Monday 26 November 2012

New Junior Chess League to be Launched


The Shropshire Junior Chess Academy is planning to launch a junior chess league in 2013.  This is an exciting opportunity for schools and junior chess players to compete as members of a junior team against other similarly-minded chess enthusiasts.

How will it operate?
Teams of 4 players will compete against each other on a league basis.  Matches against other teams will be scheduled to take place once a term, on a Saturday.  The exact nature of the league will reflect the composition of teams entered but it will generally be based around year groupings / age.

Our school doesn’t have a chess club but would still like to enter a team
That’s fine.  If the school has a number of keen young chess players, they may wish to form their own team(s).  Alternatively, you may like help in setting up a school club, in which case, please get in touch to discuss; we may be able to help.

Is there a cost?
As this is the first year of operation, we are not making any charge at all to enter teams.  We do ask that you supply us with contact details of a single team captain / organiser, who will need to be an adult.  Also, you will have to arrange your team’s own transport to and from the venue (currently, we have access to venues in Telford and Shrewsbury and it is anticipated that we will alternate between these two centres).  The Junior Chess Academy also has its own equipment, so that’s also taken care of.

Are there prizes?
Definitely!  Our experience of running junior chess is that the participants appreciate small tokens of their achievements (rosettes, badges etc) and we will award a trophy to the winning team(s) at the end of the year.  The intention is also to reward individual achievement with special prizes, which will be decided as the league develops.

I want to register an interest – what do I do now? 
Email us now stating: 
  • School name
  • School contact details (address, telephone number, email)
  • Team captain / organiser contact name
  • Team captain / organiser  contact details, if different from 2
  • Likely numbers of junior players (grouped by ages / year group)\
francis.best@gmx.com
steve.rooney@busandcoach.com

Saturday 23 June 2012

Good luck to the Gigafinalists

Well done to all those Shropshire juniors who qualified for the UK Chess Challenge gigafinal and best of luck to all of you for the next stage on 7-8 July.

U10 Boys
Chris Coull, St Giles Primary, Shrewsbury
Luca Evola, St George's Primary, Shrewsbury
Jonathon McMahon, Castle House, Newport

U11 Boys
Heath Pearson, Oxon School, Shrewsbury - Won his section with 6/6!

U12 Boys
Lewis Clarke, Castle House, Newport

U13 Boys
David Forster, Bridgnorth Endowed

U14 Boys
Gareth Gower, Abraham Darby, Telford

U15 Boys
Athar Mehmood, Wrekin College

U16 girls
Rebecca Davis, Abraham Darby, Telford

U18 Boys
James Sloan, Idsall School, Shifnal

Friday 9 March 2012

Gearing up for the Megafinal

Our next session will take place on Sat 28 April 2012 at Trinity School, Ford and will be an invaluable "warm-up" for those who qualified for the UK Chess Challenge megafinal as well as a great fun coaching session for everyone.

We will cover some basic checkmates (without stalemating), how to avoid Scholar's mate as well as tips  on winning more games and how to bounce back after losing!


Hope to see lots of your there!

Thursday 9 February 2012

UK Chess Challenge 2012


A Shropshire qualifying event for the UK Chess Challenge takes place on Sat 3 March 2012


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 3 March from 9.30am - 1.00pm.

No-one goes away empty-handed with lots of fun prizes on offer!

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

Thursday 19 January 2012

Next junior event 4 February

Saturday 4 February is our first meeting for 2012. It will be at the usual venue, Trinity School, Ford from 10am to 12.00pm.

See you there.