Diary - 2014/15 Season

Jeremy Menadue and Theo Slade played in the British Championship at Warwick University with the following results.

The official competition website contains complete information on the whole event, including the final scores. There is an excellent set of videos (about 15 minutes long) in which IM Andrew Martin analyses a game from each of the rounds. This is on YouTube and all the links are on the official competition website.

Ian George

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Fourteen players supported this charity event. Andrew Greet IM, home for a week on holiday from work with Quality Chess in Glasgow, easily managed his substantial clock-time handicap against inexperienced players and won with 5/5. Runner-up was Simon Bartlett (North Cornwall) with 4/5; Robin Kneebone (Truro) was amongst the pack on 3/5 having blundered (he blames the time-handicap!) against his old pupil Ben Jago, now living in Penwith. Disappointingly, no local experienced chessplayers entered. Others who scored 3/5: Ben Jago, Ben Brown, Jackie Davis, Mark Pritchard, Peter Newing (junior, Camborne Science Academy).

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The Cornwall Grand Prix concluded with the seventh and final event, the Kerrier Cup, counting for triple points.

Colin Sellwood and Gary Trudeau finished as joint winners of the 150+ section, with Theo Slade 3^rd. Winners of the other sections were; David J Jenkins (125-149), Barry Childs (100-14) and Richard Stephens (Under 100).

Final standings and full list of prizewinners here

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The final event in this year's Grand Prix was played at Truro High School on Saturday 6^th June.

The stars-barred quickplay, for players with an ECF grade under 80 including newcomers, was won by the leading Cornish player of his age-group, Adam Hussain (Truro Prep) with a perfect score of 5/5. Second was Tim Taylor with 3½. There were seven players, five of whom stayed on to play in the last two rounds of the Kerrier Cup.

There were fifteen entries for the Kerrier Cup which counted for triple points towards the Cornwall Grand Prix. The winner was Theo Slade (Bude) with 4½/5. County champion James Hooker (Truro) finished 2^nd on 4 and Robin Kneebone (Truro) 3^rd on 3½.

Final scores here

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Jeremy Menadue finished on 3/5 in the Open and qualifies for the British Championship which is taking place at Warwick University. He joins Theo Slade as one of Cornwall's two representatives.

Other scores of Cornish players as reported by Jeremy:
Open: Theo Slade 2, Simon Bartlett 1½
Intermediate: Martin Jones 2
Minor: Barry Childs 3½ (grading prize), Philip May 2½

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This was held at the same venue as the previous events: Saint Augustine's Church, St Austell. There were 16 players with Robin Kneebone finishing 1^st
Further information on the trust and its work among the homeless can be found here.

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The list of winners is below. Each age group has a Supremo (boy) and a Suprema (girl).
Under 7 Charles Sexton (Truro Prep), Chloe Frankland (Truro High)
Under 8 Asher Michael (Marazion), Katie Strevens (Trythall)
Under 9 Adam Hussain (Truro Prep), Celeste Woodall (Truro High)
Under 10 Noah Raitt (Trythall), Lily Strevens (Trythall)
Under 11 Harvey Richings (Marazion), Sneha Shaju (St Mary's CE, Truro)
Under 12 Thomas Oates (Pool Academy)
Under 13 Jason Stephens (Penryn College)
Under 14 Cameron Murdoch (Truro School)
Under 15 Richard Stephens (Penryn College)
Under 16 Matthew Trathen (Camborne Academy)
Under 17 Kate Powell (Camborne Academy)

The following scored 4 or more points and also qualified for the national final, to be held in Reading in July:
Matthew Jilbert (Mounts Bay), Alec Sharbatian (Truro School), Aloysius Cota (Truro Prep), Sam Edwards (Truro Prep), Josh Patterson (Marazion), Oliver Sexton (Truro Prep), Spencer Richings (Marazion), Jonathan Taylor (Truro Prep),

There were 53 entries in total.

Full scores of all sections here.

Robin Kneebone

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Unfortunately it was journey's end for the county team at Weston-super-Mare Conservative Club on Saturday, 25^th April where we lost to Bedfordshire by 5 - 11. This brought to a close a successful season for the team which finished with 3 wins and 2 losses. Full results and David's captain's report are here.

Back row: John Wilman (12), David Saqui (6), David Jenkins (15), Grant Healey (5), IM Andrew Greet (1), Jeremy Menadue (2), Colin Sellwood (10)
Front row: Andrew Slade, Richard Stephens (16), Simon Bartlett (8), Theo Slade (3), Richard Smith (14), Robin Kneebone (7), Jeff Nicholas (13)
Absent: Mark Hassall (3), Lloyd Retallick (9), Gary Trudeau (11)

We are grateful to Martin Slade for his kind permission to use this photograph.

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13 players contested this event held on April 13^th at Truro High School. The winner was Jeremy Menadue with 4/5. Ian George, Simon Bartlett and Robin Kneebone finished equal 2^nd on 3½ Full scores here.

This was the fifth event in the Cornwall Grand Prix. Colin Sellwood is the new leader, moving 40 points ahead of Gary Trudeau. Barry Childs is now third and leads the Under 125 section. Mick Hill leads the Under 150 and Richard Stephens the Under 100 sections.

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Several Cornish players entered the WECU Easter Congress at Exmouth and for two of them it proved to be a successful weekend.

In the Open our top junior, Theo Slade (Bude), came 3^rd equal with 4½/7, his two losses being against the winner and runner-up, GM Keith Arkell and IM Jack Rudd. This fine result gives Theo automatic qualification to this year's British Championship at Warwick University.

Colin Sellwood (Camborne) was joint winner of the Major with 5½. Coming into the last round he was a point ahead of the field but lost to Oliver Wensley, so had to be content to share the spoils with him.

Other results of Cornish players:
Open: Jeremy Menadue (Truro) 3; Simon Bartlett (Newquay) 1½
Minor: Barry Childs (Lerryn) 2½; Terry Dengler (Truro) 2

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Cornwall won this match, played on Saturday 7 March at Honiton Community College, by a score of 11 to 5. Hampshire conceded boards 13-16 in advance and therefore the score from games played was 7-5 in favour of Cornwall.

As a result of this excellent result we finished in second place, behind Somerset, with three wins and one loss and qualify for the National stages of the County Championships. Subject to confirmation, which will not be available until the end of March, our opponents are likely to be Norfolk who finished third in the East Anglia region.

The detailed results and captain's report are here.

David R Jenkins

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At this annual event, held at Swindon on 21 and 22 February and featuring many strong juniors from outside the region, Adam Hussain (Truro Prep) was the top-scoring West of England player in the Under 9 section and is therefore the new West of England Under 9 Champion. Congratulations to Adam on this fine result from one of our most promising juniors.

In the county match played on 7^th February Cornwall beat Devon by 8½-7½. This is the first victory over Devon in 23 years and only the third since 1972/73. We were outgraded on every board, so this must go down as one of our best ever performances in a county match.

Although the "B" team match was lost by 7-5, the team was also heavily outgraded throughout and so the final score greatly exceeded the expected result based on the grades.

A special mention is due to team captain David Jenkins who managed the impressive feat of assembling a total of 28 players and to all who took part in a memorable day for the county team.

Full scores of both match and David's captain's report are here. John Wilman's fine queen sacrifice out of the opening is here.

Plamen Sivrev v Grant Healey. The final stages of the decisive game.

David R Jenkins

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After several years at Stithians the congress returned to the Tresillian Hall at Truro College between 30^th January and 1^st February.

13 players contested the Emigrant Cup which was won with 4/5 by James Hooker (Truro), repeating his success of 2002. He is the new Cornwall Champion. Five players scored 3½: Simon Bartlett (Newquay), Lloyd Retallick (Newquay), David Saqui (Falmouth), Mark Watkins (Camborne).

There were 18 players in the Falmouth Cup for players graded 145 and under. It featured an impressive display by fifteen year old Richard Stephens (Penryn College and Falmouth), playing in his first tournament. He led from the outset and won the tournament outright with 4/5. Equal second on 3½ were Hamad Aljaber (Falmouth), Mick Hill (Truro), David Jenkins (Camborne), Ian Rescorla (Bude) and Jan Rodrigo (Falmouth)

The Penwith Cup for juniors and adults new to tournament chess was shared between one of our most promising juniors, Harvey Richings (Marazion School and Camborne), and the editor of Athletics Weekly, Jason Henderson. They finished on 5½/6. There 12 entries.

Final scores here. Some games and photos to follow.

Ian George

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On Monday 12^th January the Cornwall Blitz Championship was revived after a gap of 15 years at Truro's new venue at the High School . It was played as a nine round Swiss with five minutes each on the clock. .

Having won the title and cup three times in a row between 1998 and 2000, Jeremy Menadue (Truro) resumed where he had left off finishing with 8/9. Equal 2^nd on 6½ were Robin Kneebone (Truro) and Richard Stephens (Falmouth) who inflicted Jeremy's only defeat. There were 16 entries.

Ian George

FINAL SCORES
1	Jeremy Menadue	Truro	182	8
2-3	Robin Kneebone	Truro	162	6½
	Richard Stephens	Falmouth	83
4-5	Grant Healey	Falmouth	161	6
	John Wilman	Liskeard	156
6-7	Simon Bartlett	Newquay	164	5
	David Saqui	Falmouth	171
8	Neil Robinson	Truro	134	4½
9-12	Richard Pascoe	Falmouth	115	4
	Hamad Aljaber	Falmouth	UG
	Chris Naidu	-	UG
	Jan Rodrigo	Falmouth	103
13-14	Adam Hussain	Truro Prep	UG	3½
	David R Jenkins	Liskeard	126
15	Jason Stephens	Falmouth	UG	1
16	John Moore	Truro	78	½

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Congratulations to our top junior, Theo Slade, who played in the Masters section of the annual Hastings congress, held over the new year, and produced a fine display, scoring 4½ in the nine-round Swiss.

Every game (including five blacks) was against someone rated more than 150 points higher. His performance rating for the tournament was 2137 against his own rating of 1869. His new rating will be 1992. Along the way he collected several prizes: best performance against rating for U2200 and for under 21s as well as the best game prize for round 8.

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Seven times Cornwall champion IM Andrew Greet made a welcome return visit to Cornwall for Christmas and most generously gave up an afternoon to give a simultaneous display at Truro School's Sir Ben Ainslie Sports Centre. Andrew, who played top board for an all-conquering Truro School team in the 1990s is now based in Glasgow and plays for the Scotland Olympiad team.

He took on 17 opponents and finished with 15 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The draw was against Newquay's top board, Mate Csuri, in a tremendous struggle which will be featured as Game of the Week on New Year's Eve. The loss was against fifteen year old Richard Stephens from the Falmouth club.

We are very grateful to Andrew for providing a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon's chess for all who took part. We hope that we will have the pleasure of his company again (maybe trying for an eighth county championship title....?!)

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I am sorry to have to report that Peter Clarke has died.

Originally from Essex, in the 1950s he became one of the two or three strongest players in England, representing the country many times at the Olympiads.

When he moved to Morwenstow in the North-East corner of the county in the late 1960s he became a familiar figure on the South-West and Cornwall scene both as a player and organiser. He was Cornwall champion five years in a row from 1977 to 1981 and was West of England champion four times in 1969, 1970, 1975 and 1981.

There is a brief obituary on the ECF website.

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Camborne's annual Christmas rapidplay tournament took place on 19^th December with 19 players taking part including several players from other clubs including a contingent from Liskeard.

The winner was Colin Sellwood with 4½/5 with David Saqui (Falmouth) runner-up on 4. There particularly fine performances from the two juniors present. Richard Stephens (Falmouth) scored 3½ and won the under 16 prize while Harvey Richings finished on 3, winning the under 11 prize.

Once again thanks to Debbie and Sonia for maintaining a constant supply of seasonal and other refreshments.

Ian George

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This new tournament took place on 7^th December. It was won by Neil Crickmore (Plymouth) with 5/6. Simon Bartlett (Newquay) was on good form, finishing 2^nd on 4½.

Results of other Cornish players: Colin Sellwood (Camborne) 4½, Martin Jones (Newquay) 3, David Jenkins (Camborne 2½)

Ian George

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Adam Hussain

Adam (Truro Prep) won the London Junior U10 qualifying event at St. Albans on 6^th December, scoring 5/6. As he is not yet 9 this is a promising achievement. He faces a tough challenge next weekend, playing in the London Major U10.

Theo Slade

At the London Chess Classic, which was held at Olympia from 6^th to 14^th December Theo was one of 405 players in the 10 round rapidplay open which featured many GMs (including the six elite players) and IMs. In round 1 the six elite players were each paired against a junior. Theo took on Hikaru Nakamura from the USA, the world no. 1 blitz player, putting up impressively stiff resistance against his powerful opponent. The game is here. He finished on 4½/10. In the strong FIDE Open which followed he scored 3½/9

Report and interview in the North Devon Journal

Theo Slade with Hikaru Nakamura at the 2014 London Chess Classic

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