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These News Items relate to August 2001
Results from Mind Sports Olympiad
In the 10-round Ron Banwell Masters, Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson scored 4½.
Heather Richards [Kent] also had 4½, while Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] scored 3½.
Earlier in the MSO Olympiad Major (U170), Sophie Tidman [Warwickshire] did very well coming joint
second with 4/5; Alex Kelly [Surrey] scored 2/5.
World Junior Championships, Periskeri, Greece 16-29 August 2001
This U20 event is played in separate boys' and girls' sections, as is the norm in virtually every European country with the notable exception, of course, of Britain. The girls' section was won by Humpy Koneru of India. That major chess-playing country, England, could only muster one entrant among the 60 girls. This was Melanie Buckley of Somerset, who scored a creditable 6½/13, placing 26-34.
British Land UK Chess Challenge Terafinal, Greenwich 25-26 August 2001
Sarah Hegarty [Surrey] carried off the Best Girl prize at the Terafinal, just half a point in front of her County colleague Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson and Heather Coupe of Yorkshire. This was a splendid performance for Sarah, now veteran of four Terafinals. To see all the girls' placings, Click Here. The Challenger's section saw Sabrina Chevannes of Warwickshire as Top Girl, the runner-up being Oxfordshire's Naomi Miller, half a point behind. To see the Challenger's placings, Click Here.
Aly's Splendid Success at Biel/Bienne, 25 July - 3 August 2001
Alexandra 'Aly' Wilson will not have had any trouble finding her way around the very attractive town of Biel/Bienne, which lies on the border between the French- and German-speaking areas of Switzerland, as she is a fluent French speaker. And clearly, she felt at home at the chessboard in the General (Open) Tournament there also, as she emerged with a score of 5½/9, placed 25-43 out of 149 competitors, and with a performance grading of (BCF)163. Aly was also the winner of the Ladies Prize. We hope to publish one of Aly's games from this tournament in The Newsletter in the near future.
An Error - But By Whom?
In the August Newsletter, which has just been posted, you will see the names of Katie Hale [Essex] and Amy Officer [Devon] given as joint British U9 Girls champions. Well, we did say, subject to confirmation. And it appears they were not joint champions after all, as an Indian girl had half a point more.
New Grading List
The 2001 National Grading List went on sale at the British Championships. It is the first list under the supervision of Chris Majer as Director of Grading, and it has to be said that, while the list looks the same as before, except for a pale green cover in place of the yellow used last year, it is in fact a great improvement, and appears, at least at first sight, to be remarkably free of errors, although Laurie Neatherway is probably most annoyed at being classified as a female. There is even one person who has an "X" in the "M or F" column - obviously the information was withheld!
We have produced our customary list of girls grades which you can access Here. The main U18 list has now been revised to include several girls who had been omitted, and to eject one boy - Sasha Breen of Sussex is a BOY! You can see at a glance how you compare with other girls in our outside your own County. As Surrey organiser it gives me great pleasure to see Jessie Gilbert, who occupies centre stage on our present home-page photograph, firmly on top, with Teresa Khoo at third, and in fact six of the top ten places occupied by Surrey girls. Note that our list differs from the BCF top 20 girls list, only because we have included the strong Welsh girl Rhiannon Hammond, whom the BCF have omitted.
British Championships, August 2001 - Girls' Results
The British Championships have now finished. To see girls' scores, Click Here. ***