Kent juniors shine at the South of England Championships
The South of England Championships were held at Yateley Manor school over the weekend of 30-31st January 2016. Several Kent juniors took part and had some great results.The championship is divided into open sections for all players and closed sections that are invitation only.
In the U16 closed section, Girinath Haridas finished joint second with 3.5/5. He lost his first round, but managed to do well to win the next three.
Jacob Watson also competed in the U16 closed section and has now been selected to the National Junior chess squad based on his performance at this tournament and the earlier British rapidplay in Leeds.
In the U14 closed championship, Anantha Anilkumar achieved 4/5 with two draws and three wins. He was the joint winner with two others, however was awarded the championship trophy based on
his better progressive score.
In the U12 closed, Aditya Verma finished joint second with 3.5/5, three draws and two wins.
Karthik Velayudham, Francesco Bernardini and Mikey Watson, all National Junior Chess Squad members, played in the under 16, 14 and 12 closed section respectively.
In the U13/15 open, Ximan Mao was the outright winner with 4.5/5 and Aurideep Nayak finished on 3.5/5.
In the U11 open, Bobby Akeya-Price finished joint second with 4/5. Charlie Metcalfe, Ciaran Brightley-Davies and David Dallakyan also played in this section.
Suriya Velayudham and Stakhey Sedykh both played in the U9 section and got great results of 4/6.
The most exciting sections were the young U7 and U8 players, it is fantastic to see so many promising Kent players performing well.
Shreyas Royal won the U7 open with a perfect score of 6/6 and Shlok Verma finished second with 5/6.
Both Shreyas and Shlok did equally well in the U8 section, along with James Merriman. They all finished joint first with 5/6. James was awarded the championship trophy based on his progressive scores.
Scarlet Watson and Zeno Burns both played in the U7 section, and Xirui Mao and Yacine El Bachir played in the U8. All these young players did well on their debuts at the South of England Championship.
To see the results and overall crosstabs go to:
http://results.tournamentdirector.co.uk/
Overall a very good weekend for Kent juniors, well done to everyone who competed.