Junior News Archive

Junior news in 2010-11 season

Craig Whitfield leads Midland juniors at the British

31 Jul: Craig Whitfield (Staffs) was first in the under-16 followed by Jamie Horton (Greater Manchester) 4/6 placed 6-10th. In the Under-9s Samir Samadov (Greater Manchester), and John Croasdale (Notts) were placed 4-9th with 5/7 in followed by Sam Smith-McGloin with 4½ placed 10-14th, Samuel Teanby (Notts) and Jonah Willow on 4 points placed 15-23rd. Three Midlanders were near the top in the under 13s: Andrew Horton (Greater Manchester) and Leo Tsoi (Warks) ended on 5/7 and placed 2-4th followed by Daniel Abbas (Greater Manchester) with 4/7 placed 7-10th. In the youngest section, the under 8s, Max Miller (Northants) finished on 4/6 and was placed 6-8th.

Midlands juniors win ultimi prizes at Derby's Northern Gigafinal

17,18 Jul 2011. Midlands winners were well-represented in the penultimate stage of UK Chess Challenge, the world's largest junior chess tournament at Derby University. Coming first in their age sections were: Adam Bennett (Boys' under-7, Bramcote Hills, Notts); Victoria Holland (Girls' Under-7, Cheddleton, Staffs); Jonah Willows (Boys' under-8, West Nottingham); Ibraheem Malik (Boys' Under-10, Blue Coat, Warks); Michael Fletcher (Boys' Under-11, Nottingham Jun HS, Notts); Joseph Friar (Boys' Under-12, Worcs Junior Chess Academy); Joseph McPhillips (Boys' Under-13, Turton, Greater Manchester); Brandon Clarke (Boys' Under-15, Wellington, Leics); Michael Weaving (Boys' Under-17, Warwick); and Stephen Jones (Boys' Under-18, Grappenhall, Greater Manchester). These winners and other Midlands qualifiers will be invited to play in the Terafinal later this summer for a first prize of £2000. MCCU Junior Director's juniors from Nottingham had additionally several 'near misses'. For these and other results, visit UK Chess Challenge.

Eva Ressel, Northamptonshire wins under-12 National Girls Championship

12 June: Midlander Eva stormed her way to the Midland Girls' title at Derby in this Chevannes Chess Academy event.

14-year-old Joseph qualifies for British Championship

25 Apr: Bolton Congress saw Joseph become one of the youngest players to qualify for the Aug 2011 British Championship.

Midland juniors shine in England Team under-11 trial

3 Apr. Aloysius Lip (Birmingham) led the field with 5 points. Other successful Midland juniors were David Abbas from Manchester and Ashwin Kalyana from Birmingham.

Midlands Junior League winners

21 Mar. Magdalen College School, Oxford won the Midlands Junior League team jamboree at Malvern College, Malvern.

Richard Weaving receives Tony Miles Award at Warks Junior Congress

27 Nov. Richard not only received the award for his contributions to junior chess in Warks, he also won the Warwickshire under-18 title. Other Warwickshire junior county champions were: Under-21, Faraz Malik (South Birmingham); Under-16, Henrik Stepanyan (Sutton Coldfield); Under-14 was shared by three players, Nathan Chung (King Edward Sch Edgbaston), Sam Beardmore (Clayton Hall Sch) and Wesley Blackhurst (King Edward Camp Hill Sch); Under-12 was shared by Ashwin Kalyana (Hallfield Sch) and James Keaney (Causton Hall Sch); Under-10, Ibraheem Malik (Blue Coat Sch, Harbourn); and Under-8 Arjan (Hallfield Sch). Over 140 junior players took part. Hallfield School coached by Malcolm Hunt scooped the school team prizes for all three age groups: U-12, U10 and U-8. For further details see Warks website.

Two Juniors top Midlands Under-150 Rapidplay Grand Prix Leaderboard

22 Nov. After three events, the leader to beat is junior player Leo Tsoi from Boldmere St Michael's, Warks. He is closely followed by Kim Gilbert of Shirley & Lucas, Warks and third placed is another junior, James Friar, from Hagley, Worcs.

National Youth Chess Association County Championships

13 Nov. In the Under-16 Championship, Yorkshire were first with 25. Best placed Midlands county was 4th placed Warks on 18½ followed by Greater Manchester on 12 and Staffs on 8½. Sussex won the Under-12 Championship with 34½ closeley pursued by Greater Manchester on 34 placed 3rd to 4th. Warks were 7th to 8th on 23½ and Staffs were placed 1oth on 16½. These championships were held at Abraham Darby Academy, Madeley, Telford, Shrops.

Manchester junior winners at Broad Oak Congress

14 October. Nathan Taylor was first in the Kings tournament. See other winners' names on the MCF website.

Chesspoint, Northants Jamboree Results

25 September. Greg Smith and Frank Kamau shared honours with 5 points each at the Chesspoint junior Jamboree on 25 September. For full results visit the Chesspoint webpage.

New MCCU Junior Director & support team announced

14 September. After a long search, MCCU has appointed David Levens (Notts) as new Junior Director. He will be supported by Alex Holowczak (Worcs & Warks) as Junior Events Secretary