Two Leicestershire juniors were represented in the English Girls Championships which were held over the weekend of 19th and 20th of October in Oxford.
Lindsay Pyun came second in both the U11 and U14 sections scoring 4.5 out of 6 in both comptetitions. Sophie Mehta came 4th (on tie break) in the U11 section also scoring 4.5 out of 6. A really excellent result for both girls, well done! The full results are available below:
Many of Leicestershire’s junior players competed in the annual competition that took place at Leicester Grammar School on Sunday 13th October and which has two junior only sections along with sections open to adults as well.
In a competitive Junior U80 section Alex Cimurs and Sophie Mehta’s finished joint 1st on 5pts (out of 6). Alex had a perfect record up to the 6th round and lead the field but Sophie managed to pull him back in round 6 when she one the final round game between the two.
In the Schools ‘Ungraded’ U25 section there was a strong showing from Holywell school pupils with Shashank Prashanth winning all his games to head the section and Sam Wakelin finishing 2nd on 5 points.
In the mixed/adult junior sections, Jason Lv scored a very creditable 3.5/6 in the U165s and Sashel Kerbel (U140), Lyndsay Pyun (U115), Joshua Tang (U115) and Kori Lee (U115) all scored 3 points in their respective sections.
Detailed Results: Open, U165, U140, U115, Junior U80, Junior U25
This season’s first mini-rapidplay competition took place on Saturday 14th of September, with an excellent turnout of 34 competitors!
The Kings section was tied between Henry Powell and Lyndsay Pyun on 3 points out of 4, with Henry coming out just ahead on tie-break.
The Rooks section was very hard fought, with Garv Sehgal eventually coming out on top with 4 points out of 5, closely followed by Catherine LV and Arav Ajaykumar both on 3.5 points.
In the Knights section we had 7 new competitors! Nathan Phillips came out on top with an excellent 5 points out of 5. Aman Das was second with four points.
Please click the links below for the detailed results.
Entries for this year’s Rapidplay at Leicester Grammar School are now open on this link.
The 6 round swiss ECF graded Rapidplay is promoted by the LRCA (Leicester and Rutland Chess Association) with Open, U165, U140, U115 and Junior U80 sections.
There is also an ungraded U25 ‘schools’ section for children (under 11 on 01/09/19) that would be ideal for less experienced junior players new to tournament play.
Jason Lv, who last year won the George Winterton Cup for ‘Junior Team Player of the Year’ has been awarded the John Robinson Cup for ‘Most Improved Player’. In the last season Jason was invited to join the national junior squad and has seen his ECF grade rise from 108 to 146. Having won the County U120 championship in September 2018, Jason is currently well placed in this year’s County U160 championship with 1 game still to play (coincidentally against John Robinson!) and a chance to win the title.
Kajus Mikalajunas wins this year’s ‘Junior Team Player of the Year’ title and the George Winterton cup. Kajus was our top board U9 player last season and led possibly Leicestershire’s strongest ever U9 team to 2nd place in the Northern Zone and a fine 8th place nationally in the EPSCA county competition. Individually he also some fine performances in winning the Minor (U110) section at the Notts Rapidplay and the Kenilworth Open Junior U11 title.
Lindsay Pyun finished 2nd in the U10 Girls at the Midlands Gigafinal scoring the same number of points as the 1st place girl (they drew in their head to head game) and was only separated on tiebreak but still qualifies for the Terafinal.
An excellent 12 other Leicestershire players scored 4 points or more (out of 6) at this regional level to qualify for the Challengers Final
Midlands Gigafinal 6th/7th May
4 pts and over qualifies for the Challenger Final
U7 boys: Sam Wakelin (2.5pts)
U7 Girls: Emily Dyer (3)
U8 Girls: Catharine Lv (4)
U9A Boys: Joshua Tang (4.5), Alex Shen (4), Madhav Eradi (4), Arooj Mahajan (3)
U9 Girls: Sophie Mehta (4)
U10A Boys: Noor Datoo (4), Michal Kula (1)
U10B Boys: Aarav Sinha (4), Evan Miles (3), Alex Cimurs (3)
U10 Girls: 2nd Lindsay Pyun (5.5)
U12: Jason Lv (4.5), Henry Powell (4)
U15-18: Kishan Modi (4), Shyam Modi (4)
Northern Gigafinal 13th/14th July
U13: Anika Khare (4)
The last mini rapidplay of the season took place at Stoneygate Baptist Church and close fought competition resulted in tie breaks in all three sections
In the Kings, both Adam Kerbel and Anika Khare finished on 3pts out of 4 with Adam winning on the Buchholz tie break system by virtue of his opponents having achieved better overall scores in the competition than Anika’s opponents (obviously not something Anika could do much about!)
In the Rooks, three players (Catharine Lv, Garv Sehgal and Holly Fowkes) finished well clear of the field on 4pts out of 5 with Catherine winning on the tiebreak system.
Sam Wakelin and Oliver Brown tied on 5pts out of 6 in the Knights section with this time Sam winning on tiebreak due to having won their head to head match.
Full detailed results are here:
Leicestershire’s juniors had a good haul of results at the recent local UK Schools Chess Challenge Megafinals (county based) with 14 age group section winners (Supremos/Supremos) along with 11 additional qualifiers for the regional stages (Gigafinals) which take place in July. Particularly notable was Sophie Mehta’s 6/6 score in a competitive U9 section at the Northants & Leicestershire megafinal along with Lindsay Pyun’s winning 5.5pts score in winning the U10s. and Jason Lv’s unbeaten 5/6 winning score in the U12s which placed him 2nd out of the entire U18 section
The full lists of winners and qualifiers are as follows:
Northants & Leicestershire Megafinal
Supremos: Sam Wakelin (U7), Jason Lv (U12) – Supremas: Emily Dyer (U7), Catharine LV (U8), Sophie Mehta (U9), Lindsay Pyun (U10), Anika Khare (U13)
Qualifiers: Alex Shen (U9), Madhav Eradi (U9), Noor Datoo (U10)
Derby Megafinal:
Supremos: Alex Cimurs (U10), Aryan Ankolekar (U11), Daniel Chen (U12) Supremas: Olivia Chen (U8)
Qualifiers: Aarav Sinha (U10), Henry Powell (U12)
Nottingham Megafinal:
Supremos: Joshua Tang (U9), Tom Brown (U18) Supremas: Sophia Hilmi (U9)
Qualifiers: Conor Morris (U7), Arooj Mahajan (U9), Evan Miles (U10), Michel Kula (U10), Jacob Miles (U10), Ben Samworth (U11)
Leicester Junior Chess Club’s May mini-rapidplay was held at the club’s regular venue at Westleigh on Saturday 25th May
In the Kings sections, Leo Abraham won a competitive competition with 3.5 pts out of 4. The Rooks and Knights section was combined with Catherine Lv overhauling early leader Madhav Eradi to win the Rooks with 4/5 whilst Milan Hall won the Knights section with 3pts.
Full detailed results are here:
