, who will now, at last, be able to participate in the BRITISH championships.
Some of the more enlightened British GMs have been pressing for this change for many years.

British Championships 2003

The following titles of British Girls' Champion were awarded: U8, Megan Owens, Monmouthshire; U9, Rhian Hughes, Midlothian; U10, Sheila Dines, Surrey; U11, Amisha Parmar, Derbyshire; U12, Anya Corke, Hong Kong (also U12 Champion); U13, Robyn Smith, Lancashire. We believe we now have the results of all British and Irish girls who competed in the Championships Here. If anyone has been missed out or given the wrong score, please let us know by email. There were many excellent performances, but the ECGCF ACCOLADE FOR FINEST PERFORMANCE AT THE BRITISH goes to Sabrina Chevannes of Warwickshire, who scored 6.5/11 in the Major Open.
Note, we have omitted non-British girls.

Coulsdon Rapidplay, 19 July 2003

Naomi Miller [Oxfordshire] scored 3.5/6, winning a share of the U140 grading prize.

UK Chess Challenge National Gigafinals, Keele University 12-13 July 2003

This year, there were more than 1800 players in the two-day Gigafinals at Keele. For the first time, two of the girls' age-groups had to be split into two, these being the U10 and the U11. Thus no less than 14 Ultima titles were on offer for those girls who had the ability and the stamina to stay the course.
The winners of this Title were as follows: U 7, Briony Brock [Buckinghamshire]; U 8, Stephanie Hale [Somerset]; U 9, Rhian Hughes [Midlothian]; U 10A, Jessica Thilaganathan [Surrey]; U10B, Sheila Dines [Surrey]; U 11A, Amisha Parmar [Derbyshire]; U11B, Gwenaelle Francis [Glamorgan]; U12, Selina Khoo [Surrey]; U 13, Molly Moruzzi [Staffordshire]; U 14, Katherine Rattle [Sussex]; U 15, Jemima McGraw [Surrey]; U 16, Sabrina Chevannes [Warwickshire]; U17, Carola Rotermund [Suffolk]; and U 18, Heather Coupe [Yorkshire]. Thus this year four Ultima titles went to Surrey, no other County taking more than one. The U15 and U16 Girls sections were played as All-Play-All (American) tournaments; the U17 and U18 were Swisses combined with the boys, while all the other sections were girl-only Swisses.

You can see the results of all girls taking part by clicking on the appropriate section below:
U 7 . U 8 . U 9 . U 10A . U 10B . U 11A . U 11B . U 12 . U 13 . U 14 . U 15 . U 16 . U 17 . U 18

Faber Cup, Brno, Czech Republic July 2003

This year's Faber Cup took place in the Czech Republic, with six teams of three girls each taking part. The English girls did very well, being placed second after the Dutch. Details are as follows:
1. Netherlands 12 (Rieke van Run 5/5, Gillian Visschedijk 3, Henrietta Springelkamp 4)
2. England 10½ (Robyn Smith 2½, Karen Bradley 3½, Charlotte Wilcox 4½)
3. Wales 9½ (Olivia Smith 4, Suzie Blackburn 3, Lowri Johnston 2½)
4. Czech Republic 6½
5. Belgium 4
6. Ireland 2½ (Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly ½, Emily Alfred 1, Deirdre Gleeson 1)
These results courtesy Sharon Smith.

Middlesex Girls' Championships, 6 July 2003

Katie Houstoun of Surrey, who is a U13 player, [V year] was the overall winner of this U18 competition, scoring 5.5/6 which included a win over Claire Wu of Middlesex. Sheila Dines, also of Surrey, was the U10 winner with 5/6.
Click Here for other scores.
Jessica Thilaganathan, a U10 Surrey player, was co-winner of the mixed-sex Middlesex Junior Championships on the previous day.

Sussex winners of U14/U90 Finals, Potters Bar 5 July 2003

The Finals of the SCCU U14/U90 competition for 2003-2004 were Sussex, in a very close finish: Sussex 13½, Hertfordshire 13, Oxfordshire 13 and Surrey (boys) 8½. The only girls taking part were Abi Fryer on Board 2 for Sussex scoring 1 /2; Maria Walker on Board 1 for Oxfordshire scoring ½/2; Yvette Cook on Board 4 for Hertfordshire scoring ½/2; and Emma Williams on Board 5 for Hertfordshire scoring 1 /2.
For full details of all the results, please Click Here.
The Surrey Girls team just failed, by ½ point, to qualify for these Finals, but of course we will be back for the 2003-2004 season. It is interesting to note that the Surrey Girls team did in fact defeat the Sussex team away at Hove in the preliminary rounds, and by a greater margin than our loss to them at home at Coulsdon. All of which suggests that the Surrey Girls team could have a great chance in the new Season.
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