Below is a report written by one of our junior members on his 2021/2022 season.
I am Samuel Nelson Merchant. I am 9 years old and I have been playing chess for five years and for three of those years I have played seriously.
At the start of the year I had two main goals. The first was to get my name on a perpetual trophy from Sussex junior chess and the other was to play for my county. I have achieved the second one but sadly not the first.
Going to Bexhill chess club has helped me a lot and also the Eastbourne coach and woman fide master, Rasa Norinkeviciute. Also everyone at Sussex Junior chess.
The county grand prix season was good, over the whole season I was the 2nd under nine in the county! I could have finished first but it came down to the final game; it was up and down but in the end it didn’t go my way.
I also played for my county. Here are my final match standings:
Under 9: board 1- Played 3 games, 2 wins and a loss.
Under 11: board 6 – Played 6 games, 3 wins and 3 losses.
Here is my favourite game from the season which lasted over an hour. It was the last game of the match and it was exhausting but I won!
My goals for next season are still to get my name on a perpetual trophy and to get 1 (preferably 2) half norms to allow me to go to the England qualifiers.