He’s Joined the club!
We have mentioned the strength in depth of our leading juniors:
Here they are pictured preparing for the Grand Prix 9 event on Friday 23 May.
Rose Burgess (featured recently) seated -L, and Sam Merchant, (featuring today) seated – R.
Against very strong all-club opposition (16 players of all grades) young Sam took joint second place, alongside Howard Tebbs, with 3/4 points.
Is Sam now unstoppable?
See the Grand Prix section on this website for full details. This cannot be without a mention for Luke Chapman, recently featured, winning this round with 4/4. Luke remains the overall Grand Prix leader with 24 points, James Lumsden second with 19.5, and Sam currently in third place, in close contest with 18.5 overall.
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Sam ‘s greatest recent achievement is making his debut for England in a match against Flanders for the u-12 category. There he played 2 classical games on the first day and won one, lost one. On the second day there was a mini blitz tournament, and Sam scored an impressive 4.5/9.
Here are photos from Sam’s England debut:
And earlier in May, with the leading Bexhill contingent, Sam excelled in the Sussex Junior Grand Prix. Harry won 1st place in the u-12, Luke took 2nd in the u-14s, and Harry, Rose and Sam were presented with loyalty medals. Sam had been moved up, at the end of last season, into the u-18 major section. He is competing against the best u-18s in the county.
He has years ahead to climb upwards in this arena.
Pictured here at the Junior Grand Prix with Back Row : L-R – Sebastian Merchant, Rose Burgess, Luke Chapman and Front Row : L- R Harry Morter and Sam Merchant.
ISN’T THAT JUST GRAND!!
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