Gibraltar Junior 2013

 

10.6.13 - This event will take place from August 15th-20th at the Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar.

Place are still available and the prize fund this year stands at £10,000.
 

Hotel packages are available and the event follows the successful pattern of the Tradewise Gibraltar Festival, offering very competitive chess-playing opportunities with an equally strong social, fun and educational programme.

More information | Brochure | Enter the Tournament online |

Dates 2013/14

The Junior 4NCL will be running alongside Division 3 South on weekends 2 & 3.

Weekend 1: 5th-6th October 2013

Weekend 2: 16th-17th November 2013

Weekend 3: 11th-12th January 2014

Venue: Daventry Court Hotel for all weekends.

Final Weekend - 6th & 7th Apr 2013

All of the players in Beethoven’s Fifth made crucial contributions to the team’s results for the weekend.

On paper, the Midland Monarchs were the second strongest team, and it was a great start when we beat them in the first round. In the second round we faced Witney, a team stronger in reality than their grades would suggest. Fortunately for us, they had 6 team members that they were cycling and one of their stronger players was not playing in that round; even so, we did not quite manage to beat them, Alyssa outplaying her opponent throughout the game but then missing some tactics which gave a clear win, so having to settle for a draw.

The third round opponents were Yateley Manor, a team that we outgraded significantly on every board except board 4. It all looked as if it was well in the bag on the other boards, but unfortunately Vickie was having a bad day (it happens to all of us) and blundered to lose her game. So the team was especially grateful for Aishwarya’s win on board 4, which meant the match was another win for the team. End of Saturday, 5/6 match points, 2nd place behind Gloucester Giants on 6/6 and everything to play for on the Sunday.

On previous weekends, the Beethoven’s Fifth team have done far better on the Saturday than the Sunday. This has been in a large part due to the “pool” system where with 8 teams, the top 2 from each pool play the other top 2 on the second day.

For this last weekend of the season, there were only 6 teams entered, so the format was all-play-all. But as round 4 progressed, it started to look like the Sunday jinx was continuing. While the players in the Welsh Dragons team had quite low published ECF grades (and/or WCU ratings), as is often the case with stronger juniors, this clearly did not give a fair representation of their current playing ability.

Aishwarya was playing her best friend Emily, and was winning comfortably, until suddenly she lost. Alyssa was outplayed by her fellow countryman on board 1 in the end game after an equal opening and middle game. It was not a complete rout, since Zoe played very strong chess to win on board 3 and Vickie held the draw on board 2 despite being two pawns down.

Still, that left everything hanging on the final game against the toughest team in the competition, the overall winners, the Gloucester Giants (“McLarens +1”). Only a win would guarantee a trophy to add to the prize money for the season. That would be second place. A draw would give third or fourth place depending on the exact results from the other teams. A loss was almost certain to mean fourth place on game points. Aishwarya hung on heroically for a long time, but finally succumbed to an on-form opponent 40 grading points ahead of her and playing well above his grade. Alyssa played a solid game to score a draw against Charlie. Zoe managed to make it a fantastic tournament performance of 5/5 with a win against Harry. It was all down to Vickie.

The last game, still playing. Dangers of being distracted by people crowding round. She was a piece for a pawn up but much lower on time. Well, she pulled the rabbit out of the hat just when it was needed! Turning down a draw, she managed to swap off queens and rooks to get a winning end game while thinking in her opponent’s time. At one point Tom had 20 minutes to Vickie’s 6 minutes, but by the end when Tom, in Zugzwang, resigned, both clocks showed about 2 to 3 minutes left (Fischer timings helped!)

- Andrew Varney

4NCL Final Weekend

The final weekend of the junior league took place on 6th and 7th April at the Puma Daventry Court Hotel. It ran alongside the National Junior Squad event.

Final Standings

Saturday & Sunday draw & results

Table after Saturday & Sunday's games

Weekend 2 - 23rd-24th Feb 2013

The junior 4NCL weekend that had been postponed because of the weather in January took place alongside Division Three South. Whilst the event had a relatively modest entry of eight teams it was a well-organised event played in a good spirit with top seeds Gloucester Giants winning all five matches to take first place. The format was two groups of four playing each other on Saturday with the top two in each then forming a group of four with the result between the two qualifying teams being carried forward.

Congratulations to the winning team of Charlie, Thomas and Harry McLaren and Daniel Varney who had a surprisingly comfortable victory against Midland Monarchs in round five when both teams had maximum points but Midland Monarchs were leading on game points and so only needed a 2-2 draw to take first place. As the manager of Midland Monarchs I would like to congratulate Gloucester Giants who, by virtue of having played in the first weekend, appear to have an almost decisive lead in the overall standings. I would also like to thank Angelica Dean, Rajen Parekh, Jennifer Neil and Asha Jina who all performed well for my team and ensured that first place remained wide open going into the last round.

The final weekend of the junior league takes place on 6th and 7th April, again at the Puma Daventry Court Hotel and I hope that more teams will enter, although the fact that it is running alongside Peter Purland’s National Junior Squad event (a regrettable necessity given the need to ensure an adequate number of booked bedrooms to make it worth the venue’s while to provide a free playing venue) may deny some of the stronger teams of their top boards - Lawrence Cooper.

Saturday draw

Saturday table

Sunday draw

Sunday table

Table after weekend 2

See photos from Weekend 2 taken by Sean Terry.

Junior teams competing in the 2012/13 season are listed here.

Junior Four Nations League (J4NCL) - End of Term Report 2011/12 by Mike Truran

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!

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.”

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!

FINAL STANDINGS

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 (9½)
4th Manchester 5/10 (9)
5th Yateley Manor B 3 (7½)

Top Scorers
Harry Grieve 5/5
Daniel Varney & Joost Hoppe 4/5

Division 3
1st Great Houghton & ChessPoint 12/14 (37½ Game Points)
2nd Yateley Manor Tigers 11/14 (37½)
3rd Yateley Manor Lions 10/14 (36)
4th Northampton Junior B 10/14 (33½)
5th Dulwich Prep London 7/14 (28½)
6th Northampton Junior Girls 6/14 (26½)
7th Northampton Junior C 6/14 (24½)
8th Yateley Manor Cheetahs 4/14 (22)
9th Yateley Manor Pumas 4/14 (20)
10th Yateley Manor Jaguars 2/14 (21½)
11th Yateley Manor Leopards 0/14 (16)

Top Scorers
1st Samantha Perryman 12/14
2nd David Collyer 11½/14
3rd= Daniel Warsop, Nehan Radia, Thomas Dexter, Max Miller 10/14

 

JNCL Weekend 1, 2011/12 Results.

Division 2

Top scorers
Matthew McLachlin, James Li and Marianne Hauer 4½/5

Division 3

Top scorers

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