EPSCA U9 SE ZONAL

Hosted by Notts, Venue Dovecote Primary School 08/3/2008

The Essex under 9 team has qualified for the final Stages of the English Primary Schools Chess Association (EPSCA) Finals.

A largely untried Essex Under-9 team came up trumps in Nottingham on Saturday in the East of England zone of this year's EPSCA U9 event.
With half our team making the leap from school to county chess for the first time, we were not sure what to expect. Happily they rose to
the occasion from the off, scoring an impressive 8 points in the first round. This placed them neck and neck with Staffordshire in third place.
They continued in similar vein in Round 2 with 7 points gained, but unfortunately quick, cheap losses in the 2 games against Staffs left them
lying in 4th place at the end of the round. However determined performances from Rory Johnson and Ryan Timpson in an almost empty hall in the
final round saw them rightly overtake Staffordshire to take bronze position only 2½ points adrift of Hertfordshire.

Worthy of particular mention was the exceptionally mature performance of our 2 under 8s on boards 1 and 2, Rebecca Swestun and Rory Johnson.
Rebecca had the upper hand against her Nottinghamshire opponent in the final round, but as tiredness set in missed a king and rook fork which
turned the game and denied her a clean sweep. Both she and Rory showed commendable focus throughout a long day.

This was the first Essex team at U9 or U11 since 2005 not to include players from that seemingly endless source of talent, Chingford C of E Junior School.
However, this proved no bad thing, as players from other areas of the county stepped into the breach with confidence. Jake Medhurst from Harold Hill
Graham Schock from Brentwood, and Tom Chanarin from Colchester all weighed in with 3/3. Also pleasing was the performance of the Chelmsford trio of
Emmet Stegall, Patrick Simpson and Ollie Barnard - all first-timers - scoring 6½/9 between them.

The team now heads for a sterner test at the Finals in Eltham on 26th April, whilst celebrating another successful day for Essex Juniors

So all in all another successful day for Essex Juniors

Board	Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot
1	Rebecca Swestun	1 (Northants)	1 (Lincs)	0 (Notts)	2
2	Rory Johnson	1 (Staffs)	0 (Herts)	1 (Leics)	2
3	Ryan Timpson	½ (Cambs)	0 (Northants)	1 (Lincs)	1½
4	Darius Taylor	0 (Notts)	0 (Staffs)	0 (Herts)	0
5	Jake Medhurst	1 (Leics)	1 (Cambs)	1 (Northants)	3
6	Emmet Stegall	½ (Lincs)	1 (Notts)	1 (Staffs)	2½
7	Devang Thaker	0 (Herts)	1 (Leics)	0 (Cambs)	1
8	Patrick Simpson	1 (Northants)	1 (Lincs)	0 (Notts)	2
9	Graham Schock	1 (Staffs)	1 (Herts)	1 (Leics)	3
10	Ollie Barnard	1 (Cambs)	0 (Northants)	1 (Lincs)	2
11	Joesph Boone	0 (Notts)	0 (Staffs)	½ (Herts) (SJ)	½
12	Tom Chanarin	1 (Notts)	1 (Lincs)	1 (Staffs)	3
	Totals	8	7	7½	22½
R1	Shagilan Jeevaresan	1 (Leics)	1 (Cambs)	1 (Northants) (JB)	3
	Totals	1	1	1	1

Final Standings

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