Saturday 20 December 2008

County match 13 December

The county team travelled to Redditch for their last county match in the first half of the season. Good wins were achieved by Peter Mellor, Francis Rooney and Jamie Allen; with draws for Nathanael Paul and Huw Davenport. The match ended 8-4 to Worcestershire but it was another good battle for the Shropshire juniors. Peter Mellor's win on board one followed a period when his king was under strong attack but he calmly rebuffed his opponent's attempts to break through and moved into an ending in a winning position which he duly converted. Francis Rooney's game was the last to finish and was a very tight middle game when Francis' bishops exerted strong pressure against his opponent whose position became more and more cramped. Francis eventually won a piece and his opponent resigned. Jamie Allen won his game when his opponent missed some tactics in the ending. Both Nathanael Paul and Huw Davenport drew their games without ever looking in trouble. Huw has 2.5 points out of three in this season's county matches, a fantastic result so far! MATCH - Worcs v Shropshire

SECTION - Under 100

DATE - 13th Dec 2008

VENUE - Webheath Village Hall

Board

Colour

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

1

Peter Banks

165118D

92

0

Peter Mellor

85

1

2

Maureen Clarke

108407A

92

1

Athar Mehmood

78

DEF

3

Rob Bricknell

234732F

91

1/2

Nathanael Paul

65

1/2

4

Michele Clack

108320D

89

1

Mark Richards

59

0

5

Richard Turner

157246F

89

½

Huw Davenport

56

1/2

6

Richard Collett

108620A

88

0

Francis Rooney

49

1

7

Tony Taylor

192111D

62

1

Jonathan Newey

49

0

8

James Friar

ug

1

Matthew Best

37

0

9

Joseph Friar

ug

0

Jamie Allen

35

1

10

David Curzon

270899B

33

1

Matthew Mellor

23

0

11

Krzysztof Krowicki

ug

1

Angelica Dean

Ug

0

12

Kevin Day

ug

1

Chris Paul (Substitute)

75

0

13

14

TOTAL

8

4

Junior Congress winner

Athar Mehmood won the Shropshire's Junior Chess Congress held at Trinity School on 6 December. The event was a five round event and Athar won all five matches to take the top slot. In second place were Matthew Best and Chris Lovejoy on four points, followed by a clutch of players on 3.5 points.

Sunday 14 December 2008

Wrekin Chess Congress

The Wrekin Chess congress takes place on Sat 3 and Sun 4 January 2009. A number of Shropshire juniors will take part and there is likely to be strong competition for the junior top spots. for more details you can download the entry form here ..

Sunday 7 December 2008

Shrewsbury Juniors lose to Wellington

Shrewsbury Juniors suffered only their second defeat in the season when they lost 4-1 to Wellington B. The juniors sole point came from a fine win by Matthew Best. Shrewsbury B 1-4 Wellington B Henry Graham 0-1 D Powell Francis Rooney 0-1 J Lenton Chris Lovejoy 0-1 J Kuczynski Jonathan Newey 0-1 D Wright Matthew Best 1-0 B Brown

Saturday 6 December 2008

About us

Shropshire Junior Chess blog aims to promote junior chess in the county both within schools and in junior sections of local clubs
We run the Junior Chess Club which meets once a month and involves coaching, fun games and competitions.
There are juniors playing the the main Shropshire league and in county teams that compete in the Midlands league.
For more information you can email - info@shropshirechessacademy.co.uk
Francis Best and Steve Rooney
Shropshire Junior Chess

Games archive

Here are some games from Shropshire Junior matches that you can play through on the blog. Just select a game and click the arrow buttons to move the pieces on the board. Alternatively, you can click on an individual move and the board will display the position at that moment.

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Junior Chess congress 6 Dec

The Shropshire Junior Chess congress takes place this Saturday 6 Dec at Trinity School, Butt Lane, Ford from 2pm to 5pm. Players should register from 1.30pm. Entry fee is £2. (In the morning at the school there is a session of the Shropshire Junior Chess Academy from 10am to which all are welcome. A great alternative to Christmas shopping!!) The Junior congress will be a five round tournament with everyone playing in all rounds. The event is open to juniors up to age 18 (as at 1 Sept 2008) and there will be trophies for some and other prizes depending on the number of entries. In order that we can organise the tournament draw, please call Steve Rooney on 01694 723724 to let us know you are attending. Look forward to seeing you next weekend.

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Juniors battle in Newport-Coddon match

The battle of juniors raged in Newport on Thursday night as Peter Mellor and Athar Mehmood, board 1 and 2 for Shropshire Juniors respectively, tussled on top board. Athar eventually gaining the victory. However, the rest of the games finished a lot quicker. Board 5 was settled after move 1 as for the third time Newport had to default with the loss of Luke West. Board three ended next when Huw Davenport agreed a draw with his childhood chess coach Alan Shaw. After playing on Shaw realised he would have won as a forced back rank mate was unseen by Davenport. Jamie Allan and Mark Richards lost on the other boards meaning Coddon won convincingly. Coddon B 3.5-1.5 Newport Juniors P Mellor 0-1 A Mehmood A Pickles 1-0 M Richards A Shaw 0.5-0.5 H Davenport N Paul 1-0 J Allan C Paul 1-0 Default

Saturday 22 November 2008

Juniors’ excellent start to the season continues

I interviewed Matthew Best to obtain the following report from last night's exciting match Shrewsbury Juniors v Oswestry:

Shrewsbury juniors have been on form recently, and took two more points against top of the table Oswestry B. After a loss on board 4 for Johnathan Newey, a win on board 5 for Matthew Best over Euan Stevenson levelled the scores. Stephen Tulett and Shrewsbury’s Henry Graham drew their game despite the junior being outgraded. A hard-fought win on board 2 for Chris Lovejoy over Richard Farrall gave the juniors the upper hand, 2½-1½. On board three, Oswestry’s Alf Evans rebuffed the dangerous-looking attacks from Francis Rooney emerging a piece up in what appeared to be a winning ending. However, with the Oswestry man having a mere 2½ minutes left, Francis Rooney offered the draw, and Alf Evans accepted. After the game, people at the Shrewsbury club were reflecting on what a growing threat the youngsters are. Having lost only one game so far this season against title favourites Coddon B (3-2), they have drawn two games which were possible wins, and beaten rivals Newport Juniors.

Sunday 16 November 2008

Strong showing for county team

The Shropshire Junior county team came very close to chalking up their first points in the Midlands county championship with a 6.5-5.5 result against Nottinghamshire on 15 November. The junior team has represented the county for the past two seasons in this competition with the vast majority of their opponents being experienced adult players. The latest match is their best result so far. Shropshire winners against Nottinghamshire were Athar Mehmood, Huw Davenport, Matthew Best and Matthew Mellor, while draws were achieved by Mark Richards, Jamie Allan and Angelica Dean. A number of the other games were also close and it looked at one stage as if we might pull off a victory. Overall it was a fantastic performance by the team! The next match is on 13 December against Worcestershire. MATCH - Shropshire U100 v Nottinghamshire

SECTION - U100

DATE - 15 November 2008

VENUE - Trinity School, Ford, Shropshire

Board

Colour

Name

Shropshre

ECF Code

Grade

Score

Name

Nottinghamshire

ECF Code

Grade

Score

1

B

Peter Mellor

248946G

85

0

Allan Brown

221644K

98

1

2

W

Athar Mehmood

264465E

78

1

Michael Zang

261179L

96

0

3

B

Nathaniel Paul

245834C

65

0

Robert Parker

265583E

96

1

4

W

Mark Richards

264468L

59

½

Chris Sargeant

251856K

95

½

5

B

Huw Davenport

257511F

56

1

Ric Dawson

165413F

90

0

6

W

Francis Rooney

264469B

49

0

Derek Cronshaw

143502E

87

1

7

B

Jonathan Newey

267845H

49

0

Andrew Garside

259650H

80

1

8

W

Matthew Best

269317D

37

1

Len Morrell

115804B

74

0

9

B

Jamie Allen

273629K

35

½

Arun Maini

263693B

71

½

10

W

Matthew Mellor

260562E

23

1

Ross Mackay

267595L

66

0

11

B

Angelica Dean

-

-

½

Ken Heath

112441K

62

½

12

W

Oscar Nicholls

-

-

0

Dorothy Blampied

106873J

60

1

Friday 14 November 2008

Newport Juniors v Oswestry B

Newport's Jamie Allan is now supplying reports of his team's matches to the blog. Here is his report from last week's match against Oswestry B. Newport Juniors had to field an understrength team for the second time because of the unavailabilty of Athar Mehmood. Huw Davenport lost on board one and after a quick start debutant Luke West lost in an endgame situation on four. Two good wins from Jamie Allan and Mark Richards meant once again the juniors lost after defaulting board five. Newport Jrs v Oswestry B H Davenport 0, S Tullet 1 M Richards 1, A Evans 0 J Allan 1, R Farrall 0 L West 0, G Ives 1

Shrewsbury Juniors unbeaten run ends - or does it?

Shrewsbury Juniors ended up 3-2 down in their match last week against Coddon B. But a possible rule infringement by Coddon might see the Shrewsbury team awarded the match points. Two Coddon players were not fielded in the correct grading order as the league rules require, so Shrewsbury have referred the matter to the league controller. The result has not yet been confirmed on the Shropshire chess website. In the matches on the night, Shrewsbury scored a win from Jonathan Newey and draws from Francis Rooney and Matthew Best. There were two all-junior encounter in the match. On board 1, Peter Mellor, overcame Henry Graham with in a sharp attacking game and on board 4, Coddon's Nathanael Paul overcame Shrewsbury's Chris Lovejoy after developing a match-winning advantage following a tight early middle game. Coddon B v Shrewsbury Juniors Peter Mellor 1-0 Henry Graham Alan Pickles 0-1 Jonathan Newey Alan Shaw 0.5-0.5 Francis Rooney Nathanael Paul 1-0 Chris Lovejoy Chris Paul 0.5-0.5 Matthew Best (Final match result to be confirmed)

Sunday 9 November 2008

Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D

Shrewsbury Juniors retained their unbeaten record with a draw against Shifnal & Telepost D, despite being a player short. Good wins for Chris Lovejoy and Francis Rooney plus a solid draw from Jonathan Newey saw them hold the match event though they lost board five by default. Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D 2.5 - 2.5 H Graham 0, J Kenderdine 1; J Newey 0.5, J Beddoes 0.5; C Lovejoy 1, A Carr 0; F Rooney 1, N Donaldson 0; default 0, D Terry 1.

Shrewsbury Juniors v Telepost C

Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D 2.5 - 2.5 H Graham 0, J Kenderdine 1; J Newey 0.5, J Beddoes 0.5; C Lovejoy 1, A Carr 0; F Rooney 1, N Donaldson 0; default 0, D Terry 1.

Newport Juniors v Wellington B

Newport Juniors chalked up a win against Wellington B in their league match. Wins for Alex Taylor, Athar Mehmood (by default) and Jamie Allen saw them win 3-2. Wellington B v Newport Juniors 2 - 3 D Powell 0, A Taylor 1; Ogundipe-default 0, A Mehmood 1; J Hucygnski 1, M Richards 0; D Wright 1, H Davenport 0; B Ives 0, J Allen 1.

County match 18 Oct

The first county match on 18 October proved a tough challenge for Shropshire juniors. The match ended 10-5-1.5 to Leicestershire which included a very fine win by Nathaniel Paul and a draw by Huw Davenport. We will put some of the games on this site for you to play through soon. (Well as soon as we have made sense of the scoresheets!)

MATCH - LEICESTERSHIRE V SHROPSHIRE

SECTION - U100

DATE - 18/10/2008

VENUE - PLOUGH INN, LITTLETHORPE

Board

Colour

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

1

W

BARRIE COOPER

108821 L

97

1

PETER MELLOR

248946 T

85

0

2

B

IAN FARQUHARSON

190455 A

94

1

ATHAR MEHMOOD

264465 E

78

0

3

W

ELIZABETH GIST

269703 J

94

0

NATHANIEL PAUL

245834 C

65

1

4

B

STUART HOLLINGWORTH

260174 G

90

1

MARK RICHARDS

264468 L

59

0

5

W

MICK BUSBY

107771 F

91

½

HUN DAVENPORT

257511 F

56

½

6

B

RICHARD DAVIS

250154 F

91

1

FRANCIS ROONEY

264469 B

49

0

7

W

MICHAEL THORNTON

120374 F

88

1

CHRIS LOVEJOY

249687 C

48

0

8

B

STEVAN PREOCANIN

250151 L

87

1

MATTHEW BEST

269317 D

37

0

9

W

TERRY CLAY

108464 B

83

1

JAMIE ALLEN

273629 K

35

0

10

B

GEORGE WINTERTON

162084 J

83

1

MATTHEW MELLOR

260562 E

23

0

11

W

MICHAEL ADAMS

253513 A

80

1

ANGELICA DEAN

273523E

-

0

12

B

HERVE TRIBOUILLOY

272935 A

27

1

OSCAR NICHOLS

-

-

0

13

14

15

16

10.5

1.5

Monday 13 October 2008

Keep up with the champions!

The World Chess Championships 2008 starts tomorrow, Tue 14 Oct in Bonn, Germany. The match is between reigning champion Viswanathan Anand (38) and former champion Vladimir Kramnik (33). It promises to be a very exciting match, played out over 12 games, and should put chess back in the news. You can follow the games as they happen on the official website - www.uep-worldchess.com - or at www.chessbase.com

Sunday 5 October 2008

Next Chess Academy

The next Junior Chess Academy takes place on Sat 15 November at Trinity School, Ford nr Shrewsbury. For those of you who haven't been yet, the Academy is a fun way to learn more about chess to help you enjoy it more and, most importantly, win more games! We have now produced course books for the first two stages of the Academy - Pawn and Knight with the Bishop level to follow shortly. The Academy is suitable for all juniors up to age 18 at all ability levels. You can download an information leaflet and enrolment form for the Academy here. See you on 15 November!

Shrewsbury Juniors v Telepost C

Shrewsbury Juniors finished level with Telepost C in Friday's league match. At one stage it looked as if the team could pull off a win but Telepost managed to hold the match in the end. Matthew Best was in a good position on board five but lost to a mating attack against the run of play and then a well deserved draw on top board for Henry Graham and a solid win for Jonathan Newey saw the match 1.5-0.5 in the junior's favour. The final two boards were shared with Francis Rooney outplaying John Casewell on board two and Chris Lovejoy finally succumbing to Brian Holford's amterial advantage despite wome gallant efforts to hold the game. Full result: Telepost C 2.5 Shrewsbury Juniors 2.5 C Micalleff 0.5-0.5 Henry Graham J Casewell 0-1 Francis Rooney B Holford 1-0 Chris Lovejoy S Sweeney 0-5-0-5 J Newey A Bowyer 1-0 Matthew Best

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Chess Academy lifts off!

Shropshire's new Junior Chess Academy started last month and the second meeting takes place this Saturday - 4 October - at Trinity School, Ford, near Shrewsbury at 10am. The first meeting last month was well attended with the juniors getting a quick introduction to the Academy structure and the qualifications they can gain, followed by a 5-minute tournament which was won by Francis Rooney with eight points from nine games. See you on Saturday! (PS to find Trinity School take the A458 Welshpool road from Shrewsbury and ford is the first village you come to. HJust after the petyrol station turn right and the school is 100m on your left.)

Sunday 21 September 2008

Shrewsbury Juniors kick off with a win

Shrewsbury Juniors overcame their rivals Newport Juniors in the opening match of the season. The Shropshire League Division 3 match was held at Newport's venue and ended in a thrilling 3-2 win for the visitors. Unfortunately Newport were unable to field a full side so Shrewsbury started off with a default on board 5 for Matthew Best. The first match finished on board one when Athar Mehmood's king-side attack overcame Henry Graham's defence. Then Mark Richards won against Jonathan Newey on board two despite the Shrewsbury player having good chances earlier on. That left Shrewsbury needing two wins from the remaining two games and Chris Lovejoy chalked up his point with a win for Shrewsbury against Huw Davenport. And finally Francis Rooney won against Jamie Allen finding the win in a Rook and King v King ending. Full result: Newport Juniors 2 Shrewsbury Juniors 3 Athar Mehmood 1-0 Henry Graham Mark Richards 1-0 Jonathan Newey Huw Davenport 0-1 Chris Lovejoy Jamie Allen 0-1 Francis Rooney default 0-1 Matthew Best

Thursday 18 September 2008

League gets underway!

The Shropshire league gets underway this week and the county's two junior teams clash as Shrewsbury Juniors travel to Newport Juniors tonight for the opening match. Best of luck to all! Full report to follow here soon ...

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Staffordshire Junior chess congress

Staffordshire Junior chess congress takes place on Sunday 19 October at Hassell Community Primary School, Barracks Rd, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire. ST5 1LF. It starts at 9.30am sharp and there are six rounds and players have 30 minutes each on the clock for each round. The event is open to all those under 18 years of age on 1 September 2008. More details and booking form here - www.junior.staffordshirechess.org.uk/congress.html

Monday 15 September 2008

Shropshire Junior chess Academy

Welcome to all junior chess players in the county. The exciting news this month is the launch of a new Junior Chess Academy to help budding youngsters develop their chess skills and have more fun by winning more games! The Academy will have a regular monthly meeting on a Saturday morning which will involve some coaching, competitive games and lots of fun - and there may even be the odd prize to win! There will be lots of puzzles and fun ways to learn and all participants will have the chance to progress through a series of levels from Pawn to Knight, Bishop and Rook with certificates and badges to be earned. We'll tell you more about this at the first meeting. The club will be held at TRINITY SCHOOL, FORD, NR SHREWSBURY SY5 9LG at 10-12 on the following Saturday mornings this term. Sat 20 Sep Sat 4 Oct Sat 1 Nov Sat 6 Dec The final Academy meeting of the term (6 Dec) will be followed by the Junior Chess Congress from 12pm-5pm. The Academy will be run by Shropshire junior chess coordinators Francis Best and Steve Rooney, both of whom are CRB-checked. There is a small fee to register for the Academy and for the course material and certificates at various levels which will all be produced to a very professional level.

Shropshire junior county team

This year we will be running a junior county team in the Midlands chess championships once again. There are six matches altogether which take place on Saturday afternoons. The home matches will be played at Trinity School, Ford, away venues to be advised. The matches are played with clocks with around an hour an a half for each player. If you would like to be considered for the team, please let us know although these matches are really suitable for those with some experience at this level and the team will be selected by Francis Best and Steve Rooney. See the Calendar for all the dates and venues.

Shropshire league chess

This season there will be junior teams from Shrewsbury and Newport competing in the adult county league once again. We wish them all the best in the coming season. Playing chess at the adult clubs is a good progression for juniors who have begun to get some experience of formal matches. If you want advice on whether this would suit you, please ask Francis or Steve. See details in Clubs section.

Junior grades

Well done to all junior players who have all seen marked increases in their grades this year. Grading is done by the national organisation English Chess Federation and is designed to show the relative strength of players. You need to play about 15 games under match conditions with more than an hour for your moves to get a listing on the national grading list. The grade system is being revised next year and the New Grade listed below will be the starting point for that, although the old grades will be the official ones for this season. Name Age Club 2008 grade ('NEW GRADE') Louis Graham 15 Church Stretton 150 (174) Ieuan Fenton 16 Oswestry 125 (152) Alex Taylor 17 Newport 106 (133) Peter Mellor 14 Coddon 85 ( 116) Athar Mehmood 11 Newport 78 (127) Henry Graham 13 Church Stretton 60 (112) Mark Richards 12 Newport 59 (106) Huw Davenport 15 Newport 56 (99) Francis Rooney 13 Shrewsbury 49 (94) Jonathan Newey 13 Shrewsbury 49 (89) Christopher Lovejoy 15 Shrewsbury 48 (91) Matthew Best 12 Shrewsbury 37 (86) Jamie Allen 15 Newport 35 (75) Lauren Birt 14 Shrewsbury Sch 30 (rapid) (75) Joseph Mellor 15 Coddon 29 (85) Matthew Mellor 11 Coddon 23 (62) Katherine Lovejoy 13 Shrewsbury 16 (77)

Monday 7 July 2008

Success at UK Chess Challenge

Congratulations to all the Shropshire juniors who competed in the UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal at Manchester on 5/6 July. The star result was Athar Mehmood's 6 wins out of 6 to take first place in his Under 11 section and qualify for the national Terrafinal next month. Each of the juniors played six games against tough opposition from across the midlands, the north, Scotland and Northern Ireland, scoring 1 point for a win and a half for a draw. The Shropshire results were: Under 9 Girls - Laura Newey (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 2/6 Under 9 Boys - George Downs (Castle House school) 1.5/6 - Akash Srinivasan (Old Hall school) 1.5/6 Under 11 Boys - Athar Mehmood (Old Hall school and Newport chess club) 6/6 Terrafinal qualifier Under 12 Girls - Angelica Dean (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 3.5/6 Under 12 Boys - Matthew Best (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 2.5/6 - Sam Skubala (Oswestry school) 2/6 Under 13 Girls - Katherine Lovejoy (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 3.5/6 Under 13 Boys - Jonathan Newey (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 3/6 - Francis Rooney (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 3/6 Under 15 Boys - Sam Eardley (Adams Grammar) 3/6 - Christopher Lovejoy (Shrewsbury Junior Chess club) 3/6 Under 17 Boys - Alex Taylor (Adams Grammar and Newport chess club) 2.5/6 Under 18 Boys - Chris Lewis (Adams Grammar and Newport chess club) 3.5/6

Thursday 3 July 2008

UK Chess Challenge - Gigafinal

Good luck to all the Shropshire Juniors taking part in this weekend's Gigafinal at Manchester. Results to be shown here next week.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

UK Chess Challenge

Take part in the UK's biggest junior chess event. On 11 and 25 April the Shrewsbury Junior club is running a UK Chess Challenge event. Lots of prizes available for all age groups and you can qualify for the next round of the event which is a regional Megafinal next month. Just email to tell us you are coming on steve.rooney@busandcoach.com and turn up at 6.30pm on Friday 11 April - details in club section on left.

Wednesday 27 February 2008

BEGINNERS' CHESS DAY Saturday 8 March 2008 Trinity School, Ford, near Shrewsbury. 10am to 3pm Aimed at 7-11 year olds who may be complete beginners or just know how the pieces move. A fun day with games, competitions and coaching. Entry is £10 including a copy of an excellent chess book for children. To register, email - steve.rooney@busandcoach.com
Hello, this is the new Shropshire Junior Chess blog. You will find details of all our news, results and events here and, if we are clever enough, you might also be able to see some of the star games our juniors have played.