The following items were published before 1 March 2000. Links remain active

Wiltshire and West of England Junior Congress, Swindon 26-27 February 2000

There were only six entrants to the Girls' section, but many more girls played in the mixed age-limited sections.
In the Girls' section, Jenny Chase of Wiltshire was a deserving winner with 5/5. To see results for all the girls, Click Here.

Kent Primary Championships, Maidstone 26 February 2000

In the U9 Section, Karen Jones was placed clear first with 5/6, and the winner of the U11 Girls was Heather Russell-Kay.

Three Cs Chess Club

"3Cs" (standing for Children's Chess Club) is the name of a long-established club based in Oldham, Lancashire. They cater for adults as well, and as many of you will be aware, they even run a team in the 4NCL! 3Cs also run an all-girls team which plays in the Rochdale and Bury League, and includes such strong players as Karen Bradley and Katie A Martin.
To learn more about 3Cs, look at their website via our Links page.

ECGCF News

The Eastern Region jamboree has been rearranged to Saturday 20 May and will be played at Bedford rather than Scunthorpe as at first envisaged. Meanwhile the North Western Region playoff between Cheshire and Staffordshire should take place on Sunday 9 April.

Jersey International Chess Festival, 20-26 February 2000

Jessie Gilbert of Surrey produced a really outstanding performance in the 44-player Open, where she had seven consecutive draws to finish on 3½/7. Jessie's rating performance was 2182 which works out at no less than BCF 198, and according to Leonard Barden is an all-time record performance for a British girl of this age - Jessie is only 13.
Catherine David of Oxfordshire did very well in the Minor, scoring 5/7 placed 3-5 out of 31 players.
To see scores of all of the ten girls who competed, Click Here.

Kingston Chess Championships, 19 February 2000

There was an excellent turn out of 129 juniors, including 27 girls, for this event - in spite of the competition from the Ramsay Cups event just a few miles away.
SGCL members Anita Tse and Shuvani Burt were the winners of the U10 and U8 Girls respectively, each with a perfect score.
To see the results of all girls taking part, Click Here.

Wey Valley Ramsay Cups, Leatherhead 19 February 2000

Some 33 girls out of 147 players contested the Ramsay Cups event - a remarkable total which was achieved even though there was another junior tournament just a few miles away in Kingston on the same day.
In the U11 Championship section, Irish international Sarah Hegarty again showed her quality, placed 1-2 with 4½/5 in a field of 49. For full details of all girls' scores, Click Here.

Two Girls in Lancashire U11 Squad

Helen Beck and Heather Walmsley of Lancashire will be joining the ever-strengthening and eager group of juniors to enter this year's EPSCA U11 competition. Good wishes to these girls and to Lancashire for their positive approach to girls' chess.

BWCA National Girls Championships, Hampton 12-13 February 2000

Final results were as follows:
In the U12/U14, (9 played) Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson [Surrey] and Heather Walker [Essex] were joint winners on 5½/6, having shared the points in the second round. No other player had more than 3½.
In the U9/U10 (15 players) the joint winners were Stephanie Barraclough [Sussex] and Fiona Smailes [Surrey] each with 5½/7. Third was Maria Walker of Oxfordshire with 5/7
The 9 players in the U8/U9 played an all-play-all at 50 minutes ppg, and Selina Khoo [Surrey] was the clear winner with 9/9 followed by Eleanor Hayden [Sussex] with 7 and Victoria Crompton [Cheshire] with 6½.
The youngest girl in the whole event was Bethany Halpin of Lancashire; one of Bethany's wins, against the promising Oxfordshire player Poppy Maxwell, can be seen Here.
To see crosstables of all three Sections, Click Here.

Heywood (Lancashire) Junior Congress, 12 February 2000

The thriving Lancashire chess scene was well illustrated by the turn-out of 176 juniors to play in the event, many of whom had braved the Pennine snows to travel from other Counties.
The event was arranged in sections by strength. The top section, the Kings, had just one girl who was Heather Coupe of Yorkshire scoring 2/5 and placed 7-9 out of 12.
We hope to publish soon details of the girls who took part in the lower sections.

Hertfordshire v Essex, U14/U90 12 February 2000

Hertfordshire's weakened U14 team suffered a heavy defeat by 5½ to 18½ to Essex on 12th February. The only highlight was the performance of Catherine Wasilewski [Hertfordshire] who won both of her games on board 12. Catherine, (R), is one of a promising group of girls from Little Heath Chess Club. Yvette Cook [Hertfordshire] was outplayed on board 6 losing both of her games.
For Essex, Rachel Gargan played on Board 10 scoring 2/2 while her sister Christina had 1/2 on Board 11.
Note that the SCCU website, maintained by Richard Hadrell, has full details of U14/U90 matches as well as league tables for the competition. This information can be accessed via our Links page

Sussex v Surrey, U14/U90 12 February 2000

Surrey, by the very slim margin of 13-11, managed to defeat the Sussex team thus at least partially avenging the heavy defeat they suffered in the first match. The only girl who played was Rebecca Tuck in the second round on Board 12 for Sussex, but she lost the game. No other girls played in this match as it clashed with the BWCA National Girls event.

South of England Junior Championships, Yateley Manor 5-6 February 2000

In the Closed U14 (BCF Junior Squad) event, joint Top Girls were Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson [Surrey] and Lydia Goodwin [Buckinghamshire] with 3/6, followed by Jessie Gilbert [Surrey] with 2½.
The clear winner of the U9 was Selina Khoo [Surrey] with a perfect 6/6. To see scores for all the girls who competed at Yateley, Click Here.

EPSCA U11 Northamptonshire Qualifying Zone

Chris Cook, Hertfordshire girls' organiser, writes:
Ladbrooke JMI School from Potters Bar, Herts sent a team to Oundle to participate in this zone.
Two girls represented their school. Yvette Cook playing on board one scored three wins and one defeat whilst Suzanne Beecham (U) playing on board five scored two wins and two defeats. Both girls, as well as the rest of the team, play at Little Heath Chess Club.
Despite their best efforts, Ladbrooke finished fifth behind Nottingham High, North Bridge and Bedford Modern. This is possibly the first time Ladbrooke have played competitive chess.

Southend Junior Congress

With some difficulty I have extracted the following from the Essex Junior Chess Association website about the recent (they never tell you the date) Southend event. All girls believed Essex.
U9 Section: 40 played, 6 rounds. Ranita Klimach, 4; Katie Hale, 3; Stephanie Miller, 2½; Melissa Hirst-Jones, 2; Rosie Wright, 1½; Stephanie Hale, 1; Jasmin Jordan, ½.
U11 Section: 42 played, 6 rounds. Abigail Flint, joint first 5½; Hester Klimach, 4; Ceri Carnduff, 3½; Sarah Molisso and Christina Gargan, each 3; Josie Turner, 2.
Major (probably U120 and it seems to have been open to adults): 30 played, 6 rounds. Heather Walker, 4; Sharon Lillee, 2; Rachel Gargan, 1.
Open: 8 entered, no girls.

Yvette Makes U18 Debut

Although only a U10, Hertfordshire's Yvette Cook has played her first game for the County at U18 level in the recent BeNCH (Bedfordshire, Northants, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire) competition. Yvette had a good draw against an opponent who, on paper, was much stronger.

LPSCA Championships, Earlsfield 5 February 2000

Some 13 girls took part in the LPSCA U11 Girls Championships, while 11 others took part in the (mixed) U9 and U8 Championships at Earlsfield. In the Girls event, the clear winner was Chantal Sirisena of Surrey with a perfect 6/6 score. It may interest readers to know that Chantal, who seems certain to be selected for Wey Valley Girls this year, is also a talented tennis player. For all the girls' results in the Earlsfield event, Click Here.

Essex v Hertfordshire, U14/U90, 5 February 2000

Essex had an excellent victory by 20-4 in this 12-board, 2 round encounter at Southend. The Essex team included Sarah Molisso on Board 9 who scored 1/2, whilst Hertfordshire had Leah Carvey on Board 11 and she also scored 1/2.

Wiltshire Junior Trials, 30 January 2000

Helena Thomas, co-Junior Girls Organiser for Wiltshire, sends this report:
On Sunday 30 January 65 children, including 15 girls, were invited to the Wiltshire Junior Squad Selection day in Swindon. (Invitations were based on performances in 3 previous 'Fun Days'). Five girls were selected for the 20 strong Wiltshire U9 squad - Shivani Jobanputra (U9), Marianne Hobbs (U8) Kate Orman (U9), Emily Gibbs (U9) & Lucy Dams (U9). Shivani played superbly & was the clear winner of the selection tournament with 4/4. Marianne, an under 8, did very well to finish on 2½.
In the under 11's, four girls were selected for the 28 strong Wiltshire U11 squad - Kirsty Lafferty (U11), Sarah Fitch (U10) Nicola Thomas (U10) and Jenny Webb (U10). Nicola was the clear winner of this section with 4½/5 - however this did not include the top six U11 boys who were competing in an 'all-play-all'. Kirsty & Sarah both finished on 3½/5 and Jenny on 3/5, so that all girls finished well up the field and are in the team to play in the South West of England & South Wales Under 11 Inter County Championships in Cardiff on Saturday 12 February.

Back to Home Page