Make a cup of tea, this is a long one!
Our final day at the Elstead Hotel proved to be a bonanza day with 29 juniors coming along to play in a buzzer event over 5 rounds and what a day it was! It felt very special.
The first round was an open draw and all the other rounds were based on a Swiss system with players on equal scores playing each other.
Rounds 1 and 2 were played at 10 seconds a move and then it was accelerated to 8 seconds and finally 7 seconds for each move.
We had a full complement of some of the top players in the area including, Zander/Finn/Leo and Harry Mercer. All playing in the adult league chess leagues and getting stronger all the time.
The next level of juniors were:- Tristan/Dima/Marcel/Leland/Kane/Jiya/Nicolas/Joey/Woody/Jesse/
Lathujan/Harry Lee and Rafan .
Other players on the day and regulars over the years in our club including this year were – Swara/Kehind/Fabrizio/Harish/Nirvan/Shriya/Larissa/Blake/Noah/
Pavina and Carlos. A wonderful turn out!
Winners on the day were:
=1st Zander and Finn on 4.5/5 having mutually agreed a draw after the 1st move in the final game
=2nd Leo/Harry M/Dima on 4/5.
All were given cash prizes. Tournament chart shown at the bottom of this page.
Eric gave a presentation to nearly a full audience including many of the parents and highlights were:
Winners of the weekly ladder prizes went to Harish and Nico (unfortunately both were not present) – both will receive medals
A recap of the junior chess events of the year when 4 out of 7 players from our club are current Dorset champions – Zander/Leo/Rafan and Nathaniel.
Winning the challenge match against Lytchett Minster Senior Comprehensive School recently and Leo was presented with the trophy to keep for the summer and then pass on.
A mention of Lewis who started chess at 4 years old and now just turned 6, won his schools chess event last week playing against most boys much older.
Finn/Zander/Nathaniel all playing in the UK Delancey national junior giga final in the next couple of weeks.
We also had 3 juniors taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme, Daisy, Alvin and Harry Lee, all of whom passed with flying colours, here Harry is presented with his certificates.
A possible invitational match against a school team from Torquay organised by Tim Onions has been arranged for the 18 November at a half-way house venue to be agreed probably Dorchester or Bridport.
Eric highlighted the benefit of chess as a learning skill that can be played globally and welcomed the diversity of our own club where we have players from Ukraine/Brazil/Lithuania/Spain/Venezuela and many other countries.
Eric wanted to thank all our team of Graham Morris our engine room and website manager, Paul Errington and Steve Bailey who have supported the club for at least 7/8 years. Also, Graham Hillman who has supported us for this season and is going on to open a junior club at Wimborne. Finally, Dee, who is our welfare officer who keeps us all in order and is great behind the scenes. A special thank you for Dee for organising the food table which was quite substantial initially and whoosh and it all disappeared – marvellous.
The final comments were about the return and move to Bournemouth Central Library in September as the Estead Hotel will be closing during the next couple of months.
We will start on the 9th September and have booked the 2 conference rooms until at least Christmas. We hope all, or as many of our players will continue coming and playing there.
Finally, individual attendance certificates were handed out to every junior in the event, specially designed and made by Graham and a final photo shoot of all was taken.
Special thanks to Noah for his Thank You card and chocolates, which will be enjoyed by all.
Happy Holidays to all!
Eric Sachs
Eric closed the presentation by wishing all a great summer and thanked all the parents for supporting junior chess.
Tournament results:-
Finally…………
