SOMERSET COUNTY CHESS ASSOCIATION



Somerset Chess News (2016-17 Season)
24/07/2017 Junior Chess

SCCA 2017 AGM. Minutes of the 122nd AGM. Trophy presentations (photos): Henry Powell Shield (D1), Charles Marsh Cup (D2E), Charles Marsh Cup (D2W).
19/07/2017 SCCU Anniversary

The Southern Counties Chess Union (SCCU) is celebrating its 125th (quasquicentenary) anniversary this year.  To commemorate the occasion they are staging a North of the Thames vs South of the Thames match on Saturday 16th September at Swiss Cottage in London.  Somerset was a member of the SCCU until the creation of the WECU in 1947. Details can be found on the SCCU web-site (see post for 10th July). Any Somerset player wishing to take part should contact the South team manager Mike Gunn.
20/05/2017 Somerset League

Winners in the 2016/2017 season are as follows: Division 1 - Yeovil; Division 2 East - Trowbridge; Division 2 West - Sedgemoor; Division 3 East - Frome; Division 3 West - 4-way tie between Weston-super-Mare, Sedgeless, Glastonbury and Yeovil.
15/05/2017 28th Frome Congress

The 2017 Congress was one of the most successful ever.. There was an exceptionally large entry of 188 with record numbers in the Minor and Intermediate sections. Particularly pleasing was the relatively large number of juniors of both sexes, many of whom were playing their first ever standard play tournament. A full report can be found on the Congress Home Page. Congratulations to Andy Gregory the new Somerset Champion.
04/04/2017 Junior Chess

There was an excellent performance by Somerset juniors in the Wiltshire and West of England Junior Championships. Among many good performances were the following:
West of England U16 Champion: Oliver Howell (Millfield)
WoE U18 Girls' Champion: Zoe Varney (Millfield)
WoE U14 Champion: Max Walker (Churchill Academy)
Minor Section, 1st Place: Nicholas Cunliffe (Wells)
WoE U9 Champion: Matthew Timbrell
U9 Controller's Prize: Ernie Fields
Saturday Intermediate, 3rd Place & Controller's Prize: John Skeen (Churchill Academy)
04/04/2017 Somerset Cup

Trowbridge won the Somerset Cup beating Glastonbury 4.5-3.5.
15/02/2017 Junior Chess

Somerset Girls had a good day in Swindon on Sunday 12th. The Under 18s beat Berkshire and Wiltshire with 10 points out of a maximum of 12 whilst the Under 11s beat Wiltshire 10.5-7.5.
10/02/2017 Junior Chess

The final Grand Prix of the season was held last weekend in Frome with the biggest entry for several years. Competition was very tight in all sections but the winners all remained unbeaten. Here are the results. U7s and U8s; U9s; U10s; U14s.

31/01/2017 Junior Chess

 A fantastic day at St Saviours for the latest round of the Somerset Grand Prix series. The chess certainly made up for the horrible weather.
First up, the Under 9s was a big group and we all sang Happy Birthday to Charlie Barrington, which probably embarrassed him enormously. There were some big upsets and great improvements seen by many players. It was good to welcome back a couple of the Bath players that we haven't seen for a while. Their lack of match practice showed a bit as they were clearly a little rusty. It was good to see Dwiti Acharya win the U7s along with elder sister Kandara winning all 6 to top the U9s. Best U8 was Gabriel Keech who will be on home turf next week in Frome. Equally pleasing was Logan Harvey who has really put in masses of hard work and listened to the advice given. He was winning against Joseph Pagnamenta only to blunder a rook in the ending.

The U11s was mainly the U10s as the main players went to the South of England. However, this only allowed the others to make it super-competitive and mostly they used every minute of their clocks. Finn Doyle was enjoying home advantage and really looked great. His game against Toby Kan in the last round was crucial for both and was the very last game to finish on the day. The winner was Toby as expected but he was given notice that things may be different next time!! Runners up were Ava Delves-Broughton, Fiona Thet and Aabha Kurtkoti. Not many counties can boast of girls this strong. Finn was the top U10 on tie break ahead of Nidal Shah and Eben Tomkins.

The top section had 12 players at the start but Andy Wang had to leave early as he was unwell. Hope he gets well soon. Everyone was evenly matched and all the games were well fought so that the players often only had 10 minutes between rounds. It was a great day for Peter Skeen as he beat his elder brother for the first time in a competitive match. He almost took Max Walker to a draw but was unaware of the 2 minute rule and lost on time in an equal position. Max went on to remain unbeaten although he said it was a tough day. It is so good to see these children continuing after starting secondary school when many just give up.

Full Results are here: U9s, U11s, U14s

As I write this report the ECF grades have come out and Somerset Juniors now have grades!!! I think this is the next big step for the county as we reach out and compete at the higher levels.

In the South of England tournament at the same time Lawrence, Ernie, Fedor, Samir and Prince were all doing well. Not sure yet of the final scores, though.
29/01/2017 WECU County Championship

Somerset's recent match against Cornwall resulted in a hard fought draw even though Somerset were out-graded on the majority of boards. Full results are here.
18/01/2017 Junior Chess

On Saturday Somerset Juniors played in the Wales and West Jamboree. County teams from all over descended on Chepstow for the annual competition. The U14s and U9s won their sections with the U11s coming a very close second. The standard overall was incredibly high with a large number of International players on show. The U14s and U11s played three games each lasting 2½ hours while the U9s played 4 games lasting 1¼ hours each. Individual results and are given below and photos are on the Facebook page.

U14   Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3
NAME Surname      
Chirag Hosdurga 1 1 1
Fedor Turetskiy 1 1 0
Andy Wang 0.5 1 0
Max Walker 1 1 1
Jack Tye 1 1 0
Ken Greenshields 0 0.5 1
Callum MacDonald-Connolly 1 0 1
Jamie Keil 1 1 1
Lawrence Fields 1 1 0
Bethany Austin 1 1 1
William Horrigan 1 1 ?
Robin Veitch 0 0 0
Onni MacLeay 1 1 1

U11   Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3
NAME Surname      
Toby Kan 0 0.5 1
Samir Khan 1 1 1
Iben Hullah 0 0.5 0
Fiona Thet 1 1 0
Harry Donald 1 0 0
Isaac Searle 1 1 1
Tom Grogan 0 0 1
Finn Doyle 1 1 1
Ava Delves-Broughton 1 0 1
Bentley Pilton-Brandes 0 1 1
Yu-Heng Chu 0 1 1
Riley Ashdown-Doel 0 1 0
Abi Arnall-Culliford 1 1 0
James Perry 1 1 1
Tom Wright 0 1 1
Milly Hughes 1 0 0
Eero MacLeay 0 1 0
Thomas Cummins 1 1 0
U9   Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4
NAME Surname        
Matthew Timbrell 1 0.5 1 1
Ernie Fields 1 0.5 1 1
Kandara Acharya 1 0.5 1 0
Joseph Pagnamenta 1 1 1 1
Garbriel Keech 1 0.5 1 0
Filip Gromic 1 0 1 0
Jonathan Zeng 1 1 1 1
Jack Delahoy 1 1 1 0
Rudy Bull 1 0 0 1
Oliver Summers 0 1 1 0
Benjamin Cummins 0.5 0 1 0
Annabel Hughes 0 1 0 1
Logan Harvey 1 1 1 1
Ezra Payne - 1 1 1
Matthew Perry 1 0 1 0

15/12/2016 Junior Chess

The latest Somerset Junior Chess Grand Prix was held at Peasedown St John which proved to be a brilliant venue. All the games will be sent to the ECF for grading in the new year.
One of the strongest sections was, naturally, the Under 14s and although top seed Chirag Hosdurga had to pull out at the last minute due to illness, no-one was prepared for the new girl on the block, Maria Eze from South Bristol chess club. She stormed through the field and had basically won before the last round was played. This did not stop Fedor Turitskiy from making sure that Maria did not have things all her own way. After his first round shock he duly won the last game to finish joint first with Maria and Andy Wang.

The under 11s was incredibly competitive and large numbers came from Combe Down near Bath. In the end we had a four-way tie with Isaac Searle and Alex Timbrell joined by England hopefuls Iben Hullah and Samir Khan. Notable performances by many new players including Tansy Fowler, Arthur Reakesmith and Charlie Duncan finishing on 4 points. While some new players did not score so highly they had really hard tussles where endgame technique and experience often proved the decisive factor in their losses.

Matthew Timbrell and Ernie Fields were split by Jonathan in the Under 9s and, again, the top seeds did not have an easy ride but Matthew stuck at his game and his class showed in the end. It was nice to see Bella Spires-Swadling getting on the scoresheet after her torrid time at Blagdon. Her determination is very admirable.

In the youngest group for Under 7s and U8s we saw the largest entry by a mile for many a time. Plenty of new faces and the star of the show was Filip Gromic and his mammoth battle with Gabriel Keech in the last round. Florrie Spires-Swadling also gained in confidence after her previous tournaments and did well to finish joint fifth.
Thank you to so many parents for helping run sections, doing the results and pairings, setting up and packing away. This was a lovely friendly tournament.


Full results are here: Under 7 and Under 8's, Under 9's, Under 11's, Under 14's
05/11/2016 WECU County Championship

Somerset's recent match against Gloucestershire resulted in a 9.5-6.5 win for Gloucestershire. Full results are here.
14/10/2016 Junior Chess

On Sunday the first Grand Prix of the season was held at Blagdon Primary School. 65 children from all over competed in three sections

The U8s had 5 games packed into 3 hours so they had very little rest. There were some excellent skills on display with Frome supremo, Gabriel Keech leading the way and winning all his games.
In the U9s we saw some terrific struggles with any of the top 10 being possible winners. In the end there was a tie between Kandara Acharya and Matthew Timbrell and their final match was definitely "game of the day". The largest section was the U14s which should have been split into U11s and U14s but that is another story. However, the older players did not have it all their own way and the U10s did particularly well in the final analysis. Chirag Hosdurga was totally dominant and played beautifully to win outright. Other highlights were Iben Hullah being on board 1 in the last round and Samir Khan finishing as top U11 and showing his current form.

Full results are here: U8s, U9s, U14s