Chester congress report

Here's a brief report on the Chester congress which took place last weekend: Three Shropshire juniors competed in the event at the weekend. Nathanael Paul scored 3/5 in the Intermediate section, a very strong result in this section which is for players under 130 grade. Along the way he beat one player graded 128 and drew against a 129. In the Minor section (under 100 grade), Athar Mehmood scored 3.5/5 and Francis Rooney 2.5/5. Meanwhile among the adults playing, Chris Paul scored 3/5 in the Minor and Steve Rooney scored 2.5/5 in the Major - managing to draw every single game.

UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal

Just a reminder to all those who qualified for the Gigafinal, you should have received your entry forms by post during the past week. If for any reason you haven't, I suggest you speak to the organisers - see contact details on their website - www.ukchesschallenge.com/contactus.shtml

Junior Academy and Fun tournament 6 June

Just a reminder that the next Shropshire Junior Chess Academy takes place on Saturday with an opportunity for some of the regulars to get their Pawn or Knight qualification! Also in the afternoon we will run a fun tournament from 1pm to 4.30pm - with cash prizes! It should be a good opportunity for a refresher for those who haven't played for a few weeks and a warm-up for Gigafinal qualifiers in the UK Chess Challenge. Both events are at Trinity School, Ford and are open to junior players of all levels.

Shropshire junior on England duties

Best of luck to Shropshire junior Athar Mehmood who is playing in an international tournament in Poland this week with an England side playing against teams from Turkey, France and Poland. We hope to give you the results of his exploits later in the week.

UK Chess Challenge qualifiers

Congratulations to all the Shropshire juniors who qualified for the next stage of the UK Chess Challenge competition. A total of 42 Shropshire juniors took part in the Megafinal which took place at Kingstone & Thruxton School near Hereford on Saturday and all those who scored 4 points from six games or were the leading player in their age group qualified for the next stage - the Northern Gigafinal which is held in July. The UK Chess Challenge is an annual competition that encourages chess amongst junior and secondary school children and involves more than 70,000 children.
The Shropshire qualifiers for the 2009 Gigafinal are:
Greg Jones - (Much Wenlock) Under 7 - Runner up 4/6
Laura Newey - (Lilleshall) Under 10 - Suprema 5/6
Angus Ingliss-Jones - (Castle House) Under 10 - Runner up 4/6
Charlotte Collier - (Castle House) Under 11 Runner up - 4.5/6
Alice Collier - (Castle House) Under 11 4/6
Georgia Stannard - (St Georges, Shrewsbury) Under 11 4/6
Tom Holiday - (St Georges, Shrewsbury) Under 11 - Runner up 4/5/6
Joe Booth - (St Georges, Shrewsbury) Under 11 4/6
George Kilby - (St Georges, Shrewsbury) Under 11 4/6
Athar Mehmood - (Wrekin College) Under 12 - Supremo 6/6
Angelica Dean - Under 13 - Suprema 4/6
Matthew Best - ( Mary Webb) Under 13 - Supremo 4/6
Mark Richards - (Adams Grammar) Under 13 - 4/6
Jonathan Newey - (Adams Grammar) Under 14 - Supremo 6/6
Luke West - (Adams Grammar) Under 14 - 4/6
Francis Rooney (Church Stretton) Under 14 - 4/6
Peter Mellor - (Blessed Robert Johnson) Under 15 - Supremo 4/6
Chris Lovejoy - (Adams Grammar) Under 16 - Supremo 4/6
Sam Eardley - (Adams Grammar) Under 16 - 4/6
Jamie Allan - (Adams Grammar) Under 16 - 4/6
Nathanael Paul - (New College) Under 17 - Supremo 4.5/6
Alex Taylor - (Adams Grammar) Under 18 - Supremo 3.5/6
(Supremo/Suprema means they won their age section.) Apologies if I have missed any qualifiers - of so please add the details on a comment and I'll update the table.

Peter Mellor wins junior prize at Nottingham

Congratulations to Shropshire Junior's county team board one Peter Mellor who played in the Nottingham Congress last weekend and won the top junior prize with 3.5/5 in the under 100 section.

Juniors excel in league season

Shrewsbury Juniors and Newport Juniors finished fourth and fifth respectively in Shropshire's division three this season, a very good outcome for both teams who have made some great results against higher-graded adult teams. Shrewsbury, who scored five wins and three draws from 12 matches, were lying in third place right up until the last match but a match default by Wellington B let Oswestry B slip past them. Let's hope they can match that form in the summer cup competitions!