NYCA Under 14 Championships, Stoke-on-Trent, 11/11/2000

1	Sussex	9	9½	9	27½
2	Lancashire	8	8	8½	24½
3	Richmond	9½	7	7½	24
4	Manchester	7½	7	6½	21
5	Wiltshire	6½	6	6½	19
6	Essex	5½	8½	4½	18½
=7	Staffs	5	6	6½	17½
=7	Cheshire & North Wales	4	5½	8	17½
9	Glamorgan	4½	5	5	14½
10	Barnet	4½	5	4	13½
11	Somerset	4	3½	3	10½
12	Warwickshire	4	1	3	8

A disappointing day for the Essex team, participating in the National Youth Chess Association under 14 Championships, began with mechanical breakdown as Herbie Alley's car behaved in Cavalier fashion and prevented four members of the team playing in Round 1. Even so, Essex managed 5½ points from the 8 games that were played and that did not do them justice: Heather Walker had several ways to finish her opponent off, but chose the one move which allowed a swindle and lost a rook.

Round 2 was a much more impressive result, but once again it could have been better. Nicholas Jellett had an extra piece going into the ending but miscalculated and only managed to draw as both sides queened, and Heather, this time fighting a rearguard action after losing a pawn, may have missed a win against her Sussex opponent in an ending in which she had R & B v R & N. Bobby Payne could make no headway against Maor Shine and agreed a draw.

If round 1 was beset with the bad luck of mechanical failure, then in round 3 the wheels came off all together. Had the team capitalised on the good recovery from round 2, then second place was still possible. Instead, some very poor chess left Essex as a middle-order side. Some players performed well: Matthew Jellett completed a clean sweep, and Edward Morris would certainly have done likewise had he not missed the first round. Bobby Payne outclassed the Staffordshire board 1, and David Smith also completed a good day's work with a quick win against Glamorgan. Antony O'Toole looked to be losing from the middle game, but as his opponent ran short of time Antony won the pawn back and actually missed a win at the end when he had N & 2 v B & 2.