News
Items from December 1999
Onyx
Grand Prix results
The Islington Congress 17-19 December was the last
event of the 1999 Onyx Grand Prix and its associated Prixette. I am very pleased
to report that the £3000 Grand Prix was won by GM Julian Hodgson with a perfect
200/200 score, only the third time this has ever been achieved. This is
Julian's second Grand Prix win; the first was back in 1980!
Not only is Julian very supportive of girls' chess, he has family connections
with the Surrey Girls' Chess League from many years ago. His wife Lizette was a
Surrey Girls player, as was her even stronger sister Lavinia, who is a former
British Girls champion at both U16 and U18 level.
The Prixette winner was Jovanka Houska, of course now an adult woman player,
but both second and third places were taken by girls: second was Kent's Heather
Richards, and third was Surrey's Jessie Gilbert. Both these girls hold the rank
of WFM. The Ladies U18 prize went to Sophie Tidman of Warwickshire.
To see all of the Prixette results, Click Here.
Hertfordshire
Christmas Party, 22 December 1999
Chris Cook, the Hertfordshire girls organiser, has sent
this report of the very successful party they held just before Christmas:
Twenty two girls out of total of 61 competitors took part in the first
Christmas Fun Tournament run by Little Heath Chess Club. Children attended from
all over Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
Several prizes were awarded to girls with Claire Wu (W) dressed in a splendid
horse costume winning the fancy dress competition with Victoria Sore (U) coming
runner-up as a very colourful witch.
In a mixed age and sex competition where only one chess prize could be won,
Katie Shall (W) won the girl's prize with 5/6 with Stephanie Antonian (U)
finishing runner-up on 4/6. Catherine Wasilewski (R) won the under-14 section
with 4/6 and Yvette Cook (V) won the prize for the best Little Heath player (4/6).
Katie Jolley (W) won a special prize for finishing with no points and Elise
Moritz (Y) took a prize as the youngest competitor.
Following the success of the afternoon, it is planned to hold the tournament
again next Christmas.
Surrey
II Win at Potters Bar, 12 December 1999
In a 7-team ECGCF Friendly Team Swiss over 5 rounds
and 6 boards organised by Hertfordshire girls' organiser Chris Cook, the Surrey
second team were the winners with 27/30 over: Middlesex A, 21; Bedfordshire,
18½; Hertfordshire A, 14; Cambridgeshire, 10½; Middlesex B, 10; and
Hertfordshire B, 3.
To see full details, Click Here.
Oxfordshire
v Buckinghamshire, U14/U90, 11 December 1999
Oxfordshire beat Buckinghamshire 17-7 in this
2-round 12-board match. Buckinghamshire used no girls in their team, but
Oxfordshire had three who scored as follows: Board 2, Claire Morris, 1/2; Board
5, Maria Walker, 1/2; and Board 8, Judith Rawlings, 2/2.
26th
Richmond Rapidplay, 5 December 1999
It is always pleasing to see girls entering for
these events: they are tough, and provide a really good mixture of opponents
from precocious juniors to wily old veterans. Many Surrey girls have sharpened
their teeth in these events, and on this occasion Alex Kelly was joint winner
of the Intermediate section.
To see the results of all the girls who played, Click Here.
Hertfordshire
Congress, 4-5 December 1999
The adult sections were played over both days, while
the junior sections (which were LJC qualifiers) took place on the Sunday.
In the adult Challengers U175, Lydia Goodwin [Buckinghamshire] found the going
very tough finishing on 1/5. Teresa Khoo [Surrey] did very well in the Major
U145, scoring 4/5 and placed second, an excellent result.
In the Minor, Danielle Gross had to withdraw ill after two rounds.
The Junior sections had, in the U18, Joanne Harbour [Bedfordshire] scoring well
with 3½/6. In the U14 there were Vishali Modali [Surrey] with 2½/6 (?) and
Emily Hamilton with 2/6, while the best girls' performance in the U12 was
Selina Khoo [Surrey] with 4/6 and placed 4th. Sarah Davidson had 3/6, Francesca
Berlin [Essex] had 2½, and Ranjitha Modali [Surrey] had 1½.
Best girl in the U10s was Katie Nightingale [Bedfordshire] who had 4½/6.
Eleanor Dynes and Emma Williams each had 2, whilst Rebekah Fraser did not
score.
Finally in the U8 section, Alexandra Kitson had 1/6.
All girls presumed Hertfordshire unless otherwise stated.
There was also a junior competition on the Saturday: The U10 section was won by
Yvette Cook [Hertfordshire] with 4/6.
Whitstable
Rapidplay, 4 December 1999
Heather Richards [Kent] did very well in the
14-player Open section, scoring 3½/6 and placed 3-7.
In the Minor (U120) section, Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson scored 4/6, winning a
prize.
The Kent Ladies championship was held in parallel with the Rapidplay: Katy
Cunningham and Karen Jones [both Kent] were joint second with 3½/6.
Surrey
v Sussex, U14/U90, Guildford 4 December 1999
The keen Sussex team gave Surrey a severe beating in
this mixed match over 12 boards, the Seasiders winning by 18-6. There were four
Surrey girls in the team of 12; they picked up just 50% of Surrey's six points
between them. For full details, Click Here.
A similar match between Berkshire and
Buckinghamshire had no girls at all playing.
To return to Archive Index page, Click
Here.
London
Junior Chess Championships, 11-12 and 28-30 December 1999
This event has been called the strongest Junior
event in the world, and apart from International events, this seems to be true.
The U18/U21, which was FIDE rated, had three girls out of 22 contestants. Best
of these was WFM Rosalind Kieran of Kent who scored 3/6, placed 9-14.
There were only two girls, both from Surrey, in the 19-player U16, and the best
of these was Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson who scored 2½/6 placed 13-16.
The U14 Major had 3 girls among its 39 players, of whom one withdrew without
scoring, but the other two each won prizes - Top Girl was Lydia Goodwin
[Buckinghamshire] who scored 3½/6 placed 9-15, while Teresa Khoo [Surrey] took
the title of London Girls U14 Champion with 3/6 placed 16-19.
Of the three girls in the U14 Minor, Heather Walker took the Best Girl title
with 4/6 placed 5-9.
The U12 Major is always a very large and gruelling tournament for juniors with
long play over three days, so Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] (still a U11) can feel
very proud of her score of 6/9, placed 7-12 out of 66 players, taking the Best
Girl prize. The five other girls, (two Oxfordshire, two Middlesex, and a second
Surrey) can also feel pleased with their achievements.
The corresponding U12 Minor, which had 47 players, saw an excellent result for
Stephanie Barraclough [Sussex], Best Girl with 6½/9 placed 3-5. There were four
other girls of whom Hannah Dale [Surrey], still a U9, should be singled out for
special praise for her 5/9.
The U10s, like the U14s and the U8, were played earlier in the month. The U10
Major was very large with 67 players, including 10 girls, of whom two achieved
outstanding scores - Poppy Aarons of Middlesex and Naomi Miller of Oxfordshire
sharing Best Girl with 5/7 and placed 5-14. Poppy was awarded the London Girls
U10 title.
In the U10 Minor with 62 players there were 7 girls of whom Ranita Klimach
[Essex] was Best Girl with 5/7.
And finally in the U8 with 45 players there were three girls of whom both Katie
Hale [Essex] and Catriona Meechan [Surrey] shared Best Girl with 5/9 placed
13-20, Katie taking the London Girls title.
The full crosstables for all Sections have kindly been made available by
Neville Belinfante to whom our thanks are extended. We have edited these by
picking out the girls so you can easily see them - just click on the
appropriate box below.
Essex
events, late 1999
A couple of one-day junior events which we had
previously overlooked were held at the end of last year at Colchester and at
Great Dunmow in Essex.
Taking the Colchester event first, there were no girls in the 22-player Open,
but two out of the 17 in the U14 were girls of whom Heather Walker had an
excellent result coming first with 5½/6. Victoria Baker of Suffolk was placed
16 with 1/6. The U12 had 26 players in all including two girls who were Sarah
Molisso with 2½/6 placed 17-19 and Hannah Emerson with 1½/6 placed 24. In the
U10 there were also 2 girls out of the 19 players: Kathryn Day with 3½/6 placed
6-7 and Ranita Klimach with 3/6 placed 8-12, while the only girl in the
12-player U8 was Heather Mulrenan who scored with 3½/6 placed 4-5.
The Dunmow event had rather more girls, and although there were none in the
13-player Open, three entered the Major: Heather Walker with 4/6 placed 3-8,
Sharon Lillie with 2/6 placed 17-19, and Rachel Gargan, 0/6 placed 22. The U12
had 4 girls among the 40 players, these being: Christina Gargan with 4/6 placed
6-11; Sarah Molisso and Alice Hamilton-Hastings, each with 3/6 placed 17-24;
and Alexandra Barnett with 2/6 placed 29-34. Of the 3 girls out of 18 players
in the U10, Abigail Flint did very well coming clear second with 5/6, while
Kimberley Hirst-Jones scored 2½/6 placed 13 and Naimh Reynolds had 1½/6 placed
16-17. And finally the U8 (total 18 players) also produced an excellent result,
this time for Katie Hale, clear second with 5/6, while the other three girls
were: Melissa Hirst-Jones and Heather Mulrenan, each 3/6 placed 8-11, and
Isobel Nicholson, 1/6 placed 17-18.
All girls, unless otherwise indicated, are Essex as far as we know.