On Sat 3rd February, Sussex took a small and fairly inexperienced team to a warm up jamboree in Richmond. After a difficult first round where only 2 points were scored out of a possible 12, we settled into the tournament scoring 5.5 in round 2 and an amazing 7.5 in the third and final round. The last point coming from the last game by a long way in the playing hall. Unknown to the team at the time, this was enough to lift the team into 3rd place! Just ahead of a strong Barnet team.
Sussex will have the junior chess powerhouses of Kent and Richmond in their sights when they meet in the national finals in May.
| Pos | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | Points | Wins |
| 1 | Richmond | 10.5 | 7.5 | 9 | 27 | 25 |
| 2 | Kent | 10 | 10 | 7 | 27 | 24 |
| 3 | Sussex | 2 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 15 | 14 |
| 4 | Barnet | 5 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 14 | 12 |
| 5 | Uxbridge | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
The Squad
Samuel Merchant, Hal Gomez, Nathanial Waller, Harry Morter, Hongqi Zhang, Iaroslav Sinkevich, Layth Ahmad, Bella Walsh, Benjamin Carter, Gemma Cuthbertson, Zach Carthew, Alex O Martynson.