These News Items relate to June 2001

Surrey retain Grand Cup by narrowest of margins, 30 June 2001

In a nail-biting finish, Surrey just retained the ECGCF Grand Cup on board-count over Staffordshire, a similar result to last year's. The situation going into the last round was that Selina Khoo, on Board 3 for Surrey, had to beat Staffordshire's Emma Atkins in order for Surrey to win; a draw or loss on this board for Surrey would mean that Staffordshire took the cup - assuming both Surrey and Staffordshire won on the other boards. But Selina only managed a draw, and the cup had already been decorated with Staffordshire's coal-and-clay ribbons, when on one of the lower boards a Staffordshire player, having an easy win in hand, stalemated her Oxfordshire opponent. This meant that Surrey and Staffordshire were equal on game points, and after some feverish calculation it was established that Surrey had just scraped home with a 53 to 50½ board-count.
Third were Oxfordshire on board-count over Bedfordshire, with Wiltshire fifth and Kent sixth. Full details can be seen HERE.

Middlesex win Petit Coup, 30 June 2001

At the same venue as the above, Middlesex won the Petit Coup with 13½ points over Sussex with 11½ and Hertfordshire with 2. Details HERE.

Spectrum Chess, 2nd St Leonards Congress, 23-24 June 2001

Six girls, five of them Surrey, played in this event. Their scores can be seen HERE.

Wey Valley U10 and U8 Championships, Leatherhead 24 June 2001

In the U8 Championship event, Sheila Dines had an excellent result, coming in first equal with two of the boys. In the U10 Championship, best girl was Stephanie Epperlein, while Maria Cheong was the best girl in the U10 Minor section. To see the detailed results of this event, Click Here.

Lancashire Chess Association, Darwen Vale Junior Congress 16 June 2001

Some 12 girls took part in this event. The children were divided into four Sections, labelled Kings, Bishops, Green Pawns(yes, really), and Black Pawns, these in descending order of strength. Only one girl was considered fit for the 12-player Kings, the established Cheshire player Victoria Crompton, who finished on 2/5, giving an indication that this was a strong Section. There were no girls in the Bishops, (due to Church pressures?), but two in the 20-player Green Pawns - Sarah Carrington [Cheshire] on 2½/6 and Aimée Cummings [Lancashire] on 1/6. The rest of the girls were Black Pawns: Amy Welch 5/6; Hannah Wallwork 4/6; Megan McCarthy, Jennie Carter, Laura Gillard, and Jennifer Salisbury, 3/6; Saloni Vara, 2½/6; Sophie Miller and Natalie Taylor, 1½/6. All these girls Lancashire.
Lancashire Chess Association operate a grading system for their juniors: in this system, you can actually have a MINUS grade. All the girls in the Black Pawns section have minus grades. Good way to encourage them, no doubt.

5th Norwich Junior Congress, 16 June 2001

Stephen Orton writes: 19 girls took part in this congress, out of 81 players in total, with some in each of the four graded sections. In the Open (9 players), Abigail Flint from Essex was the only girl, scoring 2½ /6 In the Challengers (14 players), Amelia Duncanson came 5th with 3½, Emma Nash scored 3, and Kirsten Briffa 2. In the Intermediate (22 players), Alicia Grix and Hannah Dix were =8th with 3½, and Francesca Ghigi scored 0. In the Novices (36 players), Janette Hodds was =2nd with 5/6, Georgie Berry scored 4, Sara ffrench-Constant and Sarah Gardner 3½ , Libby Hopwood 3, Megan Chesney and Sophie Morter 2½, Sophie Liddament, Claire Collyer, and Jade Goveia 2, Catriona Bowen 1½, and Leanne Body 1.

New UK Chess Challenge Website

A new independent website for the British Land UK Chess Challenge has been started at http://www.ukchesschallenge.com The site contains, among other things, lists of qualifiers for this year's gigafinals. With respect, however, we have to say that these lists are both less attractive and less readable than our own! The new site will carry all the rules and other information, which will thus shortly be discontinued from the ECGCF site, where a convenient link to the new site will shortly be provided.

Cheshire withdraw from Petit Coup

Sadly the Cheshire team have had to withdraw from the ECGCF Minor Counties Final due to be played this Saturday, 30 June at Abingdon. This is a pity, because at full strength, the Cheshire team would have included Suzie Blackburn, Elizabeth Roberts, Victoria Crompton and Sarah Robinson, and thus would have posed a serious challenge for the Petit Coup. Thus only three teams are left to contest this trophy - Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Sussex. This is in addition to the six counties contesting the Grand Final.

Sussex v Surrey, U11 Girls Match, 16 June 2001

Robert Dale writes:At the suggestion of David Fryer, the new Sussex Girls' Chess Organiser, Surrey and Sussex Under 11 Girls played a friendly 2 round 10 board match at East Grinstead, as part of the Sussex Junior Chess Summer Fun Day (there was also training, simultaneous displays by Susan Lalic and Graeme Buckley, the Sussex Under 7 Championships and a party tea - Sussex like to do things in style!) Surrey had several top players missing, thus giving some of the younger players a chance to shine - which they duly did. Sussex took maximum points from the top two boards, but Surrey proved that they had "strength in depth" by winning overall 13.5 - 6.5. A small trophy was presented, which will be circulated among the Surrey team members, and then contested again next year. Full results can be seen Here.

Battle of Blenheim, 10 June 2001

A large number of girls competed in this popular event. The results can be seen Here. Results courtesy Pat Armstrong.

Coulsdon Open Rapidplay, 9 June 2001

No less than 6 Surrey girls played in this Open event. Their results can be seen Here. Results courtesy Emma Freeman.

British Land UK Chess Challenge 2001

All Megafinals have now been completed, and a complete list of players who have qualified for the Gigafinals is listed HERE.
If anyone finds their name is incorrect or mis-spelled in these lists, please contact UKChessChallenge@aol.com as a matter of urgency.

All-Surrey Faber Cup team selected

For those who don't know, the Faber Cup is an international team tournament for teams of three girls, held each summer in a different country. For the 2001 event, to be held in France from 7 to 11 July, the England team will consist of Alex Kelly, Anna Partington and Teresa Khoo - all of whom are Surrey girls!

England International selections

For the important individual tournaments which will take place between now and the end of 2001, the following girls have been selected, and have accepted, places to represent England:

Frodsham Rapidplay, 3 June 2001

In the Minor section, Robyn Smith [Lancashire] won the Grading Prize with 4½/6, while in the Junior section, Victoria Crompton [Cheshire] won an age-group prize.

Central London Rapidplay, 2 June 2001

Another brilliant result for Sarah Hegarty [Surrey], who won the U120 Section with 5½/6. Also doing very well in the same Section was W-year (U10) Hannah Dale [Surrey] - she scored 3/6 which included wins over three adults graded 102, 110 and 110!

GMCCA Spring and Busy Persons Congress, Manchester 26-28 May 2001

In the Major section, Katie A Martin [Lancashire] shared the U125 Grading Prize. In the 61-85 Grade Section. Robyn Smith [Lancashire] scored 4½/8, while in the Below 61 Section, Victoria Crompton [Cheshire] had 4/8.

ECGCF County Qualification

To play for a particular County in an ECGCF competition, you must either live or have been born in that County. Attendance at school does not count. Thus, to play for Surrey you must either live, or have been born, south of the river. If you have a TW postcode (except for TW9, TW10 or TW20) you will thus be qualified for Middlesex and not for Surrey, unless it is the case that you were born in Surrey. If you were born in one County but live in another, you can choose which of the two you represent, (not both) and any ECGCF members who wish to play for the County they were born in, rather than the one they live in, should email sgcl@clara.net without delay.

Four Nations Chess League, 2000-2001

The 4NCL finished with Rounds 9-11 over the long 5-7 May weekend, and the final records of all girls playing this season are now available Here..
No less than three Surrey girls played through all eleven rounds, in the case of Alex Kelly for the second successive season, while three other Surrey girls played in most or some of the rounds. Teresa Khoo and Jessie Gilbert had exceedingly fine records of 8/11 and 7/11 repectively.

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