Thursday 25 June 2015

CSC Teesside: Special Events (2)

At the end of each school year we like to add a number of special events to our busy chess calendar.

One such event saw 10 players from Errington Primary make the short trip to Westgarth Primary for a full afternoon of activities.

The children started by solving a selection of checkmate problems on the demonstration board.


They then had two minutes to find a work partner from the other school, introduce themselves and prepare for a challenge from some more difficult chess problems.



After we played through the answers and revealed the scores, one player from each school was selected to be the captain of a team. The captains chose their teams by alternating there school from which they were chosen (five Errington players and five Westgarth players on each team). The captains then had to put their team in approximate order of strength (based mainly on the results of the checkmate puzzle challenge).

The social challenges the children were asked to meet should not be underestimated. There was lot more to the afternoon than just chess development.








It was a close match! Ultimately, Team 2 beat Team 1 by 7.5-6.5. Of course, the result of the match was not the most important aspect of the afternoon. The children of Westgarth and Errington were all champions of the day and they should remember the experience for some time to come.

Wednesday 24 June 2015

CSC Teesside Training Day



CSC courses are aimed at teachers, teaching assistants, parents and anyone else involved in school chess.

No teaching or chess playing experience is required to attend.

The next CSC Teesside Training Day is open to all and is coming up very soon.

Date: Monday 6 July 2015

Venue: The Farndale Suite, Middlesbrough Comm. Centre, Acklam Grange School, TS5 8PB.

Time: 10.00 - 16.00.


Further details and an online registration form can be found here. Reports from previous training days can be found on the same page.

Monday 22 June 2015

4th Teesside Individual Junior Chess Championships: Part 2

Following on from yesterday's tournament report, we present a further selection of photographs form our very busy, highly enjoyable and extremely successful day.


















Brambles Primary Academy
Whale Hill Primary

John Emmerson Batty Primary 
Pennyman Primary Academy 
Throston Primary 
Wheatlands Primary

Ings Farm Primary 
Westgarth Primary 
Errington Primary

Yarm School

Sunday 21 June 2015

4th Teesside Individual Junior Chess Championships



4th Teesside Individual Junior Chess Championships
Yarm School
20 June 2015
Our latest tournament broke all records for attendance. It is always a great feeling when we attract over 100 entries, but this time we had 123!


.
More photos will follow tomorrow. Meanwhile, here is a summary of the final places, followed by a full set of the results.



Under-7s:

Teesside Champion (Boy): Ajay Selvan (Yarm)

Teesside Champion (Girl): Grace Crawford (Yarm)

Top CSC Girl: Olivia Holden (Pennyman)


Under-9s:

Teesside Champion (Boy): Ammar Soni (Yarm)

Teesside Champion (Girl): Sara Tryambake (Yarm)

Top CSC Boys (shared place):  Harvey Unthank (Wheatlands), Finlay Wardle (Ings Farm), Thomas Armstrong (Westgarth), Dylan Solberg (Pennyman), Billy Thomas Hair (John Emmerson Batty)

Top CSC Girls (shared place): Shinobu Bartram (Westgarth), Lili Giles (Westgarth), Freya McLinn (Brambles), Nina Sumpton (Wheatlands), Libby Mackay (Wheatlands), Molly Clarkson (Wheatlands), Libby Ogden (Throston)





Under-11s:

Teesside Champion (Boy): Abhinav Ramisetty (Yarm)

Teesside Champions (Girls; shared place - also sharing Top CSC Girl place): 
Chloe Armstrong (Westgarth), Caitlin Anderson (Westgarth), Caitlin Jackson (Westgarth), Zoe Hill (Westgarth)

Top CSC Boys (shared place): Jack Dunn (Errington), Thomas Stiff (Errington)


ALL Teesside champions received trophies and book prizes.

ALL other shared places received medals.

(Book and medals courtesy of the CSC).

ALL competitors received a certificate; players in the top three places received an extra certificate.



Full Results

Under-7s

1st: Ajay Selvan (Yarm) 4.5/5

2nd: Grace Crawford (Yarm) 3.5/5

= 3rd: Olivia Holden (Pennyman), Zaara Soni (Yarm) 3/5

Other scores

2.5/5: Molly Felgate (Pennyman)
2/5: Freya Takoor (Yarm), Emily Lynn (Throston)

Absent:  Ben Meager

Under-9s

= 1st  Ammar Soni (Yarm), Sara Tryambake (Yarm) 5/5

=3rd: Adhithyan Dinakaran (Yarm), Henry Parker (Yarm), Miles Holland (Yarm), Gaurav Kannan (Yarm), Rishik Kalagara (Yarm), Harvey Unthank (Wheatlands), Finlay Wardle (Ings Farm), Thomas Armstrong (Westgarth), Dylan Solberg (Pennyman), Billy Thomas Hair (John Emmerson Batty), all 4/5

Top CSC Girls, 3/5: Shinobu Bartram (Westgarth), Lili Giles (Westgarth), Freya McLinn (Brambles), Nina Sumpton (Wheatlands), Libby Mackay (Wheatlands), Molly Clarkson (Wheatlands), Libby Ogden (Throston)

Other Scores:

3.5/5: Yusuf Syed (Yarm), Stanley Ridgway (Throston)

3/5: Thomas Loudon (Ings Farm), Aidan Howe (Throston), Alexander Robinson (Wheatlands) Larry Parsons (Whale Hill), Nathan Li (Whale Hill), Kian Trelfa (Whale Hill), Owen Harrison (Whale Hill), Caleb Kasolani (Ings Farm), Jayden Heanan (John Emmerson Batty),Ben Hebden (Westgarth)

2.5/5:  Joe Alderson (John Emmerson Batty), Luke Atkinson (John Emmerson Batty), Cody Thomas (John Emmerson Batty)

2/5: Lienna Tate (Ings Farm), Holly Fairless (Ings Farm), Simon Beevis (Ings Farm), Grace Lamb (Ings Farm), Joe Faulkner (John Emmerson Batty), William Henry Smith (Ings Farm), Jolie Forest (John Emmerson Batty), Richard Barker (Throston), Kieran Atkins (John Emmerson Batty), Oscar Thomas (Yarm), Samantha Botterill (Yarm), Erin Henderson (Wheatlands), Elle Lambert (Wheatlands), Phoebe Welsh (Wheatlands), Greg Beevis (Wheatlands), Josh Hamilton (Whale Hill), Rebecca Bowman (Westgarth), Leon Burton (Pennyman)

1.5/5: Emily Coleman (Pennyman), Imogen Cook (Ings Farm), Codey Hoyland (Pennyman), Connor O'Hare (Whale Hill), Dylan Breeze (Brambles), Lillie Brown (Brambles), Matthew Hodgson (Pennyman), Eden Hawkins (Pennyman), Sophie Pattison (Throston)

0.5/5: Isobel Caswell (Whale Hill), Alisha Pinkney (Pennyman), Olivia Chatton (Pennyman), Molly Davenport (Pennyman) 

0/5: Calista McLoughlin (Pennyman)

Absent: Henry Smith, Katie Hill, Kian Tennant, Demi Williams, Grace Robinson, Isobel Parker, Jessica Douglas, Charlotte Briston, 


Under-11s

1st: Abhinav Ramisetty (Yarm) 5/5

=2nd: Jack Dunn (Errington), Thomas Stiff (Errington), James Thomson (Yarm), Edward Adams (Yarm), Ihsaan Mahmood (Yarm)

Top Girls3/5: Chloe Armstrong (Westgarth), Caitlin Anderson (Westgarth), Caitlin Jackson (Westgarth), Zoe Hill (Westgarth)

Other scores

3.5/5: Ben Salter (Whale Hill), Jacob Hodgson (Throston)

3/5: Matthew Anthony (Yarm), William Crawford (Yarm), Vignesh Janakiraman (Yarm), Callum Finn (Westgarth), Cole Newton (Westgarth)

2.5/5:  Connor McMurray (Yarm), Shrish Nair (Yarm), Adam Jones (Yarm), Leyla Duran (Whale Hill)

2/5: Danny Scott (Yarm), Aishani Paul (Yarm), Patricia Jude (Yarm), Jonghoon Cheong (Yarm), Katie Scott (Westgarth), Robyn Sharrocks (Westgarth), Cailtlin Little (Whale Hill)

1.5/5: Joe Scott (Westgarth), Zoe Coates (Errington)

1/5: Will Craggs (Yarm), Ellis Teasdale (Whale Hill), Charlie Greenwood (Ings Farm), Ruby Armstrong (Westgarth)

0/5: Brook Richardson (Westgarth), Kieran Haris (Westgarth)

Absent: Luke Nargol, Charlotte Scott, Jak McConnell, Jake Meager


Regardless of the scores, every single player made a significant contribution to this very successful tournament simply by being there to participate. Nor should the role played by teachers, TAs, parents and Grandparents should never be underestimated

Thank you, everyone!


Sunday 14 June 2015

CSC Teesside: Special Events (1)

CSC Teesside: Special Events (1)

As we head towards the end of another school year (my 27th of teaching chess in schools) we like to run a few special events to ensure the term finishes on a high.

One such event saw over 60 Year 4 players contest the inaugural Wheatlands Primary School KO Championship.

The tournament was made slightly more complicated by a number of children heading off to compete in a triathlon elsewhere, so we ran a smaller KO section for them before they set off, with the plan of playing the triathlon champion against the champion of the main section in a special finale.


Triathlon KO Championship
Round 1


Thomas Scott 1-0 Libby Sherrington

Nina Sumpton 0-1 Isobelle Troop

Greg Beevis 1-0 Ryan Palmer

Daniel Palmer 0-1 Adam Makepeace


Extra Round 1 game to produce required KO number

Grace Burniston 0-1 Adam Makepeace


Semi-finals


Adam Makepeace 1-0 Greg Beevis

Isobelle Troop 1-0 Thomas Scott

Triathlon Final

Adam Makepeace 1-0 Isobelle Troop


Triathlon Champion: Adam Makepeace



Main KO Championship
Round 1

Lottie Sharp 0-1 Mia Brennan

Poppy Brown 0-1 Isobel Parker

Anais Jenkins 0-1 Morgan Varah

Olivia Scrafton 1-0 Lola Lyon

Jake Brunskill 0-1 Harvey Unthank

Libby Mackay 1-0 Matthew Austin

Molly Clarkson 0-1 Sophie Webster

Jessica Bennett 1-0 Jessica Phillips

Kian Tennant 1-0 Daisy Parkinson

Harvey Flounders 1-0 Phoebe Welsh

Elle Lambert 1-0 Lilly Addison

Emily Burniston 0-1 Erin Henderson

Joseph Merriott 0-1 Matthew Hansom

Phoebe Jackson 0-1 Jessica Hunter

Hannah Colvin 0-1 Lydia Morgan

Alexander Robinson 1-0 Aimee-Lee Cummings

Brandon Manson 0-1 Lewis Winter

Billy McLean 1-0 Craig Dryden

Molly Drake 0-1 Chloe Hillyard*

Matthew McGowan 1-0 Charlie Allen

Ruby Taylor 0-1 Millie Turner

Amy Perdomo 0-1 Benjamin Smith

Joshua Smith 1-0 Hollie Allen

Olivia Round 0-1 Ella Baxtrem

Byes (required to produce an ideal KO number for the next round)

Thomas Brain

Lillie Thompson

Ruby Lambton



Round 2

Olivia Scrafton 0-1 Lillie Thompson

Kian Tennant 1-0 Matthew McGowan

Erin Henderson 0-1 Chloe Hillyard

Libby Mackay 0-1 Joshua Smith

Ruby Lambton 0-1 Morgan Varah

Harvey Unthank 1-0 Millie Turner

Alex Robinson 0-1 Billy McLean

Thomas Brain 0-1 Harvey Flounders

Mia Brennan 0-1 Ella Baxtrem

Jessica Hunter 0-1 Lewis Winter

Sophie Webster 1-0 Isobel Parker


Byes:

Jessica Bennett

Matthew Hansom

Lydia Morgan

Benjamin Smith

Elle Lambert



Round 3


Lillie Thompson 1-0 Jessica Bennett**

Kian Tennant 0-1 Matthew Hansom*

Chloe Hillyard 0-1 Lydia Morgan*

Joshua Smith 1-0 Morgan Varah

Harvey Unthank 1-0 Billy McLean*

Harvey Flounders 0-1 Benjamin Smith

Ella Baxtrem 1-0 Elle Lambert**

Lewis Winter 1-0 Sophie Webster


Quarter-finals

Lillie Thompson 0-1 Matthew Hansom

Lydia Morgan 0-1 Joshua Smith*

Harvey Unthank 0-1 Benjamin Smith

Ella Baxtrem 0-1 Lewis Winter


Semi-finals


Lewis Winter 0-1 Benjamin Smith

Matthew Hansom 1-0 Joshua Smith


Final

Benjamin Smith 1-0 Matthew Hansom 

KO Champion: Benjamin Smith


*After a replay; first game drawn

**After two replays; first two games drawn


Big Finale
KO Champion vs. Triathlon KO Champion


Benjamin Smith 0-1 Adam Makepeace


Champion of Champions: Adam Makepeace


Here are a few photographs from the very busy and extremely enjoyable event...


























...and this very sporting handshake, spontaneously offered by the losing finalist of the main event, perfectly sums up the highly competitive yet refreshingly sporting ethos that prevailed throughout the whole event.

Congratulations to all Wheatlands chess players!