Middlesex juniors came out top at the annual English Chess Federation's U18 and U13 County Chess Championships held in Grantham on Sunday 21 June.
The
U18 A team led by Surjit Dhemrait and the U13 A team led by Kamlesh
Karia both won the national titles beating off strong competition from
local rivals Sussex who were pushed into second place.
This
was a fantastic feat by the juniors, well earned and reflects the
strength of junior chess across North London. Middlesex had 36 juniors
taking part with two teams of 12 in the U18 Open and another two teams
of six in the U13 Open sections.
U18 Open Championships
The Middlesex A team won the section with a score of 16.
The
team in Board Order was Jonathan Pein, Aditya Mavinkurve, Anuj
Mavinkurve, Atreya Mandnikar, Jagdeep Dhemrait, Rishul Karia, Tibo
Rushbrooke, Rishi Patel, Elizabeth Ivanov, Liam Reed, Tim Lewis and Yuri
Evdokimov.
All the players did very well with six undefeated in their two matches - Rishul, Tibo, Rishi, Elizabeth, Liam and Yuri.
The
B team in Board Order was Harrison Willmoth, Emmanuelle Gelain-Sohn,
Devin Karia, Jacob Goldberg, Tej Shah, Zachary Potel, Luca van der
Lubbe, Evan McDermid, Ruben van der Lubbe, Max Faircloth, Adam Rosenthal
and Oscar Rampley.
The team found playing in
the Open section quite challenging. It was substantially stronger than
if they have played in the U18 Minor tournament. But they scored a
creditable 4.5 points with some fantastic individual results - Jacob,
Zachary, Luca and Max had great wins and Devin a draw against strong
opponents.
U13 Open Championships
Middlesex also had two teams in this section. Teams were made up of six players each who played four rapidplay matches.
Again the A team did fantastically well winning the section with a score of 19.5.
The
team in Board Order was Gautam Jain, Federico Rocco, George Ivanov,
Gabriel Balouka-Myers, Oren Levene and Reuben Balouka-Myers.
There
were some great results across the team. George and Oren won all their
games. Gautam and Federico on the top two Boards were undefeated.
The
B team in Board Order was Toby Balouka-Myers, Charlie Sprung, Raphael
Balouka-Myers, Joshua Wong, Nikita Nunes and Jake McDermid.
Again
it was tough for this team in the Open section. They were outgraded on
most Boards and finished on a score of six. But once again there were
some amazing individual performances. Toby on Board 1 had a great win
against Kent. And Raphael won two of this four games on Board 3.
Middlesex
juniors still have one more fixture left to play. The U14/130 team will
face Berkshire in the Southern Counties Final this Saturday in
Maidenhead - a win will give Middlesex juniors their third title this
season!
Surjit Dhemrait & Kamlesh Karia
Middlesex U18 and U13 Team Managers