Friday 28 January 2011

UK Chess Challenge 2011

It's UK Chess Challenge time once again!

Shropshire juniors have a chance to compete once again in this fantastic UK-wide competition that involves around 70,000 children from 5-18.

The UK Chess Challenge gives everyone a chance to win a prize and the chance to qualify for regional and even national levels of the competition as it progresses towards identifying the best UK junior chess players of each age group.

The Shropshire qualifying event is open to chess players of all abilities and takes place at Trinity School, Butts Lane, Ford, nr Shrewsbury on Sat 5 Feb from 9.30am - 1.30pm. There are lots of prizes and no-one goes away empty-handed!

The entry fee is £3, payable on the day. For more information call Steve Rooney on 01694 723724 or Francis Best on 01743 821220.

Monday 10 January 2011

Wrekin congress success

Four Shropshire juniors took part in the Wrekin Chess Congress last weekend in Telford and all four ended on the same points and shared the junior prize for the tournament.

Heath Pearson (9) was the youngest competitor in the tournament and following a win in his very first competitive game he finished on 2.5 points along with Matthew Best, Peter Mellor and Francis Rooney.

Congratulations to all of them. Heath's first win is shown below.

The diagram above shoes the final position after 24 ...Kxf7.

Graham Toone (109) - Heath Pearson [ug] Wrekin Minor, 08.01.2011 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 Heath has learnt the Scandanavian Defence ... 5.Nf3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Bg5 Bf5 8.Ne5 e6 9.g4 h6 An aggressive response, but that's the way he likes to play! 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Qb6 A little too aggressive, leaves the Bishop on f5 en prise. 12.Nc4 Qd8 13.gxf5 exf5 14.Be5 Bb4 15.Qd3 f4 16.Qf5 Nbd7 17.Nd6+ It's looking a bit tough for black here, but don't panic ... 17...Kf8 18.Bh5 Qa5 19.0-0 Bxd6 20.Bxd6+ Kg7 21.Rfe1 Both players have missed the unprotected queens, so ... 21...Qxf5 ... and now white has lost the leader of his attack. 22.Re7 Rae8 23.Rxf7+ Kg8 24.Be2 The final error, the bishop is heading for c4 where for a discovered check, but white has forgotten that the rook on f7 is now unprotected. 24...Kxf7 Heath gets a win against a 109-graded player in his first competitive game! 0-1

Left to right: Francis Rooney, Heath Pearson and Matthew Best (Peter Mellor had to leave before the prizegiving.)