Junior Chess Congress
Sunday 14th December saw the KC Sports Bar host the
first Hull Junior
Chess Congress. We were honoured to have The Lord Mayor of Hull
councillor Elaine Garland make an opening speech, after which she set
the tournament in motion by making the first move on the top board. She
graciously stayed on after this chatting to parents for over an hour,
but finally had to leave for her next engagement, I offer her my
grateful thanks.
As expected the tournament was dominated by juniors from out of town,
with Evie Hollingworth in first place with a splendid 5.5 out of
6, beating the probable favourite Sam Milson 5 out 6 into second
place. The highest placed Hull Junior was Thomas Bertolotti on
3.5, beating Stephen Bertolotti and Daniel MacDonald into second &
third place respectively on tie breaks, for the title of Ross Academy
Junior Chess Champion. So congratulations to Thomas and commiserations
to Stephen & Daniel who will receive second & third place
certificates respectively.
Although no Hull Juniors did exceptionally well they all gave
creditable performances and there were positives to take from the
tournament as far as they were concerned, Daniel MacDonald did well
(despite playing Evie Hollingworth & another top seed) to make 3.5
and only just missed out winning the Hull Shield himself with the tie
break going against him. Also giving good accounts of themselves on 3
points (despite lack of tournament & clock experience) were
Sam Wilson, Jamie Spence, Nathan Goldsborough & Scott Jackson all
of whom we will award fourth place certificates to. It just remains to
commend all the players who did not do so well for playing on to the
end.
This report would not be complete without a big thank you to John
Hipshon and his team for the smooth running and controlling of the
contest. Many thanks to the parents who brought their children and
waited patiently. Thanks also to Shaun Culkin, John Lawson, Stefan
Reiss & Patrick Walker for coming early and helping to set up, not
forgetting Roger Noble who took the photos we are displaying on
site. We need to build on this event and I would ask all members
of the association with children or grandchildren interested in chess
to bring them along to Hull Chess Club Ross Academy on Friday nights.
Report by Mike Butt (President and ECF Accredited Coach)