NYCA Under 14 Championships
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:45 am
The NYCA U-14 national competition was held in the Abraham Darby Academy in Telford.
9 teams of 12 players had entered for the U14 Championship this year. Each player had to play 4 Jamboree pairing matches with 45 minutes each on the clock.
At the end of Round 1, Kent scored a solid 8 points out of 12 and was in joint second place with Berkshire, 1.5 points behind our rival Sussex, with Lancashire in fourth place on 7.5 points.
Round 2 produced a better result of 9 points, giving Kent a total of 17 points but we remained in second place behind Sussex who had secured 11 points for a total of 20.5. Berkshire fell back to third on 15 points.
Round 3 was our best performance with 9.5 points but still Sussex pulled ahead with 11.5 points secured. Their only dropped point in round 3 was the half point secured in a draw by Raphael Kalid, board 3.
Going into the final round we were in second place, 2.5 points clear of Berkshire in third but 5.5 points behind the leaders Sussex. Our only hope of victory was that Sussex may have had to get up even earlier than our players to get to Telford! As we waited for our players to emerge from the final session rumours circulated that Berkshire had had a very strong round and might even be catching Kent in second place. When our final players completed their games, Kent had scored 8.5 points in the final round, against 8 for Berkshire. The top three final positions were therefore, Sussex, first on 42.5 points, Kent second on 35 points and Berkshire third on 32 points.
Kent did not enter a team at U14 level last year so we were pleased with our performance. Sussex fielded a very strong team with average grading of 14 per player above our team’s grading. Eleven of our players are however eligible to compete at U14 level again next year, when we hope to improve on this year’s performance.
The best performance of the day was from Conor Murphy (Eltham College and Charlton CC) who received a board prize for winning his 4 games. Four other players were also unbeaten on the day: Nicholas Clanchy (Dulwich College Prep and Lewisham CC), Alexei Davis (Eltham College and Lewisham CC), Patrick Smith (The Judd School and Sevenoaks CC), and Benedict Rodrigues (Dulwich College and Lewisham CC).
The full team, managed by Angela Smith, in board order, was as follows: 1) Gautham Reddiar (St. Olave's Grammar, Orpington), 2) Nicholas Clanchy, 3) Raphael Kalid (Rosemead Prep, Dulwich), 4) Raunak Rao (St. Olave’s Grammar and Beckenham & Bromley CC), 5) Alexei Davis, 6) Conor Murphy, 7) Patrick Smith, 8) Oliver Petrick (The Judd School and Sevenoaks CC), 9) Orlando Devoy (Hampton Court House School), 10) Simon Leung (Dulwich College Prep and Dulwich CC), 11) Benedict Rodrigues and 12) Rohan Bansal (Dulwich College and Lewisham CC).
The full official Championship result was as follows: 1) Sussex 42.5pts; 2) Kent 35pts; 3) Berkshire 32pts; 4) Lancashire 30.5pts; 5) Yorkshire 18.5pts; 6) Cheshire North Wales 17.5pts; 7) South Wales 17.5pts; 8) Staffordshire 14.5pts; 9) Manchester 8pts.
This report was from Angela Smith, c/o KJCA.
9 teams of 12 players had entered for the U14 Championship this year. Each player had to play 4 Jamboree pairing matches with 45 minutes each on the clock.
At the end of Round 1, Kent scored a solid 8 points out of 12 and was in joint second place with Berkshire, 1.5 points behind our rival Sussex, with Lancashire in fourth place on 7.5 points.
Round 2 produced a better result of 9 points, giving Kent a total of 17 points but we remained in second place behind Sussex who had secured 11 points for a total of 20.5. Berkshire fell back to third on 15 points.
Round 3 was our best performance with 9.5 points but still Sussex pulled ahead with 11.5 points secured. Their only dropped point in round 3 was the half point secured in a draw by Raphael Kalid, board 3.
Going into the final round we were in second place, 2.5 points clear of Berkshire in third but 5.5 points behind the leaders Sussex. Our only hope of victory was that Sussex may have had to get up even earlier than our players to get to Telford! As we waited for our players to emerge from the final session rumours circulated that Berkshire had had a very strong round and might even be catching Kent in second place. When our final players completed their games, Kent had scored 8.5 points in the final round, against 8 for Berkshire. The top three final positions were therefore, Sussex, first on 42.5 points, Kent second on 35 points and Berkshire third on 32 points.
Kent did not enter a team at U14 level last year so we were pleased with our performance. Sussex fielded a very strong team with average grading of 14 per player above our team’s grading. Eleven of our players are however eligible to compete at U14 level again next year, when we hope to improve on this year’s performance.
The best performance of the day was from Conor Murphy (Eltham College and Charlton CC) who received a board prize for winning his 4 games. Four other players were also unbeaten on the day: Nicholas Clanchy (Dulwich College Prep and Lewisham CC), Alexei Davis (Eltham College and Lewisham CC), Patrick Smith (The Judd School and Sevenoaks CC), and Benedict Rodrigues (Dulwich College and Lewisham CC).
The full team, managed by Angela Smith, in board order, was as follows: 1) Gautham Reddiar (St. Olave's Grammar, Orpington), 2) Nicholas Clanchy, 3) Raphael Kalid (Rosemead Prep, Dulwich), 4) Raunak Rao (St. Olave’s Grammar and Beckenham & Bromley CC), 5) Alexei Davis, 6) Conor Murphy, 7) Patrick Smith, 8) Oliver Petrick (The Judd School and Sevenoaks CC), 9) Orlando Devoy (Hampton Court House School), 10) Simon Leung (Dulwich College Prep and Dulwich CC), 11) Benedict Rodrigues and 12) Rohan Bansal (Dulwich College and Lewisham CC).
The full official Championship result was as follows: 1) Sussex 42.5pts; 2) Kent 35pts; 3) Berkshire 32pts; 4) Lancashire 30.5pts; 5) Yorkshire 18.5pts; 6) Cheshire North Wales 17.5pts; 7) South Wales 17.5pts; 8) Staffordshire 14.5pts; 9) Manchester 8pts.
This report was from Angela Smith, c/o KJCA.
