Category: Juniors

Four of our juniors travelled to Maidenhead this week for a one day rapid tournament. Here is a report on the day from one of those juniors; Luke Chapman:

On April 12th, four of our Bexhill juniors headed out to Maidenhead for a gruelling six rounds of intense junior chess action. In the hotly contested U11 section, Rose Burgess pulled out an impressive 4/6 drawing two of the strongest players in very intense matches.

In the U18 section, Sebastian Merchant, Samuel Merchant and Luke Chapman were battling it out. Sebastian Merchant, going into the final round on 3.5/5, was paired against a very tough opponent. The two fought it out for over an hour. Sebastian, who played some fascinating chess, after the tough six rounds, landed on 3.5/6. His brother, Sam, playing excellent chess all day, had a huge score of 4/5 going into the final round. Subsequently, Sam was paired against the highest seed who out-rated him by 400 points. He ended his day on a brilliant 4/6 with only one loss.
Finally, Luke Chapman, playing dubious, attacking chess all day, had the luck of the devil in the last round when his opponent hung a rook; he finished on 4.5/6, coming joint 3rd (4th on tie-break).

Well done to all of our rapidly progressing juniors and a big thank you to our supportive parents. Keep up the fantastic chess!

Round 4 of the Sussex junior chess Grand Prix season came to Hastings on the 2nd January. Due to a late let down from the usual hosting venue, the juniors were very kindly hosted up at Horntye sports complex as part of the ongoing Hastings congress.

It was a great start to the year for all our juniors but especially those new to tournament chess.

10 year old Samuel Merchant was competing in the very tough Under 18 major section. It’s a big jump up from the under 11s that often takes players a few seasons to adjust to. Samuel is doing himself proud, keeping his chin up and fighting hard and learning rapidly. He proudly came home with 2 points from 6.

In the under 18 minor section, Sebastian had a tough day, but still managed to bring home 3 points. Luke Chapman had a fantastic day. With only one loss, and a draw against the eventual second place winner, he finished on 4.5 and won third place! Well done, Luke!

Rose was competing in the under 11 major section and also had a good day. She finished on three points, only losing to the eventual first, second and third place winners and finished in 5th place.

In the under 11 minor section, Samuel (Devine) was competing in his first tournament! He played incredibly well and scored an incredible 3 out of 6! In his FIRST tournament! That put him in 12th place, a wonderful achievement! Well done, Samuel!
In the same section, Harry was back for his second tournament looking to build on his first great performance at Eastbourne last year. Harry finished on 3.5 points and just narrowly missed out on a trophy, finishing in 7th place. Well done, Harry!

Well done to all our juniors who continue to play fantastic chess and do themselves and their club proud!

It’s been a busy few weeks of chess at the University of Westminster, Harrow campus, with the London Junior chess championships (the biggest junior event of the year) running alongside the Northwick park congress.
A few of our juniors participated. Samuel Merchant battled it out against the best in the country in the super competitive under 10 section. He had a rocky start, but came back unbeaten on day 2 and finished with a respectable 4.5 from 7. That put him joint 11th in the country!! Well done Sam!
Another strong performance was put in by Luke Chapman who played in the under 12 minor section. He played through a grueling three games a day for three consecutive days and finished on a wonderful score of 6 from 9, putting him in 7th place! Well done Luke!
Finally, Sebastian Merchant played in the under 1500 (minor) section of the Northwick park congress. He had an incredibly consistent and flawless performance throughout.. and won the section! He finished on 4.5 from 5 (only dropping the half point because he took a bye in round 3). He is pictured with his £160 prize money! Well done Sebastian!