2011 ECF U18/13 County Championship

[Alexander Hardwick]

We left before Surrey's late surge to deny us third place outright.

And we (Surrey) could well have scored third place outright ourselves. But one of our boards was scuppered in the second round by mobile phone default!!!

Now I think about it, the one small criticism I should make is about the catering. My first-round game, amongst around 10 others, ran very close to the end of the 2 hour 30 minute schedule. When I returned to the building in which the teams (and food stall!) were sequestered, I found that all the filled rolls had already gone. It was very difficult to survive the rest of the day on two satsumas and a slice of chocolate cake. A possible improvement that could be made for next year?

[David Shepherd]

Thanks to all the Surrey team including Alex who scored 2/2 ensuring we drew with Warwickshire.

[Daniel Young]

My thanks too for the organisation team for a well-run event - it was particularly nice to be playing in a gym given the heat outside! It was rather less tightly-packed than the (also enjoyable) National Schools Championship event held at Eton in February - a godsend for those such as I that have a compulsive urge to pace around the room whilst it isn't their move...

[Alex Holowczak]

We left before Surrey's late surge to deny us third place outright.

And we (Surrey) could well have scored third place outright ourselves. But one of our boards was scuppered in the second round by mobile phone default!!!

Whose phone went off? Send him my thanks.

[Carol Graham]

Many thanks to Keith, Jim & Team for a very well organised event - very refreshing to arrive half an hour before the start to find everything set up & ready to go! The information sent out in advance (maps etc) was excellent. Great to see the results posted so quickly.

For the future? Possibly consider increasing the number of boards in the U13 Open and/or raising the average grade limit for the Minor??

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Even though my team wasn't there, maybe next year make sure there isn't a Physics A-level the next day! I lost two players because of this.

[Alex Holowczak]

Possibly consider increasing the number of boards in the U13 Open and/or raising the average grade limit for the Minor??

There is a problem with this. At the moment, the total number of players going down is 18. That means Warwickshire can just about fit everyone in a minibus of 16, because there are always 2 or 3 players who go down independently. If you start increasing the total number of players required for the U13 Open, you increase the total number of players required, meaning we can't fit in the minibus. A minibus for 16 is about half the cost of a coach for 18 or 20. It would mean Warwickshire probably wouldn't enter the U13 Open at all, even though we have enough players.

I was considering promoting some U13s into the U18s (since our top boards there were stronger than our lower boards in the U18), and dropping the U13 down to the Minor. Increasing the average grade would only help me with this aim, so I won't object to it at all.

[Jim Wadsworth]

full results now posted at www.bjca.org.uk

U18s: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1575
U13 Open: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1576
U13 Minor: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1614

[Brent Smith]

full results now posted at http://www.bjca.org.uk

U18s: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1575
U13 Open: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1576
U13 Minor: http://www.bjca.org.uk/results.php?eid=1614

... and the display errors related to final round, bottom board results are now fixed.

[Jim Wadsworth]

report and photo now on the ECF website at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=11931#more-11931