Parliamentarians v Prodigies, 25 March - Selina beats Marquess of Bath!

A team of five BCF juniors took on five members of Parliament at the House of Commons - and won 5-0 including a victory by W-year Selina Khoo over the Marquess of Bath, some 70 years her senior. Selina won on time. The game was published in The Daily Telegraph of 26 March. Selina (8) becomes the youngest girl ever to have one of her games published in a British national newspaper! Other juniors who played included Jessie Gilbert, who beat the Lib Dem MP Euan Harris (who is around 145 strength); Murugan Thiruchelvam, who beat Lord Harding of Penshurst; David Howell, who beat MEP Alf Lomas; and George O'Toole (age 5), whose defeated opponent is unknown to this site, and is presumed not to be seeking publicity.

Kensington Rapidplay, 21 March

Jessie Gilbert [S ,Surrey] played in the U145 section, scoring 4/6 grading performance 133. Teresa Khoo was in the U115 event and scored well with 4½/6, while sister Selina in the U75 had 3½/6. Both Khoo girls were third in their section and, together, they won the Family prize with 8/12.

EPSCA U11 Mixed Teams, Zonal Results 20 March Click Here

St Teresa's Tournament, 20 March

There were three Sections, U11, U9 and U8. In the U11, Fiona Smailes (U year so she is a U10) had a good win with 5/5, the same score as the U9 winner Jessica Dodson. The largest section was the U8 with some very good players, and Olivia Archibald the winner again with 5/5.
For the full results of the U11 Click here, for the U9 results Click here , and for the U8 results Click here.

Yorkshire Junior Championships, Doncaster 14 March

The only girl in the U15 was Heather Coupe who did extremely well in a highly-competitive section scoring 3/5 and placed second. No girls played in the U11 section.

Kingston Junior Championships, 14 March

Apart from a small adult section of 11 players, the total entry was 179 with 68 girls playing. In each of the three mixed sections, girls tied for first place but in every case were placed second on Sum of Progressive Scores (SOP).

Click here for Mixed sections, and here for Girls Sections.

ISH Congress, 13-14 March

In the U165 section, Jessie Gilbert [S, Surrey] scored 2/5 and Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson [R, Surrey] scored 1½/5. In the U125, Teresa Khoo [R, Surrey] had a very good 3/5.

Corrected Item EPSCA U9 Mixed Teams, Zonal Results 13 March Click Here

Many Counties had girls playing in this event, and I do not have a complete picture (More news welcome so that I can add it!)
Sussex, who won their Zonal, had Stephanie Barraclough on Board 5 who returned a perfect 3/3 score! On Board 12, Louise Adam was less fortunate with 0/3, but sister Hannah Adam, on Board 1 in the Reserves, had 1½/3.
Wey Valley, who also qualified, had three girls who turned in excellent results: on Board 4, Jessica Dodson scored 3/3, (promoted to Board 2 for Finals); on Board 5, Selina Khoo, 2/3; and on Reserve Board 1, Louise Hanger 3/3 (promoted to main Board 12 for Finals).
Kent did not qualify. They had one girl in the main team, Karen Jones on Board 8, and two in the Reserves, Claire Pays on Reserve Board 3 and Rachel Thomas on Reserve Board 4. All these girls acquitted themselves very well, all three scoring 2/3.
Berkshire were another team that did not qualify. They had only one girl in the main team, captain Yasmin Ball scoring well with 2/3; There were also three girls in the Reserve team: Vicky Michell, ½/3; Samantha Jenkins, 1/3; and Karissa Barkat, 1/3.

Fresh Air And Fun at Blackpool, 12-14 March

I counted a total of 8 girls playing at Blackpool, two each in the Open, Intermediate, Minor and Standard sections. A ninth girl played one game in the Standard, losing it and then withdrawing.
In the Open, England's strongest girl Melanie Buckley [Somerset] was slogging it out with the GMs and she must feel very pleased with her excellent 2½/5, (which included a draw with GM Jim Plaskett) winning the Lady Prize of GBP 50.00. Elaine Rutherford [Scotland] also played in the Open, scoring 1/5.
There were no girls in the Challengers or the Major, but BCF Director of Women's Chess Lara Barnes played in the Challengers, also with an excellent result of 2½/5, (and Lady Prize GBP 50.00), the more so because she has a low enough grade to have played in the Major.
Lady Prize winner in the Intermediate (U120) was Alex Kelly [Surrey] with 2½/5, again a very well-fought result as the highest players were 19 grades above Alex. The other girl in this section was Elizabeth Roberts [Lancashire] scoring ½/5.
The score of 2½/5 was very popular with the girls as this was also what Sabrina Chevannes [S year, Warwickshire] achieved to win the Lady Prize in the Minor. The other girl, Suzy Blackburn [Wales] scored 2/5.
The two girls in the Standard were both from Real Lancashire, which of course includes about half of what is now called Merseyside and most of what is now, sadly, referred to by the ugly name of Greater Manchester. Well, "Scouser" Coleen Halpin did well enough with yet another 2½/5, but the star performer was Katie Martin, the youngest girl in the tournament [U year] who turned in a magnificent 3½/5 to win the Sharon Furlong Trophy and GBP 100!
Katie plays for a club named 3 C's which is in Chadderton, near Oldham. She was a winner at last year's Liverpool Girls as well. She gets plenty of practice at home, and somehow I get the feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of Katie.

22nd Richmond Rapidplay, 7 March

The only girl in the 17-player Open section was England's No 3 ranked Heather Richards [O year, Kent]. She scored 2½/6 (placed 10-13) and with performance grade of 164.
Similarly the Major (U160) section only had one girl, this time Jessie Gilbert [S, Surrey] who scored 3 placed 9-14 out of 21 players.
Four well-known Surrey girls were in the Intermediate (U120), the best two being friends Alex Kelly and Anna Partington, both Q year, each of whom scored 4/6 placed 5-8 out of 29. Then came Nicole Mangion [R] with 3/6 placed 11-18 and Teresa Khoo [R] with 2½ placed 19.
No less than 7 of the 28 players in the Minor (U80) were girls, mostly from the younger age groups. The three highest-placed were Maya Buckley [presumed Somerset], Abigail Flint [V year, Essex] and Fiona Smailes [U, Surrey], all scoring 3/6 placed 12-18. Then came Cherry Brearley and Jessica Dodson, [both V, Surrey] each with 2/6 placed 19-24; Selina Khoo [W, Surrey] with 1½ placed 25-26; and lastly Jenny Long [age and County not known] with 0 placed 28.

Letchworth One-day Congress, 7 March

Two girls played in the U95 Section: both Heather Walker [S, Essex] and Georgina Draper [U, Sussex] scored 3/5.
There was also sections for "Bishops" (U14) and "Pawns" (U11). In the Bishops, Natalie Woodhouse [Herts] had 3/6, while in the Pawns were: Sarah Davidson [Middlesex] with 5/6 placed joint second; Katie Nightingale [Bedfordshire] and Karla Houska [Berkshire] each with 4/6; and Rebecca Allen [Herts] 0.

BCF Inter-County U18 Girls (SCCU round), RGS Guildford, 6 March

The Middlesex team withdrew, as also did Hertfordshire, which left the U18 Girls as a straight match between Surrey and Oxfordshire.
The Oxfordshire team were much younger than their opponents, but played very well, and Claire Morris achieved an excellent draw on the top board, against her 139-grade opponent, Claire Thrower.

Also at RGS, the Open U18 was contested over 12 boards by six counties, out of the nine that had originally entered. Four strong girl players participated: Kent had Heather Richards on Board 3 and Rosalind Kieran on Board 5, while Essex had Ellen Walker on Board 5 and Buckinghamshire had Lydia Goodwin on Board 6. The luck of the draw paired Rosalind against Ellen resulting in a hard-fought win for Rosalind, and Heather also defeated her Berkshire opponent to give the Kent pair a 100% 2/2 score. Lydia also won against her Sussex opponent so that the total girls' score was 3/4.
Kent ran out winners with 9/12 and Essex were second with 8½. Surrey had 7½ for third place, but it would alsmost certainly have been a different story if Surrey had had the girls available (See item below for next year's probable arrangements). The third event at RGS was the Final of the U14/U90 competition. Surrey had no girls playing in this because they had been held back for a possible second team in the U18 Girls, which in the event was not required. Essex, however, had two girls playing, Heather Walker on Board 3 and Leah Oaker on Board 12. Heather scored 1½/2, and Leah 1/2. The winners of this competition were Surrey with 17/24, second Essex 14½, third Oxfordshire 4½.

NEXT YEAR'S EVENT will be held in Essex on the corresponding weekend. There has historically been a problem with this event in that stronger girls have to take a difficult decision whether to be part of their county's OPEN team, or to play in the GIRLS team. This problem also now is affecting the U14/U90 teams, where several Surrey girls did not play because they had been held back to see if a second girls' team was needed. There was discussion of this problem with SCCU Junior Organiser Nigel Dennis, and it appears probable that what will emerge is that:
1. The event will be held on the Sunday rather than the Saturday.
2. The Girls' U18 event will start at 10 am.
3. The Open U18 and the U14/U90 will start at 2.30 pm.
In this way, girls strong enough to play in their County's Open team, will also be able to play in the Girls' event, provided they do not mind two games in one day, (of course, always necessary at congresses).
Furthermore, girls who were U14 and U90 could also play in the morning for their Girls' team and have another two, albeit slightly quicker, games in the afternoon. These arrangements would have Surrey's full support. In this year's event, at least according to their grades, all six Surrey girls would have merited selection for the 12-board Surrey Open team.