These News Items relate to April 2000

U K Chess Challenge Megafinals, e.g. Surrey at Leatherhead, 29-30 April 2000

With play in the Surrey Megafinal completed, most of the girls' sections had outright winners: in the U7, Gemma Dracup had 5½/6; in the U8, Olivia Barber had a perfect 6/6; in the U9, Selina Khoo had 5½/6; and in the U11, Sarah Hegarty had 6/6. The U10 had joint winners, with Deepa Patel and Emily Bottle [Sussex] each scoring 5; and in the U13, both Louise Newlands and Sunena Patel ended the six rounds with 4½ - a 10-minute playoff then took place which Sunena won to take first place.
Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson won the U15 Suprema title while newcomer Jennifer Porter was U18 Suprema
To see all the UK Chess Challenge results as they come in, go in here and follow through to the Megafinal and Section you require. We are hoping to cover all of the Megafinals eventually, including boys' results as well, but please be patient as the results do take a good bit of time to put up and do not always reach us promptly.

Maidenhead Junior Congress, 18-19 April 2000

The 11-round U9 Section had only one girl, Claire Wu of Middlesex, who scored 5 points and was placed 10-16. As no other girl took part in this Section, presumably Claire was awarded the prestigious SCCU U9 Girls trophy.
The U11 Section, played over 9 rounds, fared somewhat better with 4 girls among its 28 players. Best was Stephanie Barraclough [Sussex] scoring 5½ placed 5-8, then came: Karla Houska [Berkshire] with 5 placed 9-12; Susie Yates [Berkshire] with 2½ placed 26; and Alison Massingale [Berkshire] with 2 placed 27-28.
And that was it, as far as girls were concerned, for none appeared in either the U13 (12 players) or the U18 (9 players).

Surrey Easter Chess Congress, Carshalton 21-24 April 2000

No fewer than 14 Surrey girls took part in this event. Sarah Hegarty was the joint winner of the Minor A, and ex-SGCL member, (now an adult) Lucy Broomfield also shared a prize in the Major. For scores of all the girls and women who took part in this Congress, Click Here.

LPSCA U11 Tournament, 18/19 April 2000

No girls were among the 33 players in the Major section, but there were five in the Minor; to see their results, Click Here.

BCF National Junior Squad and Minisquad, Millfield, Somerset 14-16 April 2000

The results of all the girls who played in the National Junior Squad events, or in the Minisquad events, can be seen Here.

Nottingham Chess Congress, 14-16 April 2000

Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Girls Tournament, Hazlemere (Bucks), 9 April 2000

Some 19 girls from these two Counties, some of them very young, took part in a small tournament, which was won by Yasmin Ball of Berkshire with a perfect 4/4 score. Although Berkshire have had a girls' team for some time, it is good to see there are plenty of young Buckinghamshire players coming along. Let's hope they emulate Lydia Goodwin, the strongest player in that County.
For full details of the tournament, Click Here.

Irish Juniors defeat 'South East Stars', Dublin 8-9 April 2000

The Sussex Girls organiser, Mr Rod Draper, took a mixed team of 'South East Stars' for a weekend match against an Irish team in Dublin. This was played over 10 boards, with Boards 1-6 playing three games each and Boards 7-10 playing four each. Ireland were the winners by 18½ to 15½. Sarah Hegarty of Surrey played on board 1 for Ireland, scoring 3/3, whilst the South East Stars had Stephanie Barraclough, Georgina Draper, and Abigail Flint - the latter also doing very well with 4/4. Report courtesy Sarah Hegarty.

Anna heads Chapman Prixette

29th Richmond Rapidplay, 9 April 2000

Only two girls took part in this event, and both did well. In the Major U160 (13 players), Anna Partington scored 3½/6, placed third with performance grade 141, and in the Minor U80 (25 players), Chantal Sirisena scored 4½/6 placed 2-3 and with a performance grade of 83.
No girls took part in the Open (13 players) or the Intermediate U120 (24 players) sections.

ECGCF NorthWestern Region Playoff, Holmes Chapel 9 April 2000

In a very keenly-fought two round match, the older and more experienced Staffordshire team triumphed 7½-4½ over Cheshire. Full details of the match can be seen Here.
Staffordshire thereby earn a place in the Grand Final at Abingdon, Berkshire on Saturday 1 July, while Cheshire will compete in the Minor Final at Paddington on Sunday 11 June.

BCF U-18 Inter-County Girls' Final, Nuneaton 8 April 2000

Surrey won the BCF Girls trophy for the fifth year running, and the tenth time in all, by beating Staffordshire in a match which in fact was closer than the score would suggest. The Staffordshire girls, who were missing some key players, fought hard. For full details of this match, Click Here.
The Open ("boys") Final, and the Minor Final, took place at the same venue. Several teams had girls playing, as follows: in the Major, Kent had Heather Richards on Board 1 and Rosalind Kieran on Board 3 - both won their games; Warwickshire had Marieanne Howard on Board 9 and Sabrina Chevannes on Board 10, these two girls were also both winners; Essex's Heather Walker on Board 11 lost. Cambridgeshire and Cheshire did not use any girls. The competition was won by Warwickshire with 8/12; second were Cheshire and North Wales with 6½; 3-4 came Kent and Essex, each with 6; and fifth, Cambridgeshire with 3½
In the Minor final, in which Suffolk defeated Hertfordshire by 9 points to 3, Suffolk had Sophie Payne on Board 5 (draw) and Katie Barnes on Board 7 (loss). Hertfordshire had no girls playing.

EPCSA NorthWestern Region Championships, Oldham 8 April 2000

Under 11's:
1st Lancashire 37.5
2nd Cheshire & NW 35.5
3rd Manchester 30.5
4th Oldham 26
5th Tameside 20.5

Under 11 Reserve: Winner Helen Beck 3/3 (Lancashire)

Under 9's:
1st Lancashire 22.5
2nd Oldham 18.5
3rd Cheshire & NW 17.5
4th Manchester 13.5

Lancashire bounced back from the disappointment of the Northern Zonals (where the U9's failed to qualify) to win both the U9 and U11 titles in the EPSCA North West Championships.
Our Lancashire correspondent writes:
In the NW Championships held on Sat 8th April at Oldham, Lancs, both Lancashire U9 and U11 teams came in first position.
The U9 team had no girls playing, but the U11 had 2 - Helen Beck and Heather Walmsley. Heather played at no.18 and scored 1½ out of 3. Helen was 1st reserve and scored 3 out of 3 (and received a trophy for best reserve).
Graham Andrews, Tameside organiser, informs us that Tameside had no less than five girls playing, who did extremely well in the first round, although they did not manage to keep up this standard to the end. The girls concerned were: Lisa Au Yeung, Emma Bates, Abbie Hudson, Rachel Smith and Sasha Cullen.
George Davison, Cheshire organiser, writes: Sophie Myles played for Cheshire & North Wales U11s, scoring 2/3 at board 17. Our squad was strong and finished second, ahead of finalists Manchester and Oldham.

St Olave's Tournament, Sevenoaks, Kent 8 April 2000

The U11 Section of this tournament had 50 players including five girls: Elizabeth Atkins and Katie E Martin each had 4/6; Jasmine King had 3/6; Anna Richards 2/6; and Eleanor Warner 1/6.
40 played in the U14 Section but only two girls: Sarah Broadbent 3½/6 and Katharine Warner, 2/6.

England U11 Trials, Liverpool 1/2 April 2000

Some six girls competed in these Trials, in many cases doing very well in a really tough field. Their scores can be seen Here.

IMPORTANT! Changes of Date!

The ECGCF Minor Counties Final (Petit Coup) will now be played on SUNDAY 11 JUNE (and not Saturday 10 June as previously stated). The venue at Paddington, London is unchanged.
The Surrey Girls Chess Congress this year will also be on SUNDAY - 26 November at Therfield School, Leatherhead.

IMPORTANT! Date corrections!

In the April Newsletter, we inadvertently transposed the dates of the EPSCA U9 and U11 Finals.
The correct situation is shown below:
6 May, Saturday: EPSCA U11 Finals, Moreton, Wirral, Cheshire.
13 May, Saturday: EPSCA U9 Finals, Basingstoke.
(the 20 May date for the Girls EPSCA Finals in Liverpool was correctly shown). Also, please note that the date for the Wey Valley U8/U10 Summmer tournament at Whyteleafe is Sunday 25 June 2000.

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