Kent U11 team take second place in EPSCA East Zonal

Congratulations to all the players in the KJCA U11 team who came second in EPSCA Zonal tournament at Bishop Justus School on 17th March 2018.

Ten counties contested the event, with the top six qualifying for the National Finals, to be held in Birmingham in April.

All the Kent team put in very strong performances through the day with lots of quality chess on offer.

The team scored 14.5 points in the first round, a fantastic 8.5 points in the second round to lead the event at that stage before falling back a little to score 13 points in the final round for a total 46 points. It was very close for the top places and the final results were:

Richmond 50 points

Kent 46 points

Essex 44 points

Full results can be found at: http://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/TeamsOverall.cfm?EventID=118

The Kent reserve players also did very well. Congratulations to Kent junior, Evan Veitch, who won the reserve tournament with an undefeated performance.

Big congratulations to all the young players below who all put in a lot of effort for a strong performance. The team were:

James Merriman, Shlok Verma, Eoin Moore, Denis Dupuis, Stakhey Sedykh, Martin Camacho Tupper, Artemiy Shkuratovskyi, Roxolana Chaban, Lev Mann, Yong Gui Wang, Nour Ajili ,Shaurya Mehta , Xirui Mao, Danny Oprea, Yifan Luo, Aneesh Sagar , Ishmail Longia Zaidi , Mateuz Bazan ,Dmitry Belousov ,Stefania Iosub , Harry Chauhan, Evan Veitch and Laura Holmes.

Thanks to all the parents and carers who supported the team.

The zonal was hosted by Kent this year, so an extra thanks to all who helped out on the day. There were lots of tasks to ensure all ran smoothly and our joint effort ensured a successful tournament that the young chess players, from all the county teams, enjoyed.

Finally, thanks to GM John Emms for his advise and coaching on the day and to GM Chris Ward for helping out at the event.

Also to Bishop Justus School for use of their great venue and their helpful lettings and caretaking staff.

John Merriman - U11 Team Manager