May 10th.

A sadly weakened Oxon U11 team, missing several top-ten players, travelled to the inter-counties final in Liverpool. Some determined performances against mostly higher-graded opposition produced few points early on (6½/20 and 7/20), but bore more fruit in the final round (11/20). We don't yet know our final position, but we're certainly ahead of the four teams who qualified but didn't travel.

Thanks to everyone who went, and especially to those children who had to play on a higher board than usual: you all played a part. Individual results:

 1. Chantelle Foster    2

 2. Sarah Garrett       0

 3. Alex Anderton       1

 4. Rowan White         ½

 5. Bryce Jones         1

 6. Gyu-Won Kim         2

 7. Sif Fugger          0

 8. Louis Hampden       1

 9. Zoe Vickers         0

10. Niall Devaney       0

11. Edward Noble        2

12. Ruth Friedlander    1

13. Patrick McKenna     2

14. Alicia Cordon       1

15. Hannah Vickers      1

16. Oliver Oughton      2½

17. Katherine Klemperer 2

18. Guy Fiennes         1½

19. Ben Wooding         2

20. Jonathan Allen      2

Reserves Tournament (Swiss)

    Andrew Convery      2

    Henry Phillips      2

    Tom Daggitt         1

    Jacob Coxon         1

John Place, Magdalen College School, and

Roger Thetford, Didcot

(team captains)

We had six of our juniors in this years Oxon Mega final, and one in the Berks Mega Final. The Oxon Mega final took place at Oxford Community School on Saturday 3rd May, the Berks final was played on the following Monday. Each child played six games throughout the day, timed at 30 minuets on each clock, and run under strict tournament conditions. Normal scoring, one point for a win and a half for a draw. Players achieving three and a half points received a prize and those with four points qualified for the Southern Giga Final. Two Giga finals are held, one for the Northern Counties and the other for the Southern Counties. The best performers from both Giga finals meet in the ultimate Terra final. Over 8,000 children take part in this annual tournament, which I believe is the largest junior tournament in the world. The first stage of the competition is played at school and club level, with the best performers in each age group going onto the Mega Final. 

Our players achieved the following results:

Louis Hampden 4 points (Berks final)

Hugo Thessieu 4 points

Susana 3 points

Rochelle 2.5 points

Tom 2.5 points

David 2.5 points

Zelie 1.5 points

Very well done to all our Juniors. Their final positions are shown below.