bexhillchessclub.co.uk
Thanks to everyone who supported our junior Christmas party and blitz tournament. It was a great fun event. We had a tie for first place between Luke and Rose, but a 2+1 play off gave Luke the infamous golden Christmas pudding trophy!! Special thanks to Karen for the yummy Knight cookies! Merry Christmas to all our wonderful juniors!
Congratulations to Bexhill Junior Rose Burgess who won the Under 18 Girls Closed Sussex tournament this weekend. Rose dominated winning all five of her games to be crowned the top female junior in the county! Well done, Rose! It is a fantastic achievement and we are all so proud of you.
(Rose is pictured here receiving her trophy from the very talented and very lovely Cassie Graham.)
Last weekend, many of our juniors headed over to Worthing for the sixth and final Grand Prix of the Sussex junior chess season. It was a great day and all the juniors did us proud!
In the under 11 minors we had three players, two of whom were playing in their very first county tournament. Hudson scored a fantastic 3 out of 6 in his first event, an amazing achievement! Sebastian S, also playing in his first event, scored an incredible 3.5 out of 6! Amazing! Zach had a really good day scoring 4.5 out of 6 and came joint third. Unfortunately he just missed out on a trophy due to tie-break, but was awarded an arbiters award for his excellent performance.
In the under 11 majors, the top two seeds were Bexhill juniors Harry and Noah. Harry scored 3.5 out of 6, and Noah finished in 3rd place with 4/6. Well done boys!
In the under 18 majors, Sebastian M was playing for the first time in the major section. He scored 2 out of 6 and kept his chin up during what is often a very tough transition from playing in the minors to the majors. Rose and Samuel both finished on respectable 3/6, but the man of the moment was our Luke Chapman, continuing his rapid progression who scored 5.5 out of 6 and won the section!
Once the tournament was wrapped up it was time to announce the age group winners for the 2023/24 season:
Timmy Nguyen won the under 8 age group.
Noah Pearson won the under 9 age group.
Luke Chapman won the under 13 age group.
Sebastian Merchant came 2nd in the under 15 age group.
Well done to everyone for a fantastic season. Thanks to everyone at SJC that makes these events happen. Look forward to doing it all again next season.
The 2024/2025 season will begin in September in Crowborough.
Congratulations to the Merchant brothers who travelled to Maidenhead this weekend to compete in the Maidenhead Junior chess congress. Samuel, despite being an under 11, decided to play up in the under 18 section with his brother Sebastian. Both boys had a great day. It was a gruelling seven round tournament with very little of a break between rounds. Sebastian lost to the top seed and to the overall winner and lost one other game in a time scramble. Other than that he scored three wins and a draw to finish on a respectable 3.5 points.
Samuel had an incredible day, drawing with the top seed rated just under 1700, but other than that, winning all his games! He scored 6.5 from 7 and won the first place trophy! Including this beautiful perpetual trophy!
Well done boys!
On the fourth of November, five of our Bexhill juniors set out for a
tough battle; they were to play for Sussex teams in the National Youth Chess Association Junior Team Championships in Oxford.
In the U18 team, Sebastian scored 2.5 from 3 on board 5; a very
impressive result against strong players. He also was awarded star player. Then for the U14 team, Luke Chapman scored 2.5 on board 1 against some strong opponents.
Finally, in the U12 team, Andy and Sam on boards 1 and 2 both scored 1.5 from 3. On board 6, Rose won all her three games resulting in a Sussex U12 team second place finish and, for Rose, a star player award.
Thank you to all our parents for their driving and support.
Congratulations to the U12s, and a huge thank you to Steve Merchant for helping organise another brilliant day of chess for Bexhill juniors – 11 points from 15 games!
(Luke Chapman)
Bexhill juniors took a team of nine players to the Worth Grand Prix, everyone had a fantastic day and played some great chess.
In the U8’s we had Timmy Nguyen who scored an incredible 5/6 coming second!
We’re looking forward to seeing how he performs in the U8 championship this weekend!
In the U10’s we had Jaxson Foster and Noah Pearson both in their second ever tournament!
Jaxson in fact played Noah in the second round. He won and finished on two points.
Noah played the person who ended up winning the tournament in round 1 and was winning but made an unfortunate error under time pressure and lost but still managed to score 2 points.
In the U12’s we had Samuel Merchant, Harry Morter and Rose Burgess.
Harry won 3 points from 5 rounds and then got a draw in round 6 giving him a total of 3.5 points coming 5th and qualifying for the under twelves minor section at the London championships, as did Rose who got 3.5 points as well and the top girl trophy!
Samuel got 5 from 5 and took a draw with Rose in the last round getting 5.5/6 and winning the section! Congratulations Sam!
In the U18 minor there was Sebastian Merchant, who scored two and a half points.
In the U18 major we had Luke Chapman and Andy Nguyen.
In a very tough section, Luke scored 2 and Andy three and a half.
Well done to our four juniors who travelled up to Yateley manor school this weekend for the South of England chess championships.
Sebastian Merchant came down ill the night before the tournament. He bravely battled in the under 15 section but lost his first two games and had to take a bye in the last round of the first day. However he came back strong on day two, winning both his games and finishing on 2.5 in 14th place.
Rose Burgess and Luke Chapman were both playing in the under 13 section. Rose scored 2 from 5 and Luke managed one more finishing on 3 from 5 in 6th position. Great results from an incredibly competitive section.
Finally, Samuel Merchant was playing in the under 11 section. He had a great weekend and won 4 from 5, meaning he finished in joint second place and won a share of the prize money.
Congratulations to you all!
Congratulations to Bexhill junior Rose Burgess who has just returned from Newcastle where she was playing in the Northumbria Masters and won the Women’s prize of £50 cash! Well done Rose! 💪🏻
Many congratulations to Bexhill junior Rose Burgess who played at the EJCOA national youth championships last weekend. Rose, pictured here with CM Rob Willmoth and IM Lorin D’Costa, won a training award for outstanding performance in the training sessions; £50 chess and bridge voucher. Well done Rose!!
Last weekend, seven members of Bexhill chess club headed over to Tunbridge wells for the Kent congress held at the bridge club.
It was a well run event in a beautiful building and a great weekend of chess.
In the under 1650 section, Sharon Merchant was very happy to win two points. Sebastian Merchant scored 3 and finished in 8th. Samuel Merchant came in 4th (joint 2nd) and won the grading prize of £50. Luke Chapman had a fantastic congress and finished on 4.5 in joint first place! He wins £138! Congratulations Luke!! 🥳🥳🥳
In the very competitive under 1950 section, Steve Blewitt managed a win and two draws to finish on 2 points. Bill Luxton managed half a point more with 2 wins and a draw to finish on 2.5. And finally Steve Merchant with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, finished with 3 points in 13th place.
Many thanks to Satish Gaekwad, Ashok Damodaran for their excellent organization. And especially to John Bowley for being the most friendly and professional arbiter I have ever met.