Essex have many reasons to be cheerful about this result. It is a massive improvement on last year, when we failed to qualify for the Finals; and although there are a few Year 6 players who were "discovered" in the past year (and Richard Maynes, Ethan Finney and Matthew Bertuzzo represented a very reliable middle order, scoring 8½ / 9 amongst them in the Final) the fact that these players will be available for the under 14 team next year will be of great benefit to that team. No doubt there will be several fine replacements by the time the 2002 under 11 team is selected. For a team whose average age is almost a year less than most of the opposition third place was a tremendous result.
The first round began late, as a result of the unfortunate habit EPSCA officials have in making long rambling speeches to the assembled throng after the players have taken their places but before the clocks are started. 400 under 11s don't need this on a hot day at the beginning of a tense tournament and it meant that two Essex players, whose first rounds lasted almost all the available time, had almost no break at the end of the first round and the beginning of the second, which was started on time. When play did begin, Kimberley Hirst-Jones found herself sitting opposite an empty chair and since the team concerned was not going to fill Board 20, she notched up Essex's first point. Soon afterwards, Charles Phillips doubled our score, and a steady stream of favourable results punctuated with an occasional unfavourable one led to a first round total of 14 / 20, pleasing enough but three points behind Richmond. Sussex had 16½ and Wey Valley 14½. Fifth place was occupied by Hampshire, on 11.
One remarkable result was Subin Sen's draw against Wey Valley. This was Subin's 10th game for Essex in EPSCA competitions this year and it was the first time he had not won. This has been a wonderful season for a player only just past his 8th birthday.
The second round began just as the first had done, with Kimberley first back in the team room with a broad smile on her face. This time she had made some moves against a wide-eyed innocent who was unfamiliar with the Blackburn Shilling Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nd4? 4 Nxe5?? (4 Nxd4 is gives White a much better game, as does 4 c3) Qg5 5 Nxf7 Qxg2 6 Rf1 Qxe4+ 7 Be2 Nf3 mate), a hideous opening which hopefully she will grow out of soon! Nathanael Lutton also mated his opponent with black in 7 moves, but at least in this case both sides had played a Ruy Lopez before White left a mate on f2. Michel Baumgart also won quickly, but too many losses resulted in a round total of 12 / 20, Essex's total of 26 consolidating our position in 4th place, 5 points ahead of Oldham and 1 behind Wey Valley.
The final round promised great things as win after win was recorded: the first 12 results declared gave Essex 10½ more points. Sadly, we did not fare so well as the final hour of the event proceeded, and the round total of 13½ was not as many as had been hoped and, indeed, looked likely at one stage. However, our players had done enough to take 3rd place, 1 points ahead of Wey Valley and 6½ points behind Sussex.
Essex players to score 100% were Dana Hawrami (board 1), George O'Toole (4), Richard Maynes (9) and Ethan Finney (11). Adam Jellett also performed well, having been promoted to board 10 and scoring 2½, and Subin was back to his winning ways in the remainder of the contest, to give him 11½/12 throughout the season.
This season, Audio Chess have provided some sponsorship for a Grand Prix in which Essex took a prize of £25 for fourth place, behind Richmond, Wey Valley and Manchester. Our results were knocked because we were unable to provide a full Girls' team to their Championships on 31st March, when Essex organisers' attention was turned to the National under 18 Championships which we hosted in Brentwood.
1 Richmond 49½ / 60 2 Sussex 46 3 Essex 39½ 4 Wey Valley 38½ 5 Oldham 32 6 Hampshire 31½ 7 Somerset 30 Wiltshire 30 9 Kent 28½ 10 Manchester 28 11 Devon 27 12 Lincs 25½ 13 Northants 23 14 Yorkshire 21 15 Solihull 20½ 16 Beds 20 17 Chesh & NW 19½ Essex 1 Dana Hawrami 3 2 Alex O'Toole ½ 3 Joseph Bloomfield 2 4 George O'Toole 3 5 Simon Payne ½ 6 Subin Sen 2½ 7 Nathanael Lutton 2 8 Calvin Webber 1½ 9 Richard Maynes 3 10 Adam Jellett 2½ 11 Ethan Finney 3 12 Matthew Bertuzzo 2½ 13 Michael Hale 1½ 14 Katie Hale 2 15 Charles Phillips 1 16 Ranita Klimach 2 17 Jonathan Fallman 2 18 Michel Baumgart 2 19 James Neuhaus 0/2 Roly Ficher-Vousden 1/1 20 Kimberley Hirst-Jones 2Back to EJCA Home Page