Kent equal first in the U11 EPSCA Zonal
Congratulations
to our superb young Kent U11 team which fought hard and took equal first place
on points with Barnet at the U11 EPSCA Zonal and qualifying for the final in
style. Unfortunately, we narrowly missed out by one win to Barnet in the tie
break and had to settle for silver medals.
The
EPSCA U11 Zonal was hosted by Northampton at the splendid Malcom Arnold Academy
on Saturday 21st March 2015 with 10 county teams all competing for a
place in the EPSCA final and to be awarded champions of the EPSCA East Zone.
Despite
the drizzly weather, the team spirit of Kent’s youngsters was bright and cheerful.
We commenced the day full of enthusiasm and anticipation, eager for the team
talks which were led on this occasion by Rohan Shiatis KCM. It was a team with
a valuable balance of experience and youth; many playing for Kent for the first
time; each player conducting themselves with good grace and maturity. It was a
day to truly make us proud to be a part of Kent Junior Chess.
Right from the go, it was clear that our players were not just there to qualify
for the final but to have a real go at taking the East Zone title. With a solid
15 out of 20, we were second equal after the first round with Barnet, Herts
taking the lead by half a point. Northants and Richmond were fourth equal on
11.5 points. Our reserves scored a sound 3 points from 7.
Following
wise team building words from Rohan, the team upped their game in the second
round and scored a strong 16 out of 20, taking our overall score to 31. Barnet
scored 16.5 in the round putting them on 31.5 overall and so taking a narrow
half point lead into the last round. Herts had dropped to third with a total of
29 points but were still close behind, Essex had moved up to fourth with 25.5
points. Our reserves scored a superb 5 points from 7 taking their total to 8.
The
team fought hard in the last round, increasing their tally and scored the best
single round score of the day with a superb 18 points from 20, taking our total
to 49. After three gruelling rounds and over 300 hard fought games, the title decider
went down to one of the last matches to be finished on the day, Kent Board 2
against Barnet Board 2. It could not have been closer and the two players battled
hard but could not be separated on the board, finally agreeing a draw. With
Barnet scoring 17.5 points in the final round, it meant the two teams were tied
on 49 points apiece, with Herts third on 42.5 points and Essex fourth with 36
points.
The
EPSCA rule books came out. The tie break went down to the team with the most
number of wins on the day and Barnet narrowly pipped us by a single extra win.
Our
reserves scored 4 points from 7 in the final round taking their total to 12
points, also narrowly missing out to Barnet. There were strong performances by
all of the reserves, but special mention to David Dallakyan who scored 3 out of
3.
The
final scores were as follows:
Kent and Barnet 49, Hertfordshire 42.5, Essex 36,
Northamptonshire 31.5, Richmond 28.5, Suffolk 19.5, Newham 18.5, Cambridgeshire
17.5 and Leicestershire 8.5.
Congratulations
to each and every one of our team members, as they all played their part in
securing this hugely credible result for the county.
The
team was as follows:
Ximan
Mao (Team Captain), Ranesh Ratnesan, Rajeiv Ratnesan, Kiran Shiatis, Haolin
Zhao, Mikey Watson, Bobby Akeya-Price, Aryan Narayan, Nikhil Chidipothu, Viktor
Jamroz, Huseyin Gueriane, Charlie Metcalfe, Mahuaa Verma, Annalise Hansen, Orla
Dorman, Navieinaah Haridas, Ben Barton, Alex Garfield, Oliver Dobson, Freddie
Nunn, Adit Bhavesh, Kimball Catling, David Dallakyan, Moad Shamekh, Sam
Cartwright, Thomas Crawley-Boevey and Aditya Jain.
A
huge thank you to all the players, parents, supporting siblings, Rohan Shiatis
KCM (for his inspirational words), GMs Chris Ward and John Emms, our team
managers Andrew and Krishna Shiatis, all the great coaches working hard behind
the scenes in Kent, the team at Northampton led by Nigel Mapletoft, EPSCA and
all the great volunteers at the KJCA who help to keep the Kent Juniors consistently
strong!
Full results will be published on:
http://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/index.cfm
We
look forward to the final to be held on Saturday, 9th May 2015.
Best
wishes
Andrew
and Krishna
U11 Team Managers