45 children aged from 4 to 7 descended on Great Walstead School aiming for the title of Sussex U7 Champion; many competing for the first time. The event was hard fought and the tournament control team were very pleased with the effort and determination of the players, giving rise to many long and high standard games for this age group.
It was very encouraging to see no fewer than twenty different schools represented, with four having enough players to constitute a team, with the top 3 scores counting towards the school total.
Congratulations to Adam Faulkner who retained the trophy, having won it last year as an under 6. Just half a point behind, the runner up was Kaysan Salajee who is still under 5. 4 players scored 4 points, with Hugo Ullmann taking 3rd place on progressive score and Emily Stapleton winning the Top Girl trophy.
Many of the contestants were only playing in their first or second tournament, gaining valuable experience. At this age chess can be a cruel game with 15 minutes of careful play undone by one impulsive move – please don’t worry if you didn’t score many points this time, you will have gained by the experience. Some of today’s prize winners finished near the bottom in their first few tournaments. All players are to be congratulated as the behaviour and concentration was uniformly excellent throughout the day.
As a volunteer organisation we have many people to thank for giving their time freely:
- Tournament controller Gary McCulloch, assisted by Karen Meakings, Catherine Finn and Brian Stockham
- Entry manager Sandra Manchester, who is stepping down after 3 very successful years in the role
- Keith, Debbie and Caroline on catering
- Great Walstead for the spacious venue
We would be delighted to see all the players return to all the upcoming tournaments that will shortly be listed on the website calendar, particularly the U8 tournament in November and the Girls’ tournament at the start of December. These events are key tournaments for players aspiring for selection to the Sussex teams for the Under 9s, Under 11s and Under 11 girls at the start of 2017.
Running alongside the U7 Championship was the last training day of the season featuring a coaches vs. players simul, plus the presentation of the 2016 Bruce Dienes awards; results here.
| U7 Individual Championship | U7 School Team Championship | ||||||
| 1st | Adam Faulkner | 5 | 1st | Ardingly | 10 | ||
| 2nd | Kaysan Salajee | 4½ | 2nd | Blackboys Primary | 9½ | ||
| 3rd | Hugo Ullmann | 4 |
(on progressives) |
3rd | Copthorne Prep | 8 | |
| 4th | Broadwater CE Primary | 7½ | |||||
| Top Girl | Emily Stapleton | 4 | |||||
| Arbiter’s Prizes | |||||||
| Sam Godfrey | Hugo Pelkonan | ||||||
| Noah Hodges | Jason Wang | ||||||
| Vladimir Isaev | Matthew Wang | ||||||
| Rosie Kendall | Charlie Wannesin-Bell | ||||||
| Ruby Mitchell | |||||||
Crosstable:
ECF R O U N D S
Pos Player Grade 1 2 3 4 5 A B TB
1 Faulkner, Adam........... 77A b31+ w29+ b5+ w12+ b3+ 5 5 15
2 Salajee, Kaysan.......... 0d w11+ b21= w22+ b14+ b7+ 4½ 5 13
3 Ullman, Hugo............. 0d w15+ b10+ b9+ w4+ w1- 4 5 14
4 Stapleton, Emily......... 4F w42+ b41+ w14+ b3- w15+ 4 5 13
5 Pelkonen, Hugo........... 0d w27+ b17+ w1- b38+ b12+ 4 5 12
6 Wannesin-Bell, Charlie... 0d w36+ b14- w41+ b27+ b13+ 4 5 11
7 Rees, Amelie............. 0B w20+ b22= w38+ b21+ w2- 3½ 5 12
8 Wang, Matthew............ 0d b35+ w13+ b12- w25+ b10= 3½ 5 11½
9 Blin, Sophia............. 0F w18+ b30+ w3- b11= w22+ 3½ 5 11
10 Blades, Kit.............. 0d b32+ w3- b29+ b23+ w8= 3½ 5 10½
11 Godfrey, Sam............. 0d b2- w40+ b18+ w9= w21+ 3½ 5 9
12 Ralph, Toby.............. 0F w43+ b16+ w8+ b1- w5- 3 5 12
13 Farrell, Dan............. 0d w45+ b8- w19+ b16+ w6- 3 5 10
14 Gibbons, Arun............ 0d b34+ w6+ b4- w2- b31+ 3 5 10
15 Gray, Edward............. 0d b3- w34+ b32+ w26+ b4- 3 5 9
16 Orme, Harrison........... 0d b44+ w12- b35+ w13- b25+ 3 5 9
17 Forester, Emma........... 0E bye+ w5- b23- w32+ b29+ 3 4 8
18 Lai, Jack................ 0d b9- b20+ w11- w24+ b26+ 3 5 7
19 Rynish, Rex.............. 0d b25- w31+ b13- w42+ w27+ 3 5 7
20 Blockley, Rafferty....... 0d b7- w18- b40+ w37+ b34+ 3 5 6
21 Appleton, Toby........... 0d b37+ w2= b28+ w7- b11- 2½ 5 10
22 Lai, Lucy................ 0d w39+ w7= b2- w28+ b9- 2½ 5 9
23 Hodges, Noah............. 0d w24= b36= w17+ w10- b28= 2½ 5 8
24 Wallis, Benjamin......... 0d b23= w28- w45+ b18- w38+ 2½ 5 6½
25 Godfrey, Lowenna......... 0d w19+ b38- w30+ b8- w16- 2 5 8
26 Bennett, Toby............ 0d w30- b43+ w33+ b15- w18- 2 5 7
27 Curran, Jack............. 0d b5- w37+ b42+ w6- b19- 2 5 7
28 Graves, Alexander........ 0d w38= b24+ w21- b22- w23= 2 5 7
29 Inkster, Isabel.......... 0d w33+ b1- w10- b30+ w17- 2 5 7
30 Mitchell, Ruby........... 0d b26+ w9- b25- w29- w44+ 2 5 6
31 Isaev, Vladimir.......... 0d w1- b19- w36+ b33+ w14- 2 5 5
32 Metcalfe, Christopher.... 0d w10- b39+ w15- b17- w41+ 2 5 5
33 Oates, Jasmine........... 0d b29- w44+ b26- w31- b42+ 2 5 5
34 Redman, Miles............ 0d w14- b15- w39+ b41+ w20- 2 5 5
35 Grieveson, Felix......... 0d w8- b45= w16- b43+ w36= 2 5 4½
36 Hurst, Victoria.......... 0d b6- w23= b31- w45+ b35= 2 5 4½
37 Orde, Anya............... 0d w21- b27- bye+ b20- w43+ 2 4 4
38 Taylor-Holland, Bracken.. 0d b28= w25+ b7- w5- b24- 1½ 5 6½
39 Chapman, Sorcha.......... 0F b22- w32- b34- w40= b45+ 1½ 5 2
40 Wang, Jason.............. 0d w41- b11- w20- b39= bye+ 1½ 4 2
41 Hampton, Harrison........ 0d b40+ w4- b6- w34- b32- 1 5 5
42 Kendall, Rosie........... 0d b4- bye+ w27- b19- w33- 1 4 4
43 MacCarthy, Niamh......... 0d b12- w26- b44+ w35- b37- 1 5 3
44 Curran, Connor........... 0d w16- b33- w43- bye+ b30- 1 4 2
45 Redman, Arthur........... 0d b13- w35= b24- b36- w39- ½ 5 2
Index:
A = Player's score
B = Number of graded games played
TB= Sum of progressive scores Standard