Essex under 14 team – Match Captain Trevor Dickerson trevord@mypostoffice.co.uk

 

We enter a team in the annual Southern Counties Chess Union (SCCU) under 14 tournament.

 

Last year we were in a regional section with Sussex and Kent.  We won all our regional matches both home and away and only very narrowly lost the final v Surrey.

 

In 2011/12 more teams have entered and we are in the regional section with Kent, Sussex and Surrey.  We are due to play each of these counties once.

 

Our first under 14 match of the season was at home v Kent on Saturday, 26 November.  We had a very different team from last year with 5 players making their debut for the team.

 

It was a closely fought fixture between two evenly matched teams.  In the first round the players on the lower boards for Essex failed to make much impression, missing opportunities or letting promising positions slip away.  Going into the second round Essex had a full six point deficit to make up but there was an inspired effort and within the first hour of play we had won all the first six games to finish and the match was level at 9 points each !  This brought about quite a tense finish for the last six games but eventually Kent scored that extra half point.

 

Thanks to Kent for an enjoyable and competitive match and for everybody who helped with refreshments and organisation.  Not forgetting all players, including our two reserves.

 

Our next fixture against Surrey was played on Saturday, 7 January 2012 at Twickenham.  The opposition fielded a strong team but it was disappointing to go into the second round with a six point deficit once again.  Despite some of our players giving a good account of themselves and the team scoring better in the second round we lost the match 16-8.  As Match Captain, I appreciate the efforts of all players and parents for travelling to the fixture and hope we can do much better in our final match at home to Sussex on 3 March.

 

Detailed results from all matches appear on the SCCU website http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/jun.htm

 

All potential players are encouraged to enter the regular EJCA Grand Prix events.  Unless there are exceptional circumstances players selected for the team will be 11 years old or over.

 

Team selection and team order will take into account current form and performances as well as ECF grades.  The Match Captain is also interested to hear about any recent good performances by under 14 players at congresses, club level or at other events.

 

Team Performances (after two matches)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Name

W

D

L

Total

Naomi Wei

3

1

 

3.5

Rory Johnson

 

1

3

0.5

Angelo Cassar

2

 

 

2

Edward Quilty

1

1

2                                                                                                                                                                                               

1.5

Devdoot Barman

2

1

1

2.5

Daniel Gallagher

2

 

2

2

Alexander Thomas

 

1

3

0.5

Ethan Thrower

1

 

3

1

William Swain

2

1

1

2.5

Shiven Hirani

 

1

1

0.5

Darius Taylor

1

 

3

1

Shagilan Jeevaresan

1

 

3

1

Patrick Simpson

1

 

3

1

Keiran Marshall

 

1

3

0.5

Edward McCallum

1

 

3

1