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

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