Northants SSAFA Youth Congress

Northants Junior Chess are staging a junior competition on Saturday 23rd June at Ruskin Junior School, Wellingborough, NN8 3EG.   A good opportunity to get some more tournament experience with clocks, particularly useful for juniors entering the Gigafinal at beginning of July.  Here is an entry form.

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge - Mega Final 2012

The club was well represented at the Delancey UK Chess Challenge Mega Final today with eight of our players making the trip to Arden School in Knowle. William Kendell played in the under 9 category, Leo Johnson and Julien Carrouche in the under 11 category, Kai Cockrell, Parth Joshi and Jamie Kearney were in the under 12 category and in the under 13 category the club was represented by Kieran Roberts and Jonathan Payne.

All players did their best against some tough opposition and William, Leo, Julien, Jamie and Jonathan all successfully qualified for the next round, the Giga Final, but even better than that, there were some results of particular note.

Congratulations to Parth, who had a high point gaining a draw against England player Ashwin Kalyana.

Congratulations to William, who only dropped half a point in the under 9 category, finishing in first place with 5.5 and gaining the title SUPREMO, a trophy, £25 prize money and a meal out at KFC, (this last part of the prize thanks to Dad Kendell!).

Congratulations to Leo, joint first in the under 11 category with 5 points, unlucky to miss out on the prize money and title only on a count back, but still awarded a trophy.

Congratulations to Jamie, winning a trophy after being unbeaten in the under 12 category and finishing second on 5 points after gaining four wins and having draws with England players Ashwin Kalyana and Aloysius Lip in the same category.

Congratulations to Jonathan, who swept the field away in the under 13 category, having a perfect score after 5 games, and only beaten by England player Aloysius in the final round. Jonathan gained the under 13 SUPREMO title, a trophy and £25 prize money.

Well done to all and best of luck to the Giga Final qualifiers.


A full list of Giga Final qualifiers can be found here.

Free Drop in Chess session at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum (Saturday 7 April)

Confused by Chess? Want to know the rules and how to play? Or perhaps you would like to know some of the traps and how to avoid them?

Members of Rugby Chess Club will be visiting Rugby Museum to share hints and tips on how to play the game of wit and skill, and to talk about the game and how to get involved!

No need to book just drop in to the art room! Note that there are two sessions and adults must accompany children under 13yrs.

Rugby junior or senior players are welcome. Parent players are also very welcome.




Click HERE to download larger version to print out. Hope you can make it.

Make a date to come and teach others how to play (7 April 2012)

You may spot this in the Rugy Art Gallery and Museum SMART brochure - just out. The art room is on the ground floor of the museum, just next to the Library entrance. Tell your friends.

A puzzle

A puzzle from Jamie: Black to play and mate in 3 moves.

Wiltshire & West Of England Junior Congress

Jamie played in the Wiltshire & West of England Junior Congress on 18 and 19 February, scoring 4 points from 6 (won 3, drew 2, lost 1).
Here are a couple of the games from day 2:





and in case the embedded boards don't work here are the game notations:
Theo Slade (147) vs James Kearney (123)
[Event "Wiltshire & West of England Junior Congress"]
[Site "St Joseph's College, Swindon"]
[Date "2012.2.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Theo Slade"]
[Black "James Kearney"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "147"]
[BlackELO "123"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. Be2 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Qd7 10. Nc3 O-O-O 11. O-O Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Qxd4 13. Qb3 Qb6 14. Qxf7 Bd6 15. Qxg7 Rdg8 16. Qf7 {if 16.QxNf6?? then 16 ...Bxh2+ 17.KxBh2 QxQf6} 16... h5 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Bc5 19. b4 Bd4 20. Rad1 Rf8 21. Bxb7+ Kb8 {and the white Bishop is lost after ...} 22. Qd5 Bxf2+ 23. Kh1 Qxb7 24. Qd2 Bb6 25. Rxf8+ Rxf8 26. Qg5 Qa6 {attacking the f1 square twice, threatening mate unless something done to stop it} 27. Rd8+ Rxd8 28. Qxd8+ Qc8 29. Qxc8 {and the end game starts with black ahead by a Bishop for a pawn} 29... Kxc8 30. h4 c6 31. Kh2 Bc7+ 32. Kh3 Kb7 33. g4 hxg4+ 34. Kxg4 Kb6 35. Kf5 Bg3 36. h5 Be1 37. h6 Bxb4 38. h7 Bc3 39. Kg6 Kb5 40. Kf7 c5 41. Kg8 Ka4 42. h8=Q Bxh8 {and white loses all hope, but plays on reegardless!} 43. Kxh8 c4 44. Kg7 c3 45. Kf6 c2 46. Ke5 c1=Q 47. Kd4 Ka3 48. Kd3 Kxa2 49. Ke2 Qc3 50. Kf2 Kb3 51. Ke2 Kc4 52. Kf2 Qd3 53. Kg2 Qe3 54. Kh2 Qf3 55. Kg1 Qe2 56. Kh1 Kd4 57. Kg1 Ke4 58. Kh1 Kf3 59. Kg1 Qg2# 0-1

James Kearney (123) vs Ashwin Kalyana (134)
[Event "Wiltshire & West of England Junior Congress"]
[Site "St Joseph's College, Swindon"]
[Date "2012.2.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "James Kearney"]
[Black "Ashwin Kalyana"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "123"]
[BlackELO "134"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 a6 8.Qd2 O-O 9. h4 d6 10. g4 e5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. gxf5 Nh5 13. Bg5 Nd4 14. Be2 Ng3 15. Rh3 Ngxe2 16. Nxe2 Nxe2 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Qxe2 f6 19. O-O-O Rad8 20. h5 h6 21. Rg3 Kh8 22. Qg2 Rg8 23. Rd5 {White offers a draw but black wants to play on.} 23... Rc8 24. Qd2 Rcd8 25. Qb4 Rd7 26. Qb6 Rgd8 27. Rg2 Qf7 28. Rh2 Qf8 29. b3 Qe8 30. Rhd2 Kh7 31. c4 Kg8 32. Kb2 Kh7 33. Kc1 Kg8 34. Kb2 Kf8 35. Kc1 Kf7 36. Kd1 Kf8 37. Ke2 Kf7 38. Kf2 Kg8 39. Kg3 Kh7 40. Kg4 {White offers a draw for the second time, but black plays on} 40... Kg8 41. Rd1 Kf7 42. R1d2 Kf8 43. Rd1 {now its black's turn to offer the draw which white accepts} 1/2-1/2

Well Done Jamie

Jamie did well to win the mini tournament at Rugby Workers Club last night although to be fair the junior players did have a significant time advantage over the adults! This photo taken on my blackberry does not do justice to the impressive atmosphere in the room. We must do this again!

Don't forget about our event at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum on Thursday. We hope to see you there. Our next meeting will be on Monday 16th January. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sue and Bob