These items were published before 1 April 2000

4NCL Rounds 7 and 8, 25-26 March 2000

The latest 4NCL weekend was full of interest for girl players. Rosalind Kieran [Kent] had two wins for Barbican 2, and Alex Kelly [Surrey] also had two wins for King's Head, one of them against her County colleague and good friend Anna Partington. Also doing well, with 1½/2 for Perceptron, was Surrey girl Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson, who played for Richmond last season.
The weekend was also notable for the debut of Katie A Martin of Oldham who recorded a win in her very first game for Levy Gee 3Cs. To see this fine game by Katie, Click Here. Katie has not yet reached her eleventh birthday, and we hope her recent surge in performance has not escaped the England Girls selectors.

21st Barnet Knights Tournament, Gospel Oak 26 March 2000

Courtesy of Laurie Winston, for girls' results in this tournament Click Here.

South Western Counties Girls Team Championships, Cardiff 25 March 2000

Helena Thomas sends this report:
The South West Counties U11 Girls Team Championships was held on Saturday 25 March at Cardiff. Four counties participated in an enjoyable competition, with teams of 12 (plus 4 reserves) playing 3 rounds. At the end of round two there was only ½ point between the two leading counties, Somerset and Devon - who were playing against each other in the final round. This led to a tense finish with Somerset coming out on top with a final score of 22, followed by Devon on 20½, Glamorgan on 16 and Wiltshire on 13½.
Good to see the Glamorgan girls' team doing well. Hopefully they will enter the 2001 ECGCF Inter-County competition!

National Youth Chess Association U16 Team Championships, Reading 18 March 2000

Ten teams from all over England, and one Welsh team, took part in this three-round 12 board event, of which the joint winners were Richmond and Glamorgan, each with a scores of 24½/36. Third were Kent, fourth Essex, and fifth Surrey. Kate Feld was on Board 3 for Surrey, scoring 1/3, while Heather Walker was on Board 9 for Essex and got 2/3. It is not known which other teams, if any, had girls playing.

EPSCA U11 (Mixed Teams) Zonals, 18 March 2000

In the SouthEastern Zonal at Catford, the qualifiers were (in order of scores) 1. Richmond; 2. Wey Valley; 3. Kent; and 4. Sussex.
The Wey Valley team featured no less than 5 girls on its 20 boards, with the top two boards occupied by girls, who scored as follows: Board 1, Sarah Hegarty 1½; Board 2, Fiona Smailes, 2; Board 10, Rebecca Gilbert, 1½; Board 17, Reyana Fayyaz, 3; Board 19, Meera Patel, 3. Thus the girls scored 73.3%, a greater average than the whole team which scored 65.5%.
The Sussex team also included three girls - Board 4, Stephanie Barraclough 2½; Board 7, Georgina Draper 2; and Board 18, Eleanor Hayden 2.
In the Northern Zonal, the qualifiers were: 1. Manchester; 2. Yorkshire; 3. Lancashire; and 4. Oldham. It is not known which of these teams had girls playing, or their scores. Anyone in possession of this information please email it to me!
SouthWestern Zonal, Swindon: Wiltshire girls' organiser Helena Thomas writes: Seven counties played in this zonal. The qualifiers were, in finishing order, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Somerset, and Buckinghamshire.
Buckinghamshire had no girls. Somerset had just one girl who started in the reserves but played 2 rounds on Board 19: Natalie Anderson who scored 2. Hampshire also had one girl, Rhiannon Chilton on Board 20 who scored 1. Cornwall also had only one girl, Fahram Wallace who played on Board 2 but found the going very tough and did not score.
Berkshire had four girls playing. Yasmin Ball on Board 1 who did very well to score 1½; Board 4, Karla Houska, 1; Board 10, Alison Massingale, 1 and Board 20, Samantha Jenkins, 1.
Devon and Wiltshire each had 5 girls. Devon's girls scored as follows: Board 4, Charlotte Hughes, ½; Board 8, Andrea Wolfenden, 1½; Board 11, Jenny Wilson, 1; Board 18, Simone Clarke, 1; Board 19, Tara McCarthy, 2. Devon were unfortunate to just miss out on qualifiing for the final. Wiltshire's 5 girls scored as follows: Board 7, Sarah Fitch, 2; Board 8, Jenny Webb, 1; Board 9, Nicola Thomas, 3; Board 11, Kirsty Lafferty, 2½; Sarah Thomas played in the reserves, scoring 3. This was the first time Wiltshire had won the competition in a number of years, and this year the team contained more girls than ever before - who knows, perhaps these two facts may be related!

Welsh Ladies' Championship, Cardiff 10-12 March 2000

The only girl taking part was Suzie Blackburn, who lives in Cheshire, and she did very well indeed, coming in joint second with 3½/5.

BSP-ISH Central London Tournament, 11-12 March 2000

Even more excellent news of girls' performances continues to come in!! Playing in the Premier (U210), Heather Richards [Kent] had a magnificent result with an unbeaten 3½/5, (just a half-point short of the joint winners). Heather, who was unbeaten, had draws with Robert Eames (206) and Dave Ledger (203), and finished with a grading performance of 203.
Also, in the Major (U170) Section, Teresa Khoo [Surrey] had an excellent result, scoring 3½/5, performance grade of 172, and in the Amateur (U90) Section, Chantal Sirisena [Surrey] had 3/5.

EPSCA U9 Zonals 11 March 2000

In the Northern zone, the winners were Yorkshire. The only girl known to have played was Alexandra Kellett of Lancashire (who came fourth).
In the South Eastern zone, Wey Valley were winners of a very close contest. Surrey's Selina Khoo was on top board for Wey Valley and had 2½/3. Sussex girls playing were Eleanor Hayden (2/3) and Sarah Linnett (1½/3).

Blackpool Chess Conference 10-12 March 2000 - Anna wins Sharon Furlong Trophy!

With an excellent performance in the Major (U140) section at Blackpool, Anna Partington of Surrey won the prestigious Sharon Furlong Trophy and the Ladies Prize of £100 with a score of 4/5 and a performance grade of not less than 160. Anna also won a £40 Grading Prize.
There were no girls at all in the Open (47 players). In the U180 Challengers, Elaine Rutherford [Scotland] was the only girl and did well, scoring 3½/5. The only other girl besides Anna who played in the Major was Sabrina Chevannes [Warwickshire] who scored 1½.
The U120 Intermediate (78 players) was another girl-less section, and the only girl in the U100 Minor (90 players) was Katie A Martin [Lancashire] who did very well, scoring 3/5 and with a grading performance of 104.
Four girls played in the U80 Standard as follows: Robyn Smith [Lancashire], 2½; Nicola Thomas [Wiltshire], 2; Victoria Crompton [Cheshire], 1½; and Heather Russell-Kay [Kent], 1.

28th Richmond Rapidplay, Hampton 5 March 2000

There was only one girl in the 18-player Open: Heather Richards of Kent, who scored 2½/6 placed 11-13. Also, the Major U160 had just one girl among its 16 players. This was Anna Partington of Surrey who scored 2/6 placed 12-14.
Teresa Khoo, who would have been playing for the Surrey Girls team had the event not been cancelled, made good use of her free time coming clear first in the Intermediate, (22 players), scoring 5½/6, performance grade 142. The only other girl in this section was Sarah Hegarty who also did well, placed 3-6 with 4/6.
There were also three girls in the Minor (U80): Abigail Flint [Essex] and Chantal Sirisena [Surrey] each scored 3/6, placed 13-16, while Selina Khoo [Surrey] scored 2/6 placed 21-25. There were 28 players in all in this section.

BCF U18 Girls, Southend 5 March 2000

This event did not take place, because Middlesex withdrew, and Essex, out of consideration for the Surrey team who would have faced a long and difficult journey, in a sporting gesture which was much appreciated, conceded to Surrey who therefore go through to the National Finals, which will be played at Pingles Leisure Centre, Nuneaton, Warwickshire on Saturday 8 April, starting time 2 p.m.

BCF U18 Mixed, Chelmsford 4 March 2000

The winners of this 12-board jamboree were Kent with 9½/12: Essex were runners up with 8½. Of the six Counties taking part, only Essex had no girl player, (presumably Heather Walker was not available). Kent seem to have woken up to the fact that they have strong girl players, for Heather Richards was on Board 1 (½) while Rosalind Kieran was on Board 2 (1). Berkshire had Ivana Houska (0) on Board 3, while Surrey had Jo Hart on 5 (1) and Kate Feld on 6 (½). Hertfordshire had Yvette Cook (1 def) on 11 and Catherine Wasilewski (0) on 12, and to complete the picture, Sussex had Stephanie Barraclough (1) on Board 11.
Full details can be seen at the SCCU website.

SCCU U14/U90 Team Competition Final, Chelmsford 4 March 2000

The winners were Essex with 18½/24. Sussex were second with 11½, and Oxfordshire third with 6. Middlesex withdrew. Oxfordshire had four girls playing who scored as follows: Maria Walker, 0/2; Claire Morris, 1½/2; Naomi Miller 0/2; and Judith Rawlings 2/2. Judith was the only Oxfordshire player to score 2/2.

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