Thirteen children and parents made the trip to Kenilworth School on the 23^rd April to take part in the first Warwickshire Junior Team league event. 16 teams had entered from around the country, and Leicestershire were represented with one team in the 1^st division and two equal strength teams in the 2^nd division.

The 1^st division put in an excellent performance, with some of the other teams containing players who had played at international levels. They finished in a creditable 4^th place beating Manchester Grammar school on tie break. Yuvraj was the top scorer with 4 points over the day, showing excellent fighting spirit to comeback from an early mistake to turn the tables on his opponents. Sofia also played very solid chess, being the last to finish at least once and scoring 3 points on top board.

In the second division Leicester Junior 2 came back from a couple of early losses to be in contention for third place medals going into the last round. However, they were not able to overcome a strong Coventry team in the last round and finished in 5^th place overall. Top scorer and unbeaten in any of the team matches was Shaylan with 4.5 points out of 5.

Leicester Juniors 3 put in an excellent performance to finish in 3^rd place overall, with all the team members winning medals! Well done to Matthew, Jennifer, Shiven and Sia. All the team members put in good performances, and I was particularly impressed with Matthew’s concentration, making full use of his time on the clock to score an excellent 4.5 points on top board.

Well done to all the children who took part. There are plans to hold more of these events in the future and I hope to enter lots of Leicester teams moving forwards!

36 children took part in the December rapidplay on Saturday 11th at the Oak Centre. The Knights and Rooks played with a 10-minute time limit whilst the Kings played in a separate room at 15 minutes + 5 seconds per move.

12 children took part in the Knights section, playing 4 games in total. At the end there were 4 players tied for first place, with Edward Elliott taking the first place medal on tie break.

1^st Edward – 3 / 4

2^nd Aadav, Shika and Srijit – 3/4

13 players took part in the Rooks section, where we managed to complete 5 rounds of play. At the end there was a clear winner Aman Das with a perfect 5pts out of 5. Shey and David came 2^nd and 3^rd with 4 wins out of 5

1^st Aman – 5/5

2^nd Shey – 4/5

3^rd David – 4/5

The Kings played in the separate room, and this was a strong tournament with several the strongest players in the county taking part. At the end Musa Peer was the clear winner with 4 points out of 4. Jack was a close 2^nd and Laurence put in an excellent performance to finish in 3^rd place.

1^st Musa – 4/5

2^nd Jack – 3 / 4

3^rd Laurence 2.5 / 4

In each section there were medal prizes for the first three places

42 children took part in the first face to face rapidplay of the year at the Oak Centre in Braunstone.

In the Kings section new member Jack Pilley took first place with a perfect 4 points out of 4, and we look forward to Jack representing Leicestershire in junior and adult competitions throughout this year. Adam Kerbel and and Sophie Mehta both scored 3 out of 4 with Adam taking the 2nd place medal on tie break

14 players contested the Rooks section, with Yvon putting in a great performance to finish top with a perfect 5 wins out of 5. Sathsara and Zara both finished with 4 points out of 5 taking the 2nd and 3rd place medals.

19 children (!) took part in the busy Knights section, with new players putting some excellent performances. For many of the children this was their first competition and we were impressed with how they kept their concentration throughout the day. David finished in first place with 4.5 points out of 5, well done David. Srijt and Neel both scored 4 points out 5 taking the 2nd and 3rd place medals.

Thank you to all the children who took part, and we will look to the next rapid play in December!

The LRCA is staging a 5 round Leicestershire Online Rapidplay on Saturday 1st May with Open, U1700, Junior U1300 and Junior U1000 sections. The time control for the top 3 sections is 15 mins + 10 secs with the 1st round at 1pm (the Junior U1000 section begins at 10am with a 10mins + 5sec time control). Fide International arbiter Adam Raoof will be running the tournament on the Tornelo platform https://home.tornelo.com/ and all players will take part in a zoom call whilst games are taking place as a fair play measure.

You can enter at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leicestershire-online-rapidplay-tickets-148486554281 and the entry fee is £5
Any queries should be directed to competition organiser Alan Agnew tel 07434 286893 / email alanagnew_uk@yahoo.co.uk

42 children took part in the Leicestershire Junior Online Championships on Saturday 20th February. All games were played using the Tornelo chess platform with Fide arbiter Adam Raoof present to help ensure fair play.

Congratulations to Lindsay Pyun who as well as winning the U13 section also takes the title and trophy for Leicestershire Junior online champion 2021 with a score in of 4.5/5 in the combined U13 and U18 section!

Amelia Ahmad topped the U9 section and Joshua Tang won the U11 section both with perfect scores of 5 out of 5. All children in the first 3 places for their age category won trophies. In the event of any tied scores trophies were awarded according to the Buchholz tie break system (sum of opponents scores)

U9

1. Amelia Ahmad 5/5
2. Mikhail Tyukin 3/5
3. Yvon Van Neerven 3/5

U11

1. Joshua Tang 5/5
2. Sophie Mehta 4/5
3. Adeeb Syed 4/5

U13

1. Lindsay Pyun 4.5/5
2. Noor Datoo 3/5
3. Anant Kapoor 3/5

U18

1. Sasha Kerbel 4.5/5
2. Ashish Singh 4/5
3. John Moughtin-Leay 3/5

Best placed U18 girl – Rameen Masood – 3/5

I am pleased to tell you that on Saturday 20^th February the Leicestershire Juniors closed online chess championships will take place. The games will take place using the Tornelo chess tournament platform (it is free to create an account), and all players will take part in a zoom call whilst games are taking place. This is a similar format that the English Chess Federation used for the recent U18 County championships and the British Online Chess Championships. The tournament will be overseen and controlled by Fide arbiter Adam Raoof.

There will be separate sections for U9, U11, U18 which will also incorporate the U13 section. Entry is only open to Leicestershire qualified players. A Leicestershire player is someone either living, attending school, or attending a chess club within Leicestershire.

Time Control: 10 mins plus 5 sec increment per move

There will be prizes for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd positions in each age category, with county titles for the overall winners in each age category. If not already winning a prize, there will be prize for the best placed girl in each section.

All ages are at 31/8/20, so the categories will be in effect apply to the school years below. The date of birth will take precedence when choosing a section.

Under 9 : School years 1- 4

Under 11 : School years 5 & 6

Under 13 : School years 7 & 8

Under 18 : School years 9 – 13

If you would like any more information please contact Alan Agnew at alanagnew_uk@yahoo.co.uk or 07434 286896

Online entry is available here:

Lindsay Pyun has been awarded the John Robinson Cup for the most improved Leicestershire Junior Chess Player. She has worked hard at her game and competed extensively with results such as Top U12 Girl at the England Youth Online Championships and 5th U12 Girl at the UK Chess Challenge Terafinal.

Joshua Tang wins the George Winterton Cup for the Leicestershire Junior Team Player of the year. He won all his games at the EPSCA Northern Zonal where Leicestershire qualified for the National final and led the U11 team on board 1 in the Midland Counties Championships. He has also been a regular in the Leicestershire Juniors 1st team in the Online 4NCL competitions.

12 children took part in the last Knights rapidplay of December on Saturday 19th of December, with a trophy available for the winner! Siyoung Ryu took first place with a perfect 5 wins out of 5. Yvon Van Neerven was 2nd with 4 points, and Zara and Mikhail shared 3rd place.

1 – Siyoung 5/5

2- Yvon 4 / 5

3- Zara Mehta and Mikhail Tyukin – 3 / 5

17 players took part in the last rapidplay of December on Saturday 12th of December. John Moughtin Leay and Sophie Mehta finished with 4.5 points out of 5, with a draw in their individual game. John took first place on tie break, and Noor Datoo finshed in clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. All three receive vouchers for the online store at chess.co.uk!

1. John Moughtin Leay – 4.5
2. Sophie Mehta – 4.5
3. Noor Datoo – 3.5

14 players tooks part in the last Rooks rapidplay of December, with trophies and medals available for the first 3 places.

Amelia Ahmad was the clear winner with a maximum 5 points out of 5. Sofia and Anjal fought out a tough game in the last round to decide who took second place.

1. Amelia – 5/5
2. Sofia – 4/5
3. Anjal, Sathsara and Aarav 3/5 – Anjal takes the 3rd place medal on tie break.