EACU Junior Team Championship
Yesterday, Suffolk took part in the East Anglian Chess Union Junior Team Championship held in Newmarket at the King Edward VII Memorial Hall. The other East Anglian teams involved were Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
The competition was fought out in a jamboree format, where each team member is paired against players from other teams around the same board number/level.
Cambridgeshire dominated the event and were deserved outright winners. Suffolk finished in third place behind Norfolk and ahead of Bedfordshire.
| 1st | Cambridgeshire | 45 points |
| 2nd | Norfolk | 27.5 points |
| 3rd | Suffolk | 19.5 points |
| 4th | Bedfordshire | 10 points |
The Cambridgeshire captain, Frederick Fairhurst, lifted The Adam Hunt Trophy during the prize ceremony after the end of play.
The full results, including individual standings, can be viewed on the ECF League Management System website:
Suffolk would like to congratulate Cambridgeshire and all teams who took part. Most of Suffolk’s players were significantly out-rated so despite coming third, everyone did exceptionally well, even those who didn’t manage to win a game on the day fought hard and there were many close and exciting games. Bedfordshire also did remarkably well considering they had a smaller-sized team.
In terms of individual standings, congratulations go to Suffolk’s board no.3, Martin Madar, our only player to achieve a maximum 3/3 score. Martin’s outstanding performance of 1832 was higher than any other player with a maximum score, so he finished 1st in the individual standings.
When it comes to performances, the highest one was also by a Suffolk player; Suffolk’s team captain and board no.1 Rowan Kent, with an excellent performance of 1948. Rowan’s results, however, were completely the opposite way round to his expected results, toppling over two players higher-rated than him but losing a game to a player lower-rated than him, which just goes to show how exciting and unpredictable chess can be.
Another surprising game result, which also featured a cool tactic, was caught on camera (see gallery below). Suffolk’s Nickolay Starodubcevs-Snaiders played a really nice move to liquidate the position, reducing his opponent’s prospects of any comeback.
Black to play – what’s the most efficient way to simplify the winning position?
In junior chess it’s quite common to see players rushing moves, but in this event it simply wasn’t true. Many games lasted the full hour or so of allocated time, plus there were some super-tense time scramble finishes like in the only game Rowan Kent lost, against Bedfordshire’s top board Ramsey Dairi. This game could have gone either way and in the time scramble the players reached the position below.
White played Kxg5 and Black responded Kxg2. Then Rowan captured the f-pawn – what did he miss with a few seconds remaining?
This was the first such EACU junior event of its kind for a long, long time. Feedback from the players was very positive and the organisers are very much hoping to run it again next year, and make it even better. Even some of the players who didn’t pick up any points on the day found the whole experience and atmosphere a good one.
Picture Gallery
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