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

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The 16 best U11 county teams in the nation gathered on Saturday for the final of the 2015 EPSCA championship – and Berkshire was there with a full squad. A tough day of play against some of the finest in land ended up with Berkshire in 10th place, with the winners Kent & Barnet tied in a draw at the top of the leader board.

So particular recognition to Gaurav Kamath and Aditya Singh as they took points off the winners – and when you look at the final scores, you’ll see not many players from any county managed that – so well done indeed to them.

The top scorers in our own U11 team today were unbeaten – three players consistently outplayed their opponents with a display of paced control and blunder-free chess: congratulations to Nicholas Vallis, Gurveen Kapoor and David Winsor.

Also scoring well with 2 points were: Ciara Jolliffe with her balanced and structured openings; Arti Lenoir, who played with a deliberate confidence – and special recognition for recovering from a disruption in her 2nd game with a wonder Rook sacrifice that set up a promoted pawn to form a cunning Queen/Bishop checkmate - a brilliant manoeuvre; and Felipe Goodman who was a pleasure to watch in the 3rd round as he applied the 'grind-down approach' carefully trapping his opponent's King into a corner.

Medals today for all those that scored 1.5 points or more: so congratulations to Maxim Dobrynin & Henry Munn too for getting a medal. The sad news is that 4 of the team are too old to play U11 next year: but the good news is that most of the team will have another chance at a medal in next year’s U11 competition – so keep practicing!

A well done! to the whole team – not only did you all play your best, you were great sports and proudly represented your county.

Big thanks to Paul Vallis, Johnny Gillespie & Jim Hoskins for their coaching & support to the team - Many thx.