Watford Juniors at Houses of Parliament, 30 June

[Roger Lancaster]

Peter Hornsby has already mentioned this under 'General News' but, for anyone who didn't pick it up there, Watford Observer's coverage of the match appeared at https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/ ... stminster/. The juniors packed a solid team (top boards ECF-rated 2252, 2054, 2039, 1922 (the last thee all 12-year-olds) with their 10-y-o board five still rated 1725 and consequently won 18-2 although this was later diluted by a Watford coach stepping up to play an extra Parliamentary player and only drawing. Opposition included one MP, Jesse Norman, known to have been a strong player when younger, and two members of the House of Lords. Bonus was for local MP Matt Turmaine, who hadn't been on Watford's radar as a player, not only to turn up but to play a game, outside the match, against a fellow-MP.

[Roger Lancaster]

Also covered on pp42-43, July edition, Chess Moves, file:///C:/Users/watfo/Downloads/Chess%20Moves,%20July%202025.pdf The match result shown there inadvertently omits one game where MP Jesse Norman (mentioned elsewhere as, in his youth, a strong player) helped to restore UKPCC's credibility by winning against Watford's Ishaan Chadha. There are also pics (including one from the visit to Westminster Hall, part of the post-match tour) at https://watfordchessclub.org/index.php.