Yorkshire U16 team to a stunning victory to win the National Title !
Report by John Fozard (Team Organiser)
Results of the U16 team - report . .
The Yorkshire Under 16 chess team pulled off a stunning victory in the National Youth Chess Association Under 16 Championships yesterday by beating off the challenge of 6 other counties to take the title.
Yorkshire had a great start - not losing a single match in the first 2 rounds of 8 boards, but that only meant we had a slender lead of 3.5 points. We had 5 strong counties pushing us - Kent, Lancashire, Hampshire, Glamorgan & Berkshire.
Round 3 we had a bit of a slip up with 2 defeats and 3 draws and so our lead was pinned back to 2 points from Glamorgan and others not far behind.
The last round was a nail bitter as we had to play Glamorgan on Board 1 (Jean-Luc Weller)& 7 (Francesca Fozard) and the whole competition could have been dependant on these results. However, we had 3 defeats and only 2 wins in the first 5 and so the whole pack suddenly was very close to us.
Due to Glamorgan having a poor last round too, so it came to the last 3 games remaining all involving our players. In the end due to other results, we only needed a draw to succeed and James Bowler provided it. To finish off Jean-Luc won and Francesca drew and so we ended with a comfortable win by 2.5 clear points and denied unfortunate Glamorgan second place.
1 Yorkshire 21
2 Hampshire 18½
3 Lancashire 18
4 Glamorgan 17½
5 Berkshire 15½
6 Kent 15
7 Cheshire North Wales 6½
The team was led heroically by Jean-Luc on Board 1 and he scored the only 100% record of 4 wins in the team. This was a fantastic performance of maturity and gave the team a great confidence even when our other top 5 boards came under great pressure near the end and we were being caught by everyone.
The counties were very competitive and even though we led from first to last, the second place alternated between several counties as they tried hard to pin us back - so we were never assured of a win until the last few minutes.
| Board |
|
|
played |
won |
draw |
points |
% |
1 |
Jean-Luc |
Weller |
4 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
100% |
2 |
Louis |
Brijmohun |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1.5 |
38% |
3 |
James |
Bowler |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2.5 |
63% |
4 |
Evie |
Hollingworth |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
75% |
5 |
Pierre |
Weller |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2.5 |
63% |
6 |
Ashley |
Littlewood |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2.5 |
63% |
7 |
Miles |
Edwards-Wright |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1.5 |
75% |
7 |
Francesca |
Fozard |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
50% |
8 |
James |
Roberts |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1.5 |
75% |
8 |
Peter |
Hornsby |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
50% |
Board medals for top scorers were won by Jean-Luc on Board 1 and jointly between Miles & Francesca for Board 7.
Results of the U12 team - report . .
This squad was ravaged with unavailability (with several top players Harry Li, Amol Vani, Karim Ismail and Wesley McGough absent). This meant that the top boards would have a tough time - but also gave several players a chance to play and also on higher boards to test their development.
The team was very young compared to our competition and out graded on virtually all boards - it showed in the results. Many of our top boards on the day ended up playing 2-4 boards higher than they would normally have had to. However, everyone battled hard as a team and there were some encouraging results in the middle boards.
| Board |
|
|
played |
won |
draw |
points |
% |
1 |
Divaker |
Hamal |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0.5 |
13% |
2 |
Robert |
Oxley |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
3 |
Dan |
Basu |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
4 |
Pravaker |
Hamal |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
25% |
5 |
Adarsh |
Vani |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2.5 |
63% |
6 |
Miles |
Hemingway |
4 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
75% |
7 |
Will |
Towler |
4 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
75% |
8 |
Wasim |
Ahmed |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
25% |
9 |
Paul |
Thompson |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
25% |
10 |
Anna |
Cunningham |
4 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
75% |
11 |
Yash |
Kapur |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
11 |
Curtis |
Brownrigg |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
50% |
12 |
Zahra |
Ahmed |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
12 |
Soumya |
Baxi |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
However, a lot of positives for individuals came out of the competition.
Divaker had the honour of leading the team on Board 1 for the first time and battled really hard though heavily outgraded and got a great draw in his third game. Pravaker also got a great win in his second game.
However the highlight of the day was Will Towler (aged 9) was our only U12 medal winner and won a Board prize for 3 wins on Board 7. Also two other middle boards also had unexpected fantastic performances and great results with 3 wins - Miles Hemingway and Anna Cunningham despite both being outgraded against opponents.
Adarsh battled hard in his customary manner to gain his 2 wins and a draw against strong and older opposition to gain much needed points for the team and a great performance at Board 5.
All our middle order are Under 11 or Under 10 and so most will be available for another 2 years and this experience will boost our chances in the Under 11 national competitions for the rest of the season.
| 1 |
Lancashire |
41 |
| 2 |
Hertford |
39.5 |
| 3 |
Kent |
29 |
| 4 |
Berkshire |
23.5 |
| 5 |
Manchester |
22 |
| 6 |
Yorkshire |
16 |
| 7 |
Glamorgan |
12 |
| 8 |
Cheshire & North Wales |
9 |
Even though we finished below half way, the performance of the middle boards proved we are slowly building a better depth to the squad and with hard work in the U13 division we will improve standards and individuals - so we can compete and get a little closer to the leading counties in future - even when we are missing vital players.
It was evident here that Lancashire and newcomers Herford are much stronger teams and in depth than the other counties. Lancashire dropped only 7 points in 48 games and that made it very tough for us.
Photos
U16 TEAM
TROPHY
(Board medals....)
JEAN-LUC
FRANCESCA & MILES
WILL TOWLER
|