At the final J4NCL weekend of the season, we played one team in Div 1 and one in Div 2. Leicester Blues managed to win Div 2 despite an inauspicious start which saw the team comprehensively beaten in the first round. Thereafter the team managed to win the remaining 4 rounds to swoop into the lead for the first time at the conclusion of the last round. Having played a fine drawn game against a very highly graded player in the 1st round when playing in the reserves, Umar Syed then proceeded to win the remaining 4 games, this time playing for the team each time. Matthew Lo played in the final two rounds on Sunday and took a win and then a mature and ‘strategic’ draw to clinch the match as the final game to finish in round 5. Jason Lv also had a good weekend winning 3 games. Continue reading →

Leicestershire hosted the twice yearly 4 Counties U130 U18 competition between Yorks, Notts, Lincs and Leics at Leicester Grammar School on the 26th March. Having won the competition at Notts High School back in November the Leicestershire team had something to live up to and gave a spirited if ultimately unsuccessful defence of their title by finishing 2nd. Leicestershire played Notts and Lincs in the first two rounds and won both matches relatively comfortably, 8-4 and 10-2. Meanwhile Yorkshire also won the first two rounds even more convincingly meaning that Leicestershire would need to beat Yorkshire in the final round to win the competition. In the event Yorkshire, who were still fielding 75-80 calibre players on boards 11 and 12 and outgraded us comfortably on boards 1-4, proved just too strong and beat Leicestershire 8.5 – 3.5. Although the result was never really in doubt for Yorkshire, a couple of late reverses in the last games to finish made their margin of victory seem a little more flattering than it felt at the time. Every member of the team achieved at least one win over the three rounds and there were outstanding performances from Matthew Lo and Thomas Blay (3 wins out of 3) and Anika Khare and Sasha Kerbel (2 wins and a draw). Continue reading →

The Leicestershire Junior Congress (incorporating the County Championships) took place on Sunday 5th March at Leicester Grammar School with 50 entrants in the Open section and 38 in the Minor Section. Unlike previous years the sections were divided by playing level/ability rather than age in order to provide better and more balanced competition for all players and this clearly did encourage more children to enter who had previously not played outside of their school chess clubs. Continue reading →

Leicestershire Juniors competed in the Midland team Championships on the 25th February at Nottingham High School. Many children were making their debut playing for the county. The U9 team finished an unexpected and excellent clear 3rd behind strong teams from Northants and Nottingham on 12.5 points (out of 24). Continue reading →

Three teams of Leicester Juniors played in a record field of 26 teams in Division 2 of the 2nd J4NCL (Junior 4 Nations Chess League) weekend on the 21st/22nd January in Solihull and the Leicester Reds team achieved a historic victory. In the 1st weekend back in October the two Leicester teams had finished 3rd and 7th respectively but with a few key players missing on the 2nd day, we were left with the feeling that, but for that, Leicestershire might have placed higher. This time with a more settled team it was a different story. Continue reading →

Entries are now open online for the Leicestershire Junior Open Chess Congress (a 6 round swiss competition (all players play in every round)) which will be held on Sunday 4th February at Leicester Grammar School.

The Open & Major (Under ECF 80) sections (time control 25 mins + 5 secs) are designed for more experienced players and all games will be ECF graded.

The Minor section (under ECF 30 or ungraded) is ideal for players new to competition who’s previous experience of competitive chess is in a school club. The time control is shorter (15 mins per player) than the other sections and the competition will also finish earlier (around 2:30pm).

Please click on the link for further details and Online entry.

Leicestershire sent U11 and U11 girl’s teams to an inaugural 4 counties competition at Rugby between Warwickshire (the host county), Oxfordshire and Northants on the 27th November. The U11 team drew 4-4 in the 1st round against Warwickshire and then won in the 2nd against Northants 5-3. The hardest match was still to come though in the 3rd round and a strong Oxon team put paid to Leicester hopes of winning the overall competition by coming out on top 6-2. Continue reading →

After coming close last April, Leicestershire Juniors finally won the 3rd staging of the 4 Counties Juniors U130 Competition at Nottingham High School between Yorks, Notts, Lincs and Leicestershire by winning all three matches. Continue reading →

The Leicestershire Junior Chess Championships, a 6 round 20mins + 10 sec rapidplay competition, took place on Sunday 3rd July at Leicester Grammar School, which proved a popular venue. This year all sections were graded and entries were encouraged from outside the county as well as within. The result were strong fields in the U9s, U11s and U18s and competition was keen amongst the 73 entrants. Continue reading →

Leicestershire competed in the ECF U13 U18 county team competition in Brighton on Sunday 26th June. The U13 Minor team (6 players graded <110) came desperately close to winning the title finishing equal 1st on 15 points with hosts Sussex only to lose out on the total number of wins (13 – 14). The team had started particularly well scoring 9 pts from the first two rounds (out of 4) to establish a healthy 3 pt lead. Still leading after round 3 it took a very strong last round from Sussex to pull it back to level. Both George Worrow-Goodin and Ben Cox were unbeaten over the 4 matches whilst Milly Kotecha and Toby Cox both scored 3 pts out of 4. The U18 minor team ( 6 players graded < 130) found it tough going being outgraded in most games, although they particularly suffered from a poor 1st round. Thereafter they scored a respectable 2½ – 3 points per round with all team members scoring at least 1 win. The teams were: Continue reading →