These News Items relate to January 2003

U14/U90 News

In an Eastern Zone match played on 25 January at Guildford, the Surrey (boys) team defeated Kent by a score of 15½-8½. No girls took part in this match.

EPSCA Rapidplay Championships, Liverpool 26 January 2003

The U11A was an official England selection event. To see the results of the many girls who took part, please Click Here.

Ormskirk Junior Congress, Lancashire 17 January 2003

Around 20 girls took part in all. The highest section, the Kings, had one girl, Victoria Crompton [Cheshire] who scored 3/6, a very good result in this tough company.
In the Queens section, Bethany Halpin scored 2/6.
In the Rooks section, joint winner was Hannah Mercer with 6/6.
In the Bishops section, outright winner was Alice Ellaby with 8/8, while Nathalie Cartmel and Sophie Williams each had 6/8, Shannon Poole had 4, Joanna Smith and Sophie Pye each had 3½, Rosanna McCurrie had 3, and Sarah Carrington [Cheshire] had 2.
In the Green Pawns, Grace Thomas and Elizabeth Dawes each had 5/8, Victoria Holden had 4, Chantale Belkhiri had 3, Megan McCarthy had 2½, and Myra O'Rourke had 2.
Finally there was a Tiny Pawns section for beginners. This was won by Florence Wilson, with Lorna Stevenson as runner-up. Elinor Thompson and Rachel Cass also did well.
All girls Lancashire unless otherwise indicated. Many were from St.Michael's School, Aughton.
These results courtesy of Ian Hughes and Carl Tillotson.

3rd East Surrey Junior Congress, 25 January 2003

Dr Neill Cooper reports a record attandance at this event, with Jemima McGraw doing very well with 4/5 in the Secondary section. To see the full results, Click Here.

Sussex in narrow win over Surrey Girls, u14/U90 25 January 2003

Playing their return match at the Surrey home venue of Coulsdon, Sussex Sharks (the name of their U14/U90 team) defeated Surrey Girls by the narrowest possible margin of 12½ to 11½. Surrey won the toss, and captain Louise Hanger opted to play Black in Round 1. Soon the Sussex wins were piling up to give them what looked like an unbeatable lead 8½-3½ at the end of the first round, and it looked as if the girls were heading for a heavy defeat. But Round 2 was a different story, and Olivia Barber of Surrey was up to the arbiter's desk after a very short while with a win. "What happened there?" I asked. "Oh, Fried Liver!" she replied with a smile. To cut a long story short, Surrey took the second round 8-4, so just failed to catch Sussex, but it was a very satisfying result.
To see the details, please Click Here.
Just one match remains, home v Hampshire on Saturday 15 February, see above.

Four Nations Chess League, Weekend 2, 18-19 January 2003

Staffordshire girl Charlotte Wilcox had two wins out of two, and Surrey star Teresa Khoo scored 1½, in the second 4NCL weekend. For full scores of all females so far this season, Click Here

Wey Valley U12 Championship and U9 Selection Tournament, Leatherhead 19 January 2003

81 players, including 16 girls, took part in the U12 Championships, while in the U9 Selection Tournament, there were 53 players including 6 girls. To see all the results of this event, please Click Here.

4th Sussex Girls Chess Congress, Saturday 18 January 2003

David Fryer writes:29 girls competed with 3 visitors from Surrey and 1 from Ireland.
In a very competitive top section an all play all 5 round tournament was followed by a 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th and 5th/6th play off. There were no easy games with each player registering a score and the two leaders finishing equal on 4/5. Jemima McGraw came out winner in a final tense game against Ellie Hayden who had the consolation of gaining the Sussex Girls Under 18 Championship.
In the under 11 tournament Surrey's Sheila Dines ran out winner but not without a fight by the Sussex girls, especially by Elizabeth Tehrani in the final round taking a half point from Sheila after playing a very good line in the Scotch Gambit. Congratulations to Jessica Wood for winning the Sussex Girls U11 Championship. For the first year we borrowed an idea from our Surrey neighbours and presented Teddy Bear prizes to the winners of the Under 7s and Under 8s with all the girls voting and choosing the names of Bertie and Treacle.

Sussex Girls Under 18 Open prize winners: (6 competed)
1st Jemima McGraw (Surrey)
2nd Ellie Hayden (Sussex)
3rd Katherine Rattle (Sussex)
Best U14 Hannah Lowry O'Reilly (Ireland)
5th and 6th Abi Fryer and Deborah Margolis.
Sussex Champion Ellie Hayden.

Sussex Girls Under 11 Open prize winners: (23 competed)
1st Sheila Dines (Surrey) 5½/6
2nd Jessica Wood (Sussex) 5/6
3rd Elizabeth Tehrani (Sussex) 4½/6
Best U10 Rebecca Grant (Sussex) 4/6
Best U9 Helen Holmes (Surrey) 4/6
Best U8 Polly Lambert (Sussex) 4/6
Best U7 Alice Blundell (Sussex) 2/6
Performance Medals Becky Lowe and Sarah Margolis 4/6
Sussex Champion Jessica Wood

Schools Team Prize (Best 3 Scores from the same school)
1st Holy Cross (Uckfield), 2nd Somerhill (Hove), 3rd Harlands (Haywards Heath) DAVID FRYER

U14/U90 News - Middlesex Girls Chess Association v Surrey (Boys), 18 January 2003

The Surrey Boys team inflicted quite a severe defeat, by 18-6, on the Middlesex Girls, but this was a very significant match, for the MGCA team, without a single default, consisted entirely of girls, the first time a whole team of 12 girls has been fielded by MGCA in this competition. MGCA organiser Bruce Birchall deserves our congratulations for mustering this team, and I feel sure the girls will have enjoyed representing their County. This will stimulate their interest in chess and in this way a strong team will eventually be built up. For full details of the match, please Click Here.

45th Richmond Rapidplay, 12 January 2003

In the latest of these popular events:
The Open had 15 players, no girls.
The Major U160 had 22 players with one girl, Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] placed 16th with 2½/6.
The Intermediate U120 had 37 players with 2 girls: Karla Houska [Berkshire] placed 29-34 with 2/6, and Ellie Hayden [Sussex] placed 35-36 with 1½/6.
The Minor U80 had 46 players with 3 girls, (another two were used as fillers): Abi Fryer [Sussex] and Antonia Round [Middlesex] each placed 16-18 with 3½/6, and Thilagini Anandajeyarajah placed 19-28 with 3/6.

Lancashire take ECGCF Northern Region Cup, Ormskirk 11 January 2003

This is the fifth season that the ECGCF Inter-County competition has been held, but it was the first time a Lancashire team has taken part. They were clear winners with 13 points over Staffordshire, 10; Cheshire, 8; and Derbyshire 5, in this strong event in which every team was headed by an International player. The event was hosted by St Michael's C of E School, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lancashire, who provided us with splendid facilities for the day, and all of the girls played well in this 3-round Jamboree at 50 minutes per player per game.
You can see the full scores of all of the players and teams Here, and the results of individual games Here.

Surrey Girls U14/U90 Team defeat Sussex mixed team! Hove 11 January 2003

Our U14/U90 team had a fine win, defeating the Sussex team by a margin of 14½-9½ in this Southern Division encounter. The detailed results can be seen Here. Every single member of the team turned up to play, some at short notice, and a splendid result was achieved.

Back to Home Page