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3 cheers for the Junior 4NCL weekend,
enjoyed by all |
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This season’s competition was
bigger and better than ever, with teams of all
ages competing over three weekends in two
separate divisions. Like its senior equivalent,
the Junior Four Nations Chess League (J4NCL) has
the advantage of taking place in excellent
quality playing conditions in premier hotels
across the UK.
This season’s competition took
place at Puma Hotels UK’s flagship
Hinckley Island Hotel, so parents could also
have a relaxing weekend away at a top four-star
hotel while their children locked horns over the
chess board. And with bedrooms and meals at the
usual discounted 4NCL rates it meant that a
family weekend away wasn’t going to break the
bank either.
As well as the high quality
playing conditions, the J4NCL differentiates
itself from most other junior events in offering
free structured coaching between rounds for all
the children, and the coaches also go through
games on a one-to-one basis with any juniors who
finish their games early. This season’s coaches
(GM Nick Pert, IM Andrew Martin and WFM Sabrina
Chevannes) did a fine job; on occasion the job
seemed (to this observer at least) to be as much
an exercise in riot control as anything else,
but the coaches all came through in grand style
and we had lots of compliments from parents
about the quality of the coaching. Another
difference from many other junior (and senior)
events is that teams can enter either for the
whole season or for individual weekends.
Moreover, we have no rules as to who can or
can’t be in a team (they can be school-based,
club-based, family-based, or just a collection
of friends who like playing together); even
individual children without a team will be found
a home somewhere. Nor do we have any
age-restricted sections or age handicap rules,
on the basis that (as they say in football) ‘If
you’re good enough you’re old enough’. So long
as they’re juniors, the more the merrier!
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Winning Team: Cumnor
and Witney at the prizegiving ceremony |
When the dust settled at the end
of the final weekend Cumnor and Witney finished
just ahead of Yateley Manor by a single match
point in Division 1. One match point behind them
at the start of the penultimate round, they
edged a 2½:1½ win, with your correspondent’s son
‘taking one for the team’ in the last game to
finish, agreeing a draw to secure the match in a
winning position but where he was short of time.
Andrew Martin said after the game “You both
played like old men”, which I take to be a
compliment about the maturity of their playing
styles rather than a comment on the geriatric
nature of their play!
Division 2 was just as exciting,
with Northampton Juniors just edging out another
of Yateley Manor’s teams, again by a single
match point. Yateley Manor and Northampton
Juniors deserve a particular mention for their
fantastic support for the J4NCL, fielding no
fewer than six and four teams respectively at
the final weekend. In addition to the cash
prizes on offer, the prize-giving ceremony on
Sunday afternoon saw all players receive a
certificate and a badge, with the top individual
scorers receiving medals and winning team
members being presented with medals and a
trophy. So everyone got something to take home
as a memento.
The standard of the chess was
generally excellent, and various parents
commented on how much better many of the juniors
were playing by the third weekend compared with
the first. Children do of course improve fast at
this age, but we like to think that the J4NCL
coaching had something to do with it as well!
Nonetheless, in any event with a range of chess
playing ability some memorable moments are bound
to occur:
Children to arbiter: “Is this
position stalemate?”
Arbiter to children: “Well,
let me see. Whose move is it?”
Children to arbiter: “We
don’t know!”
Arthur’s opponent to arbiter:
“Arthur has just put his king on that square
(pointing to b7) after moving it to that square
(pointing to b5)”.
Arthur (getting tearful): “No
I didn’t!”
Arthur’s opponent: “I hate
you!”
Arthur dissolves in tears.
Arbiter (tactfully) to two
juniors who have played out well over a hundred
moves at lightning speed since the start of a Q
and K vs K ending (the player with the Q having
forgotten about his own K, making things a touch
tricky): “I think it’s time for lunch now.”
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Cumnor and Witney vs Yateley Manor match
in progress |
All part of the thrills and
spills in the lower reaches of the J4NCL, and a
salutary lesson for any arbiters who think they
have seen it all!
It only remains for me to thank
the parents and children for supporting the
J4NCL, the organisers, arbiters and coaches for
ensuring an enjoyable and stress-free experience
for the players (although their own stress
levels were on occasion sorely tested!), the
John Robinson Trust for their generous
sponsorship of the J4NCL, and Puma Hotels for
their continuing support of both the 4NCL and
the J4NCL. And now it’s on to planning for the
2012/13 season!
Division 1: |
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Match Pts |
Game Pts |
1st |
Cumnor
and Witney |
23 |
36½ |
2nd |
Yateley
Manor A |
22 |
41 |
3rd |
Yateley
Manor B |
10 |
23½ |
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Division 2: |
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Match Pts |
Game Pts |
1st |
Northampton Junior B |
29 |
104½ |
2nd |
Yateley
Manor A |
28 |
104 |
3rd |
Northampton Junior Girls |
19 |
80½ |
Many more photos from this event are available
on Ray Morris-Hill galleries.
Mike Truran
March 2012
Results: 2nd weekend,
2011/12 season.
Division 2
1st Yateley Manor A 7/10 (13 game points)
2nd Cumnor & Witney 6/10 (11)
3rd Northampton 5/10 (9.5)
4th Manchester 5/10 (9)
5th Yateley Manor B 3 (7.5)
Top Scorers
Harry Grieve 5/5
Daniel Varney & Joost Hoppe 4/5
Division 3
1st Great Houghton & ChessPoint 12/14 (37.5 Game
Points)
2nd Yateley Manor Tigers 11/14 (37.5)
3rd Yateley Manor Lions 10/14 (36)
4th Northampton Junior B 10/14 (33.5)
5th Dulwich Prep London 7/14 (28.5)
6th Northampton Junior Girls 6/14 (26.5)
7th Northampton Junior C 6/14 (24.5)
8th Yateley Manor Cheetahs 4/14 (22)
9th Yateley Manor Pumas 4/14 (20)
10th Yateley Manor Jaguars 2/14 (21.5)
11th Yateley Manor Leopards 0/14 (16)
Top Scorers
1st Samantha Perryman 12/14
2nd David Collyer 11.5/14
3rd= Daniel Warsop, Nehan Radia, Thomas Dexter,
Max Miller 10/14
JNCL Weekend
1, 2011/12 Results.
Division 2
1st Cumnor & Witney |
9/10 (13½ game points) |
2nd Yateley Manor A |
8/10 (17) |
3rd Yateley Manor B |
4/10 (9) |
4th Manchester B |
2/4 (3) |
5th Northampton A |
1/10 (4½) |
6th Manchester A |
0/4 (1) |
Top scorers
Matthew McLachlin, James Li and Marianne Hauer
4½/5
Division 3
1st Yateley Manor A |
12/14 (42 game points) |
2nd Northampton Girls |
8/14 (25½) |
3rd Yateley Manor C |
7/14 (31½) |
4th Northampton Jnr |
C 7/14 (28½) |
5th Northampton Jnr |
B 6/14 (31) |
6th Yateley Manor E |
5/14 (27) |
7th Yateley Manor B |
3/14 (22½) |
8th Yateley Manor D |
2/14 (21) |
9th Chess for Tigers |
0/14 (13½) |
Top scorers
Samantha Perryman |
11½/14 |
Stephen Moss |
11/14 |
Benjamin Perryman |
11/14 |
Liam Briscoe |
11/14 |
Full details of individual results will be
provided in due course - Neville Belinfante.
The first weekend of the new season took
place 26th-27th November at
Hinckley Island Hotel with 14 teams
competing for prizes.
Reports from 2010/11
Weekend 1
| Weekend 2
| Weekend 3 |