No. Name Location Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tot G. Perf 1 Matthew Bertuzzo Chingford 61 b11+ w5+ w2+ b3- w6+ b4+ b8+ w10+ 7 105 2 Andrew Lillie Waltham Abbey 92 b16+ w9+ b1- w7+ b8+ w14+ b5+ w4= 6.5 95 3 Kimberley Hirst-Jones Leigh 71 b20+ w15+ b12+ w1+ b4= w5- b6= w11+ 6 82 4 Richard Maynes Chingford 69 b23+ w22+ b10+ b6+ w3= w1- b9+ b2= 6 81 5 William Cheung Maldon 78 w17+ b1- w23+ b9+ w12+ b3+ w2- w6= 5.5 78 6 Hamish Hore Totham 73 b21+ w10+ b7+ w4- b1- w13+ w3= b5= 5 72 7 Angus Roberts Upshire 52 b24+ w8+ w6- b2- w19+ b9- w12+ b13+ 5 69 8 Liam Raybould Southend 69 w26+ b7- w20+ b15+ w2- b12+ w1- b16+ 5 61 9 Marcus Bertuzzo Chingford 54 w27+ b2- b22+ w5- b23+ w7+ w4- b15+ 5 60 10 Liam Hough Leigh 39 w28+ b6- w4- b11= w26+ b19+ w18+ b1- 4.5 52 11 Sam Lloyd Southend e50 w1- b17+ b13- w10= b24+ w23+ b16+ b3- 4.5 50 12 Lee Primett Southend 43 b25+ w13+ w3- b14+ b5- w8- b7- w21+ 4 58 13 Peter Maynes Chingford 71 w19+ b12- w11+ b18+ w15- b6- b14+ w7- 4 50 14 Jack Sirkett Southend 73 w15- b26+ w16+ w12- b20+ b2- w13- b19+ 4 49 15 Christopher Neill Loughton 17 b14+ b3- w26+ w8- b13+ w16- b20+ w9- 4 48 16 Sebastian Hore Totham 26 w2- b24+ b14- w27+ w18+ b15+ w11- w8- 4 44 17 Glenn Lillie Waltham Abbey 28 b5- w11- b27- w24- b22+ w29+ b23+ w20+ 4 35 18 Melissa Hirst-Jones Leigh 45 w22- b27+ w25+ w13- b16- w21+ b10- b24+ 4 32 19 Jack Shurben-May Westcliff e25 b13- w20- b28+ w22+ b7- w10- b27+ w14- 3 30 20 Ronan Murphy Leigh e50 w3- b19+ b8- w21+ w14- b25+ w15- b17- 3 29 21 Ashley Gray Leigh 23 w6- b25- w24+ b20- w27+ b18- w22+ b12- 3 25 22 Nikhil Pillai Ilford e25 b18+ b4- w9- b19- w17- w28+ b21- b29+ 3 23 23 George Day Leigh 25 w4- b28+ b5- w25+ w9- b11- w17- fpb 3 22 24 Laura Hough Leigh e25 w7- w16- b21- b17+ w11- b26+ w25+ w18- 3 22 25 Charlie Shurben-Hayes Westcliff e25 w12- w21+ b18- b23- w29+ w20- b24- b28+ 3 19 26 Mason Lang Ramsden Heath e25 b8- w14- b15- w28+ b10- w24- fpb w27+ 3 14 27 Oscar North-Concar Loughton e20 b9- w18- w17+ b16- b21- fpb w19- b26- 2 -3 28 Charlotte Neill Loughton e20 b10- w23- w19- b26- fpb b22- b29+ w25- 2 -9 29 Grace Lynch Shoebury e20 hpb hpb b25- b17- w28- w22- 1 -26
The 2004 Southend Junior Championships was less well attended than in previous years and the absence of our "ageing stars" allowed a younger generation of players to flex their muscles. It also allowed for the entire tournament to be played as a rapidplay, at 40 minutes for all moves, and no-one lost on time or even approached serious time trouble so the decision to make everyone play 8 rounds appeared to be justified.
The oldest player, Andrew Lillie, was also the top seed. However, there were several games in which he looked distinctly uncomfortable: Sebastian Hore gave him a fright in round 1, Jack Sirkett kept the position level for a long period, and William Cheung definitely had the upper hand at one time, embedding a knight in on d6 but failing to prepare properly for what might have been a winning attack. This reached a R & P ending in which William de-activated his rook and then swapped into a K & P ending which was always a loss.
It was Matthew Bertuzzo who beat Andrew, and he kept a clean sheet other than in his game against Kimberley Hirst-Jones. She and Richard Maynes finished the first day on 100% but but both lost ground on the second, drawing with one another and then each losing, Kimberley to William and Richard to Matthew.
Amongst the younger players, Hamish Hore seemed to lose confidence whenever he played anyone older than himself, and had the better position against Kimberley but made no attempt to take advantage, instead indulging in a series of meaningless queen moves and eventually agreeing a draw. William thoroughly deserved his under 11 title, appearing to give more thought to his games than any other in his age group or below, and although he had several ways of finishing Kimberley off more effectively than the one he chose, he stuck at his task.
The first real upset was in round 1 when Nikhil Pillai, a year 3, defeated Melissa Hirst-Jones, a year 6. Melissa had been winning here, but both sides moved too quickly and although Nikhil had a central passed pawn, Melissa did not pay sufficient attention to stopping it and it queened with mate. Liam Hough and Sam Lloyd (great name for a chess player) drew their last game of the first day when Liam, getting a bit agitated as his clock showed he had about 7 minutes left, allowed a stalemate when he had 3 extra pawns in a K & P ending. However, the next day both these two highly promising players won three on the trot and only came unstuck in the last round. Liam played Matthew and paid the penalty for leaving his king uncastled after the central pawns had been exchanged, and Sam played Kimberley, who simply overwhelmed him. Richard and Andrew agreed a quick draw: Andrew knew that the sum-of-progressives tie break favoured Matthew (whom he clearly expected to beat Liam) and Richard knew that it favoured him above Kimberley.
The under 9 Championship was so close that it came down to a second tie break. Mason Lang reached 3 points with the help of the bye, but Charlie Shurben-Hayes, Laura Hough and Nikhil Pillai each played all 8 rounds. Eventually it was Nikhil who took the title, the decisive game being his excellent first round result against Melissa.
Under 18 Champion: Matthew Bertuzzo
Under 16 Champion: Andrew Lillie
Under 14 Champion: Richard Maynes
Under 11 Champion: William Cheung
Under 9 Champion: Nikhil Pillai
