Chess Tour to Surrey 2010

TUESDAY 6TH APRIL
On the Tuesday after Easter, eight boys, Mr Franklin and Mr Stables made the long journey from Derbyshire to Surrey in two comfortable Audi's to take part in the IAPS National Chess Tournament 2010 held at Aldro Prep School near Godalming.

127 children from all over the country (but mostly the south of England) took part, divided into a Championship section of 40 (Tobias S, Isaac S and Ben E represented us here) and four mixed ability leagues (Luke T, Ivan S, Charles A, Paddy D and Matthew N our competitors).

A stop for supper just north of the M25 and arrival in time to watch some of the European football saw us to bed on Tuesday night - 'sir, the beds here aren't as comfortable as at school!'.

WEDNESDAY 7TH APRIL
We had a leisurely wake up as the tournament didn't start until mid morning - a number of schools made the trip early on the Wednesday as they were closer to Surrey than we were.

11.15 a.m. ... the tournament began!

The three in the championship section played seven matches throughout the three days, the rest played 11 (5 matches on the Wednesday to decide leagues A, B, C and D and then 6 matches in those 'ability'
leagues).

Early results were encouraging as Ben E (forever on the IAPS chess programme as the section 'A' winner last year) won his opening game against a graded opponent of 83 and Toby S scored 2.5 points out of 3 in the championship section whilst Luke T carried all before him in being joint winner of his group. Ivan S won his group too! A super start!

Following the chess, there was an evening's entertainment as all competitors chose pool, table football or a table tennis competition.
I was in charge of the table tennis this year and the standard was very high! Some of the young competitors were playing at a level well beyond their years, but Luke T, having saved four match points in the semi- final, won the final!



THURSDAY 8TH APRIL
The serious chess began on Thursday morning.

Matthew N had a particularly good game against one of the best U11's from Twickenham Prep, London.

whilst Charles A played one of the talented players from Copthorne Prep in West Sussex. They're a very able school chess-wise (as I'm sure I'll appreciate next year!)

Toby S continued to perform well in the Championship section and Isaac S had a better day too with two wins out of two. Matthew N won all three games, Paddy D won two and drew one ... the results were very pleasing.

After lunch we headed to Chessington World of Adventure (the Alton Towers of the south) ... on a sunny afternoon, the outing was very much enjoyed!

The day got even better as we retained the 5-a-side football tournament trophy! Last year we drew the final and then drew the penalty shootout against Wellesley House (Broadstairs, Kent) as dusk descended. This year we won it outright with comfortable victories against Nottingham High School, Hallfield (Birmingham) and Great Walstead (Sussex). Paddy D was his usual self down that left wing, Isaac S assured in goal, Ben E scored a number of our goals, whilst the troops were well marshalled by Tobias S and Luke T.



FRIDAY 9TH APRIL
... and so back to the chess! There was a lot to be decided on the last morning. A lot of concentration needed ...

Luke T had a marvellous morning. Wonderfully, by winning every game, he managed to retain the section 'A' trophy for S.Anselm's (won by Ben E last year). The photo below is taken as he's about to overcome the Wellesley House board 1 to win the division! (You'll notice the other desks are empty - I was so pleased that our team worked so hard in each game - they won some matches easily, some wins took a little longer, but if they lost, it wasn't without a very strong performance and a long game before they 'went down').


Toby S came 5th= out of the 127 participants, Luke T won the first division (best outside the championship section), Ivan S came third, as did Paddy D (in division two) and Matthew N came third in division three.

It was so good to see our children achieve success and we as a school came 5th out of the 20 participating schools (a real collection ... some mentioned already ... others include Dulwich College Prep, Millfield, Feltonfleet ...).

As ever our team learnt a lot from going over their games ...



and we must all thank Mr Stables for his contribution to our success on the tour.



Here's the record of Luke T winning the first division ...



After lunch we had prize giving and we were lucky to have Matthew Turner, a chess Grandmaster presenting the prizes. Matthew N and Ivan S collect their 3rd placed awards and Luke his winning medal from the first division ...

Mr Stables had to take Isaac off to Liverpool for his next chess commitment but here's the final photograph with our medals!

Another 200 mile journey saw us arrive back in Derbyshire late on Friday evening after a tiring but ever so worthwhile and successful three days.

S.Anselm's must continue to take part in this impressive tournament in the future. My only regret is that it has taken me 16 years at S. Anselm's before we took part for the first time!

JMHF