EPSCA Girl’s U11 Championships 2017
The English Primary Schools’ Chess Association (EPSCA) exists “to advance the education of primary school aged children by teaching, supervising and developing the playing of chess by those children.”
EPSCA holds three annual team championships for member associations
– Under 9, Under 11, and Girls Under 11.
The U11 Girls Championship is for teams of 12, plus reserves. Unlike the Under-9 and Under-11 championships, there are no qualifying stages, but Sussex usually compete in a local friendly match kindly organised by one of the home counties.
National Final – 25th March, Twickenham
U9 Boys vs U11 Girls Friendly – 4th March, Bexhill
25th February – 4-Counties Friendly, Copthorne
National Final – 25th March, Twickenham
Headline Results:
|
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Total |
|
| Sussex | 11 | 7½ | 10½ | 29 |
| Barnet | 6½ | 10 | 8½ | 25 |
| Nottingham | 8 | 9 | 8 | 25 |
| Wey Valley | 6½ | 11½ | 7 | 25 |
| Wiltshire | 9½ | 8½ | 7 | 25 |
| Kent | 5½ | 8½ | 9½ | 23.5 |
| Essex | 7 | 7½ | 8½ | 23 |
| Richmond | 8 | 6½ | 5½ | 20 |
| Berkshire | 9 | 4½ | 5½ | 19 |
| Cambridge | 3½ | 4 | 5 | 12.5 |
| Warwickshire | 6½ | 1 | 4 | 11.5 |
| Somerset | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| Oxford | 2 | 2 | 3½ | 7.5 |
| Northamptonshire | 3 | 1½ | 2½ | 7 |
| Hertfordshire | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
The Team:
Madison Collins, Elena Currah, Sara Enache, Elizabeth Finn, Thea Godfrey, Charlotte Kay, Eloise Kay, Grace Lamb, Lauren Manchester, Maya McMahon, Lydia Munn, Ruby Nunns, Ruby Rayment, Sophie Rees, Evie Seddon, Anna Sherriff
U9 Boys vs U11 Girls Friendly – 4th March, Bexhill
Traditionally the Sussex U9 boys have a warm up friendly against our U11 Girls which saw an exciting 18-16 win for the boys. Middle boards proving decisive with a 10-0 success on the top 5 boards for the girls matched by 9.5-0.5 win for the boys on the bottom 5 boards.
| White | Black | White | Black | |||||
| 1 | Elizabeth Finn | 1-0 | Abhi Jadav | 1 | Henry Laurillard | 0-1 | Elizabeth Finn | |
| 2 | Elena Currah | 1-0 | Henry Laurillard | 2 | Abhi Jadav | 0-1 | Elena Currah | |
| 3 | Lauren Manchester | 1-0 | James Robertson | 3 | Arun Gibbons | 0-1 | Lauren Manchester | |
| 4 | Sophie Rees | 1-0 | Arun Gibbons | 4 | James Robertson | 0-1 | Sophie Rees | |
| 5 | Maya McMahon | 1-0 | Thomas Kindell | 5 | Laurie Kendall | 0-1 | Maya McMahon | |
| 6 | Eloise Kay | 1-0 | Laurie Kendall | 6 | Thomas Kindell | 1-0 | Eloise Kay | |
| 7 | Evie Seddon | 0-1 | Toby Ralph | 7 | Rafe Chapman | 0-1 | Evie Seddon | |
| 8 | Charlotte Kay | 1-0 | Rafe Chapman | 8 | Toby Ralph | 1-0 | Charlotte Kay | |
| 9 | Thea Godfrey | 0.5-0.5 | Charlie Wannasin-Bell | 9 | Kit Blades | 1-0 | Thea Godfrey | |
| 10 | Amelie Rees | 0-1 | Kit Blades | 10 | Charlie Wannasin-Bell | 0-1 | Amelie Rees | |
| 11 | Alise Petersone | 0-1 | Lachlan Stewart | 11 | Hugo Ullman | 1-0 | Alise Petersone | |
| 12 | Emma Forester | 0-1 | Hugo Ullman | 12 | Oliver Noble | 0-1 | Emma Forester | |
| 13 | Mimi Fowler | 0-1 | Arthur Glascott | 13 | Sam Godfrey | 1-0 | Mimi Fowler | |
| 14 | Rosie Kendall | 0-1 | Sam Godfrey | 14 | Arthur Glascott | 1-0 | Rosie Kendall | |
| 15 | Lowenna Godfrey | 0.5-0.5 | Max Massey | 15 | Aryan More | 1-0 | Lowenna Godfrey | |
| 16 | Rebecca Anscombe | 0-1 | Rohan Gibbons | 16 | Max Massey | 1-0 | Rebecca Anscombe | |
| 17 | Liliana Robinson | 0-1 | Aryan More | 17 | Rohan Gibbons | 1-0 | Liliana Robinson | |
| 8-9 | 9-8 | |||||||
|
Overall Score |
||||||||
| Boys U9 | 18-16 | Girls U11 | ||||||
25th February – 4-Counties Friendly, Copthorne
Headline Results:
|
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Total |
|
| Wey Valley | 7½ | 7 | 9 | 23½ |
| Sussex Bishops | 6 | 7 | 5½ | 18½ |
| Sussex Knights | 2½ | 7½ | 5½ | 15½ |
| Kent | 6½ | 1 | 4 | 11½ |
| Essex | 2½ | 2½ | 1 | 6 |
Sussex Knights:
Madison Collins, Madison Cox, Elizabeth Finn, Emma Forester, Thea Godfrey, Grace Lamb, Maya McMahon, Lydia Munn, Amelie Rees, Evie Seddon, Darcey Walker-Lee
Sussex Bishops:
Elena Currah, Sara Enache, Eloise Kay, Lauren Manchester, Ruby Nunns, Sophie Rees, Phoebe Richards, Sammy Sareen, Anna Sherriff, Edie Stacy, Rose Stacy
On Saturday 25th February, 57 girls from Essex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex converged on Copthorne Prep School for an U11 Girls 4 Counties friendly.
The usual format is for a 12-board team but, with 2 counties only able to bring 10 players, we opted for a 10 board jamboree and invited 22 Sussex girls, some making their county debut, and had two fairly evenly balanced teams, Sussex Bishops and Sussex Knights. Our two reserves were able to play mainly Kent reserves.
Wey Valley started strongly and took the lead from the first round, with Kent in second place. Several Knights v Bishops pairings in rounds 1 and 3 led to some interesting and close fought games, useful for determining board order at the Final. There were long games on all the top boards – and the last games to finish mainly involved Sussex girls.
With the final results in, Wey Valley scored 9 in the last round, increasing their lead to finish in first place, 5 points ahead of Sussex Bishops in second place and Sussex Knights in third, a fantastic achievement by our girls.
This was a very encouraging result for the Sussex girls, especially as most girls were playing on higher boards than usual, and it bodes well for the annual match against the U9 boys’ team in Bexhill. Congratulations to Eloise and Lauren who both scored 3/3. We are very grateful to Copthorne Prep School, for providing such an attractive venue, and to our visitors for providing strong opposition in an event which was played in a most friendly spirit and gave our girls a good taste of team chess and practice for Final for the girls who are selected.
Thanks also to Jonathan and Trevor for their help over the course of the day and to all the parents who, as well as supporting their daughters, assisted with carrying equipment, setting-up and catering tasks.
Special thanks to Les for taking on the pizza run and to Peter for results and organising the reserve games.
Catherine Finn