Chess Scotland
Juniors
designed by kids,
for kids!
Quadrangular
Tournament
By
Donna Officer
On
Friday 9 December 2005, two junior teams travelled down to Liverpool to
participate in a quadrangular tournament against the North of England,
English Midlands and Wales.
We
travelled down to Liverpool by coach, which left Dundee at 4.00pm, picking up
players from Stirling and Hamilton
along the way. It was a very tired
group which arrived at the Travelodge in Widnes
at 11.30pm that same night. Nevertheless,
we settled into our rooms and got some sleep before play started the
following day. The event was being
held at Greenbank
Primary School in Liverpool
and our first round was against the North of England. Everyone was concentrating well and the results
started flowing in. We could see that
our U/14 team was doing very well but the U/12 team was struggling a
little. Nevertheless the U/12 team
finished with 3 points to the opponents 9.
The U/14 team finished with a 7.5 – 4.5 win.
Round
2 was against Wales and the U/14 team was eager
to try to redeem themselves after their loss to the Welsh at the Trinations.
Matthew’s opponent on board 4 had to go home unexpectedly so the point
was defaulted – much to Matthew’s disappointment but Stephen Mannion took him away for some extra coaching instead! A
sneaky win by Amy on board 2 gave the Scots an unexpected point after she
went a piece down. However, they won comfortably with 10 points to Wales 2. The U/12 team also had some good play –
Jonathan on board 2 enjoyed his win against a very strong Megan Owens.
Scotland was very happy with
their performance at this stage and left the venue eagerly anticipating the
last round the following day. In the evening we went out for a meal at the
Brewer’s Fayre.
We had pre-ordered the food so there was not a great wait – which was
just as well as we were all hungry after the day’s events. We walked back to the hotel and everyone
went off to relax for a couple of hours before bed. I’ve no doubt that the players thoroughly
enjoyed their midnight feasts (which the chaperones were supposed to know
nothing about – of course we had noticed the assortment of carried bags full
of crisps and coke being carried around!!).
Round
3 started at 10.00am in the morning so there was a degree furious banging at
doors to make sure everyone was awake in time for breakfast. Of course, no trip would be complete
without one group sleeping in and this trip was no exception! I’ll leave the players to tell you who were
last up!!!! (Ian, Jamie and Matthew – your parents will be happy to know that
you CAN get up and dressed in 5 minutes + pack a bag and tidy a
room!!!!) Anyway, we arrived at the
venue in plenty time, ready for the last round against English Midlands. No problems there! Both teams managed comfortable wins against
some very strong opposition. Rhian
pulled off a great win against a higher graded opponent in the Under 12 team
and Ian came up with a super move on board 1 of the U/14 team to beat his
opponent. The results were 10 –2 for the U/14s and 8.5 – 3.5 to the u/12s.
The
final points were counted up and Scotland was pronounced the
winners of the U/14 section and 2nd in the U/12 section. That will do for us!!!
The
bus journey home was long and tiring but it was a happy group of players who
eventually arrived back in Scotland. We have agreed to participate in this
competition again next year at the same time and venue.
Thanks
must go to the team captains Jonathan Wright and Ian MacGregor. Thanks also to Norrie
and Maureen Mathie and Stephen Mannion
for helping me with my task of chaperoning the group. My job would not have been possible without
their support and assistance and wonderful sense of humour! Finally thanks must go to the players who
conducted themselves very well and acted responsibly. I’m proud of you all!
Teams:
U/12
Rhian
Hughes
Jonathon
Wright
Stuart
MacQueen
Ali
Roy
Barnaby
Leach
Andrew
McClement
Kirill Mikhaylov
Jonny Scott
Marc
Woods
Bryan
Rettie
Jamie
Scott
Scott
Jordan
U/14
Ian
McGregor
Amy
Officer
Adam
Bremnar
Matthew
O’Donnell
Jonathan
Edwards
Jamie
Hookham
Craig
Petrie
Callum Vipond
David
Nisbet
Daniel
MacAteer
Joe
Pedrosa
Angus
Taylor
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