UK Chess Challenge Qualifier

52nd Berkshire Junior Championship

Under 11 Girls EPSCA Final

2018 Oxford Girls Quadrangular

UK Chess Challenge Berkshire MegaFinal

Berkshire Junior Championship

Click for larger photo

With 8 out of 12 points in the first round, the Berkshire team lay in second place! Given that previous years have seen some teams often score 10 or more points per round, this already looked to be a much more hotly-contested event, and so it proved. The Berkshire team continued to battle hard for points, but their opponents had upped their game, and the next two rounds saw good totals of 6½ and 6.

The recent ban on handheld games had done some good - we certainly didn't experience the last round collapse that almost cost us medals and finals qualification in the Zonal, but there was still evident tiredness by the end. Nonetheless the team proved equal to its predecessors, finishing 6th overall with 20½ points - an excellent result (and just ahead of perennial local rivals, Sussex).

Special mention, as tradition dictates, to the team members with perfect scores: Matthew Wadsworth, Ryan Wong (both of whom have dropped a grand total of half a point all season playing for Berkshire!), and Alexis Gritsanchouk; Michael Gilbert and Yusuf Hussain were also unbeaten on 2½.