EPSCA U11 Final 2015
Kent take joint first place in the U11 EPSCA National Final!
Wow, what a day and what a superb result!
Huge congratulations to our young Kent
U11 team for taking an extremely hard fought first place at the U11 National
finals against some of the strongest opposition faced in many years. It was a
nail biting finale to the EPSCA 2014/15 chess season and words cannot possibly
do justice to the dramas, tribulations and the excitement of the day. It was a pleasure
to see the true Kent team spirit emerge as events unfolded at Nottingham High
School on the 9 May 2015.
A big well done to each and every one
of our players who all dug deep and stepped up for the occasion, playing their part
in securing this hugely memorable result for the county. It was a day to truly
be proud to be a part of Kent Junior Chess.
The victorious team, in alphabetical
order (a tribute and our appreciation to the huge effort from all of our
players), was as follows:
Robert
Akeya-Price, Ben Barton, Adit Bhavesh, Sam Cartwright, Nikhil Chidipothu, David
Dallakyan, Oliver Dobson, Orla Dorman, Alex Garfield, Huseyin Gueriane,
Annalise Hansen, Navieinaah Haridas, Aditya Jain, Viktor Jamroz, Ximan Mao (Captain),
Charlie Metcalfe, Aryan Narayan, Freddie Nunn, Rajeiv Ratnesan, Ranesh
Ratnesan, Kiran Shiatis, Mahuaa Verma, Mikey Watson and Haolin Zhao.
Thank you
also to Kimball Catling, Thomas Crawley-Boevey and Moad Shamekh for their part in helping us through the qualify stages at the
Zonal.
There were 16 Associations taking part on
the day, which had qualified out of the original 26, all competing for the coveted
U11 National Title over three rounds.
The team spirit of Kent’s young guns was high, with the players gathering in
the morning full of excitement and anticipation, eager for the team talks and
to get stuck into the first round. It was a team with a good combination of
experience, enthusiasm and youth; some playing in their first U11 national
final and some in their fifth and last, all conducting themselves with the utmost
grace and maturity.
Right from the go, it was clear that
our players were not there to merely make up the numbers but to compete at the
very highest level; with a solid score of 15 out of 20 in the first round. This
score placed us in a four way tie for first with Oxfordshire, Wey Valley and
Barnet.
The Kent team showed their strength in
round 2 with an excellent 17.5 out of 20, a score which could only be matched
by Barnet, the two teams now tying in first place with 32.5 points each, with
Sussex and Wey Valley close behind in joint third with 30 points.
It was all to play for, in round three.
The team talks were crucial in re-energising our players; it was clear that no
one wanted to go home empty handed.
Wey Valley and Kent started the third
round strongly, Kent momentarily surging ahead. Barnet then rallied and pushed
hard towards the end, with Sussex faltering slightly under the strain. The lead
constantly changed hands as each result came in. With just a few games left playing
in the hall, it was between us, Barnet and Wey Valley with less than 1.5 points
separating the three teams.
Our players finished with a strong 15.5
points out of 20, bringing our total to 48. Wey Valley finished with 16.5, not
quite enough to close the gap, leaving them slightly adrift with 46.5, but
Barnet managed 15.5 as well, equalling our overall score of 48.
Previously at the qualifying zonal back
in March, only a tie break could separate Barnet and Kent. This time, not even
the tie-break could split the teams - with both teams having an equal number of
wins and draws. The team managers from both Kent and Barnet got together and
magnanimously agreed the National title would be shared between the two
Associations – with Kent taking the first place individual trophies and Barnet
taking the overall Chessboard Winners Trophy to be engraved.
Team results were as follows:
1 Kent
48 (46 wins)
= Barnet
48 (46 wins)
3 Wey
Valley 46.5
4 Sussex
42.5
5 Nottinghamshire
37.5
6 Hertfordshire
36.5
7 Oxford
34.5
8 Essex
31
9 Richmond
29.5
10 Yorkshire
20.5 (17 wins)
= Berkshire
20.5 (17 wins)
12 Oldham
20
13 Cheshire
& N. Wales 17.5
14 Lancashire
17
15 Northants
16
16 Manchester
14.5
Full results have been published on:
http://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/index.cfm
A huge thank you to all the players,
parents, supporting siblings, GM Chris Ward (for his inspiration), Rohan Shiatis (for his coaching and team talks at the zonal), our
president Anil Anilkumar, our team managers Andrew and Krishna Shiatis, all the
great coaches working hard behind the scenes in Kent, the team at Nottingham
Junior Chess, to EPSCA and to Barnet and Kent for their superb sportsmanship.
Finally a big thank you to all the
great volunteers at the KJCA who help to keep the Kent Juniors consistently
strong every year; this being our 7th EPSCA national title over the
three annual EPSCA events (U11s, U9s and the U11 Girls) in the last seven years
and our 15th top three finish in the last eight years! A phenomenal
achievement! It has been a pleasure to have been a part of the managing team/KJCA
for this period.
Best wishes to all and a big thank you from
Andrew and Krishna
U11 KJCA Team
Managers