News Archive

Published 8 September 2015

Junior news in the 2014-5 season

Most recent news at top

Worcester Junior winners

20 Aug. Joe Rastall (Nunnery Wood HS, Worcester) won a small tournament with a perfect score of 5 points from his five games. Best girl on tie-break was Tamara Marsden (King's Hawford Sch, Worcester) and best under-11 was Monty Woodhouse (West House Sch, Birmingham).

Midlands Terafinal winners

18 Aug, David Levens reports. Samuel Herring (Northants) shared second place with Joseph McPhilips (Greater Manchester) in the final of 4 stages of this annual extraveganza to each scoop £750 in prizes. Read full results of the Delancey UK Schools 2015 competion.

Bolton junior first in under-13 British Championship

3 Aug, Mick Norris reports. Sharon Daniel (Bolton School, Worsley, G Man) was joint first in the girls under 13.

Bloxwich juniors nab Staffs club of the year award

22 Jul. Bloxwich junior club collected Staffordshire Chess Association's premier accolade at the county annual meeting. Eunice and Ray Dolan who founded the club said: "Congratulations to all children for listening and learning."

Midlands Juniors at Konya, Turkey

3 Jul, ECF website reports. Two players from West Nottingham and one from Cheddleton & Leek represented England in the European Schools Tournament at Konya. Jonah Willow scored 6 points from 9 games, Aditya Munshi 5½/9 - both players from West Nottingham. Thivyaa Rahulan (Cheddleton & Leek) scored 4/9.

English Primary Schools

1 Jul, David Levens and ESPCA report. The under-11 and under-9 tournament was held in Birmingham. Missing players away in Turkey representing England, Nottingham High managed sixth with 12 points and Bolton Junior Boys were eighth on 7½ points in the under-11 competiytion won by Westminster. In the under-9s, Bramcote Hills (Notts) was 2nd on 12 points behind winners Haberdashers' Aske's School.

Leics under-13 team wins county first ever national title!

21 Jun, Paul Colburn reports. Lincolnshire won the ECF U18 Minor Championship with Leicestershire in second place. The Leicestershire U13 Team were ECF U13 Minor Champions. Leics finished in first place in the under-13s with 17½ points just ahead of Sussex who got 17 points. Both the U13 Open & U18 Open were won by Middlesex defeating previous champions Sussex.

Official opening for the Chess Square at The King's School Worcester

20 Jun. At an official opening ceremony, the Keyes Building for sports and performing arts centre was opened at The King's School Worcester. This building has a dedicated room for chess: room K6, "The Chess Square". Members of Worcestershire Junior Chess Academy and the school's own players chatted to school governors, and local dignatories interested in the game.

Dominic Holmes selected to play against Wales

30 Apr, Ray Dolan reports. Dominic was one of the Bloxwich junior club's first members when he joined aged 5. Now, aged 10 and playing for Newport (Shrops) club as well as his junior club, has been selected to represent England in the inter-nation junior event at the end of May.

Midlands juniors in England trials

17 Apr, David Levens reports. The English Primary School Chess Association Under 11 England Trial takes place next weekend 24-25 April at Liverpool. Juniors from the MCCU taking part include ten Midlands players: from Notts Adam Bennett, Armaan Gogia, Abhishek Thakar, Susie Wang; from Staffs Dominic Holmes, Thivyan Rahulan; from Manchester Rachel Horton and Kevin Ye; from Leicester Kishan Modi; and from Northants Max Miller.

Junior county zonals

17 Apr, David Levens reports. In the recent EPSCA County Zonals for under 11s several of Midlands counties took part. In the East Zone - won by Barnet and Kent on 49 points - Northants were 5th on 31½ and Leics last on 8½. Leics did incredibly well with Paul Colmore of Braunston Chess Club who stepped in and raised a team of 18 almost at the last minute! Norhants put up a good showing to finish 5th on 31½ points. In the North Zone Nottingham once again finished 1st scoring 51 points out of a possible 60 but without three of their regular team members, including their usual boards 1 and 3. In this zone Manchester finished 6th on 30 points and Staffs 7th on 24.

Bloxwich members meet Mayor of Walsall

9 Apr, Ray Dolan reports. All members of this fast growing junior club were invited to the Mayor's Parlour and praised for their achievements over-the-board.

Warwickshire Junior results

1 Mar, Warwickshire website reports. Warwickshire held its annual junior championship tournaments at the Trident Centre, Warwick. In the under-14s Chinmay Monga (Hallfield Sch, Birmingham) won with six straight wins from his six games and Alastair Mottram-Epsom was second on 5 points. Also with six straight wins was William Kendall (Warwickshire Juniors) first in the under-12s followed by Anish Kalyana (Birmingham Checkmates and Hallfield Sch, Birmingham) on 4½ points. Prasanna Sivakumar and Karamweer Kulair shared first prize in the Under-10s and Antoine Mathurin won the under-8 tournament with 6 points.

Dominic Holmes selected to play against Wales

30 Apr, Ray Dolan reports. Dominic was one of the Bloxwich junior club's first members when he joined aged 5. Now, aged 10 and playing for Newport (Shrops) club as well as his junior club, has been selected to represent England in the inter-nation junior event at the end of May.

Midlands juniors in England trials

17 Apr, David Levens reports. The English Primary School Chess Association Under 11 England Trial takes place next weekend 24-25 April at Liverpool. Juniors from the MCCU taking part include ten Midlands players: from Notts Adam Bennett, Armaan Gogia, Abhishek Thakar, Susie Wang; from Staffs Dominic Holmes, Thivyan Rahulan; from Manchester Rachel Horton and Kevin Ye; from Leicester Kishan Modi; and from Northants Max Miller.

Manchester and Leics at under-12 and under-16 finals at Telford

8 Nov, ECForum reports. Sussesx won both events with only Manchester and Leics representing Midlands interests. Manchester under-12s were fourth and both Midlands teams were at the bottom of the under-16 teams.

Urmston GS and King Edward IV Camp Hill School win regional finals

6 Nov. Urmston GS won the North West Regional tournament for the ECF Yeam Chess Challenge played at Bolton School.

5 Nov. King Edward IV Camp Hil Schooll, Birmingham won the West Midlands Regional Final of the ECF Team Chess Challenge. Their B team came second and King Edward School, Edgbaston, Birmingham picked up bronze. Fourteen teams competed and Alex Holowczak was arbiter.

Junior winners at Scarborough Congress

26 Oct, Neil Graham reports. Jonah Willow and Hambel Willow of West Nottingham won junior prizes.

Under-11 championships at Nottingham

12 Oct, David Levens reports. Aditya Munshi (Nottinghamm) won with a clean score of 5 points from 5 games and gets a place in this year's English Primary School Chess Association's Enland team trial. Placed third was George Harman (Manchester, 4 points). Adam Bennett (Nottingham), Matthew Lo (Leics), Kishan Modi (Leicester), Kishore Murugesh (Lincs.), Rohan Tandon (Nottingham), and Abhishek (Nottingham). These players all gained a half norm towards qualifying for the England team. The event was organised by the English Primary School Chess Association and held at Nottingham High School.

Vacancy for Midlands Director for Junior Chess

12 Oct. It is with regret we report the resignation of David Levens who has been the Midlands Director for Junior chess since 2010. Ray Dolan, MCCU CEO, writes: "He will be sadly missed, I would to like thank him for all his time working for the MCCU and for Chess as a whole."

Midland Junior Successes at UK Chess Challenge Terafinal

3 Sep. Jonah Willow (Notts) was the highest placed Midlander with 10 points at the culmination of this year-long junior competition at Loughborough. In the other Delancey tournaments Eva Ressell (Northants) was joint best girl in Challengers A and Amaan Gogia (Notts) was best placed under-9 boy in Challengers C.

For 2013-4 season junior news click here