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

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)

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

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.