October 2024

October 2024 Junior Training Camp

25 primary school children from Warwickshire attended the inaugural Warwickshire Junior Training Camp. It was held at Solihull School on 29th and 30th October, 2024. The training was provided by FIDE Master Nick Thomas and National Master Paul Lam. Training camps are a new invite-only initiative for children within Warwickshire who are likely to represent our junior county teams during the season. A second camp has already been arranged for January in Coventry. Children learnt about openings, endgames, and using their time properly. A rated mini-tournament was held in the afternoons. Warwickshire Chess Association would like to thank Solihull School for hosting the camp, and allowing us to use their excellent facilities. National Master Paul Lam demonstrates a position Informal games in the breakout room Medal winners from the training tournament and puzzle sheets with the coaches

October 2024 Junior Training Camp Read More »

2024 Birmingham Junior Open Results

The first leg of the 2024/25 Warwickshire Junior Grand Prix was held at King Edward VI Five Ways School in Birmingham. 132 players participated. The full tournament results can be found here: Under 18: Group A | Group B | Group CUnder 11: Group A | Group B | Group C | Group DUnder 9: Group D The current standings of the 2024/25 Warwickshire Youth Grand Prix can be found here. The playing area at King Edward VI Five Ways Adithya Vaidyanathan Winner Under 18 Group A Photo credit: Andrew McCumiskey

2024 Birmingham Junior Open Results Read More »

2024/25 Junior 4NCL weekend 1

Paul Lam reports: The over-the-board Junior 4NCL made a very welcome return for the first time since 2022. Once more I took to the helm as team captain and coach of the Warwickshire Bears, heading a squad that was relatively inexperienced but full of potential. In division 1 the girls team were outrated on average in nearly every match and performed very creditably in the circumstances, finishing with an excellent win against Leicestershire with Siyuan Ou beating a 1829-rated opponent on top board. The Bears A team finished fourth, just narrowly missing out on bronze medals, with Preesh Gandhi playing some mature chess en route to an impressive 4/5 on board 3. The B team finished third in division 2, winning well-deserved bronze medals for their efforts. The team’s big hitter was Mark Tricoli who won all four games he played for the team and his reserve game to boot! It was an action-packed weekend full of excellent chess, some tragic reversals and a lot of fun. It was a great effort from the squad and everyone was keen to learn from their games, to the extent that a queue had to be formed for analysis afterwards! My thanks go to the players for all their efforts on behalf of the team and to the parents for all their support and encouragement. The Warwickshire Bears teams, with captain Paul Lam (background) The A team: Front to back – Akshath Shivakumar, Amitesh Purushothaman, Preesh Gandhi, Gregory Kornilovich The Girls team: Front to back – Siyuan Ou, Anvikkashri Prabhakaran, Diah Patel, Marijka Mykhnenko The B team: Back (left to right) – Mark Tricoli, Ayansh Mathur Front (left to right) – Krish Gandhi, Handuo Cao, Markas Mykhnenko

2024/25 Junior 4NCL weekend 1 Read More »

Warwickshire Chess Association