THESE NEWS ITEMS WERE PUBLISHED BEFORE 31 JANUARY. LINKS TO TABLES, ETC. ARE STILL ACTIVE.
Coulsdon Grand Prix 2, 30 January
Some 31 players took part split between four Sections. In all there were 8 girls, all except 2 being SGCL members. Six rounds were played.
No girls were in the 4-player U18 Section. There were two girls in the U12 (8 players in all). Nicola Jobson (T year) scored 1½ placed 7 and Amanda Penistone (T year, not SGCL) scored 0 placed 8.
The largest Section was the U10 with 14 players including 2 girls. Fiona Smailes (U year) did very well, scoring 4 placed 2-4. Ashleigh Layton-McIntosh (V year) scored 2 placed 10-13.
The 4 girls in the U8 Section slightly outnumbered the boys. It was won by Hannah Dale (W year) with a clean-sheet score of 6. Jana Briggs (? year, not SGCL) had 4½ placed 2-3. Anisha Amin (W year) had 4 placed 4 and sister Parisha (Y year) had 1 placed 7.
Kensington Rapidplay, 24 January
I do not have the complete results available but in the U75 Section, Selina Khoo [Surrey, W year] had an excellent 3/6 which included a win over Poppy Aarons [Middlesex]. In the U115 Section, Teresa Khoo [Surrey, R year] had 2½/6.
Sussex Closed Girls, 23 January
36 entrants in the two Sections showed the healthy state of Sussex Girls Chess in the capable hands of energetic organiser Rod Draper.
The U18 Section was convincingly won by Lizzie Tippetts who is S year and thus still a U12. Lizzie is also a member of the SGCL and of the ECGCF, and seems to have excellent prospects for the future.
The U11 Section was won by Stephanie Barraclough with Georgina Draper a close second. Details are seen in the tables below. In each Section, placings were calculated using total then sum of progressive scores.
Surrey Girls Superstrong tournament, Coulsdon 23 January
Flu took its toll from the entrants to this, but in the end 18 girls played four rounds at 50 minutes per player per game. 1, Kate Feld, 4; 2. Hannah Greenwood, 3½; 3-5, Harriet Bates, Teresa Khoo and Sophie Eagle, all 3; 6-8, Lydia McCormack, Nicole Mangion and Sarah Hegarty, all 2½; 9-11, Sunena Patel, Katherine Stoker, and Nicola Hanger, all 2; 12. Laura Watts, 1½; 13-16, Sophie Epperlein, Laura Cooke, Emma Galliano and Henrietta Pawlyn, all 1; 17. Eloise Horsey, ½.
21st Richmond Rapidplay, 17 January
There were no females in either the eight-player Open section or the 20-player Major (U160) Section. The Intermediate (U120, 26 players) had four girls of whom Anna Partington [Surrey] did extremely well, coming second with 5/6 and a performance grade of 125. Also good was Alex Kelly [Surrey] with 3½ placed 7-13. The others were Teresa Khoo [Surrey] with 2½ placed 16-19 and Lucy Styles [Middlesex] with 2 placed 20-22.
Highest of 6 girls in the Minor (U80, 40 players) was Poppy Aarons [Middlesex] with 3½ placed 14-17, then came Abigail Flint [Essex] and Danielle Gross [Middlesex], each with 3 placed 18-25, Hannah Greenwood [Surrey] with 2½ placed 26-28, and Emilie Dannenberg and Mina Gospavic [both Middlesex] each with 2 placed 29-35.
Wey Valley U12 Championship and Lloyds Bank Most Promising Junior, West Ashtead 17 January
The main Section comprised all the 64 U12 players of whom just 16 (25%) were girls, all Surrey. Best girls were Rebecca Gilbert, Sunena Patel and Rachel Lambert, all of whom scored 3½/5 placed 8-14. Then came Lara Moffat, Fiona Smailes and Sophie Epperlein, each 3 placed 15-31; Louise Newlands and Reyana Fayyaz, each 2½ placed 32-37; Cherry Brearley, Emilie Epperlein and Georgina Lamble, each 2 placed 38-53; Aurore van Hoof and Emily Round, each 1 placed 57-61; Stephanie Epperlein and Deepa Patel, each ½ placed 62-63; and Sophie Coates, 0 placed 64.
There was also a small U14/Adults section of 14 players, containing 2 girls. Lydia Prieg scored 2/5 placed 10-11 and Laura Watts had 0/5 placed 14.
Surrey beat Sussex at Cuckfield
The Surrey Mixed U14 team, using four girl players from a total of 12, were successful in defeating Sussex in the away leg of the SCCU Mixed U14 Championship. The score of 19½ to 4½ in Surrey's favour even surpassed that in the home leg last October, which was won 18½ to 5½ by Surrey, who now go on to the Finals of this competition, to be played at RGS Guildford on Saturday 6 March, alongside the SCCU Open and Girls U18.
HASTINGS CHESS CONGRESS: JESSIE WINS WORLD TITLE!
Jessie Gilbert played in the World Amateur Championship at Hastings. She obtained a score of 5/10, and on tie-break (Sum of Progressive Scores) she was awarded the title of WORLD AMATEUR WOMAN CHAMPION with the rank of WFM and a FIDE rating of 2050, (equivalent to a BCF grade of 181). WELL DONE JESSIE! She is the youngest player ever to win an Adult World Title. [I have been informed by the County Grader that Jessie's BCF grade will not be affected by this title, so that she can still play in non-FIDE rated events at her current grade]
Hastings Junior News
In the U11, there were 48 players in all, including eight girls, (three SGCL). All three Surrey girls did well. Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] and Georgina Draper [Sussex] finished on 4/6 placed 11-12 while Jessica Dodson and Hannah Dale [both Surrey] each got 3/6, placed 22-23. All three Surrey girls were playing above their age groups: Sarah 1 year, Jessica 2 years, and Hannah no less than 3 years up. In one of her games, Hannah defeated the Sussex star girl Stephanie Barraclough, who finished on 2½ placed 32. Also playing were Deborah Margolis and Holly Chapman [both Sussex] who scored 2 and 1½ repectively, and Alexandra Clifford [? county] who scored 1½.
The U16 was much smaller with only 16 players of which the two girls were Petra Rose [? Middlesex] who scored 3 and Rebecca Tuck [Sussex and SGCL] 0.
The London Junior Chess Championships
In the U8 Section, (46 players, 6 girls) the three Surrey girls did extremely well: Selina Khoo scored 5/9, Top Girl, while both Stephanie Epperlein and Olivia Archibald had 4/9. Other girls: Jana Briggs, 4½; Ranita Klimach, 4; and Claire Wu, 0.
In the U10 Minor Section, (70 players, ~7 girls), Top Girl was Stephanie Barraclough of Sussex with 6/7. Surrey girls Fiona Smailes and Chantal Sirisena each scored 4/7. Others: Katie Nightingale [Bedfordshire] and Heather Russell-Kay [Kent], each 3½; Amelia Duncanson [Norfolk] and Christina Gargan [Essex], each 2.
The Top Girl in the U10 Major Section, (76 players, ~7 girls) was Sarah Hegarty [Surrey], who however does not qualify as London Girls U10 Champion - she lives too far away. Other girls: Yasmin Ball [Berks] 3½; Poppy Aarons [Middlesex] 3; Molly Moruzzi [Staffs] and Susannah Prichard [Middlesex] 2½; Reyana Fayyaz [Surrey] 2; and Abigail Flint [Essex] 1½.
In the U12 Minor Section, (38 players, 4 girls) Poppy Aarons [Middlesex] was top girl with 6½/9. Then came Emma Atkins [Kent] with 4, Francesca Berlin [Essex] 3, and Maria Fort [Surrey] with 1½.
In the U12 Major Section, (79 players, ~7 girls) Jessie Gilbert [Surrey] scored 6½/9, becoming Top Girl and London Girls U12 Champion. Other girls: Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] 4, Heather Walker [Essex] 3½, Stephanie Barraclough [Sussex] 2½, and Margaret Donald [Cambridgeshire], Amelia Duncanson [Norfolk] and Danielle Gross [Middlesex] all 1½.
The U14 Minor was stated to have 40 players, but according to the printout I received, three of these were all the same player, but with different records! Anyway there only seemed to be two girls: Heather Walker [Essex] with 3½/6 and Heather Burgess [Wiltshire] with 3.
In the U14 Major, (47 players) were 8 girls, a very encouraging number when one considers that in the past there have been years when this section did not see a single girl player. Jessie Gilbert [Surrey] did very well. Scoring 3½/6, she won the London Girls U14 title, and was also Top Girl. Other girls: Lydia Goodwin [Bucks] and Teresa Khoo and Aly Wilson [both Surrey], all 3; Kate Feld and Anna Partington, [both Surrey], 2; and Vanessa Aarons and Lucy Styles [both Middlesex], each 1½.
The U16 was a very strong section with 25 players. The only girl, Heather Coupe [Yorkshire] had a very hard time of it and finished without a point.
The only female in the U18/U21, which was combined with the Open section of the North London Congress, was Rosalind Kieran WFM [Kent] who scored a very creditable 3/6.