Wales and South West of England Team Jamboree Tournament – 2023
It has been 3 years since this junior county tournament last took place. Back then we entered an under 14 and under 18 team (please see previous post)
Unfortunately, several of our best under 18 players couldn’t make it this time, so in the end we just took an under 14 team.
It is strange how quickly things change; In Jan 2020 Oli played in the Bristol / Gloucestershire team for the under 18’s, this time he was the under 14 coach !
Travelling over to Chepstow leisure centre was not as straightforward as it could have been. The Old Severn Bridge was shut due to high winds, and several B roads were almost unpassable with floods. With all these delays the action for round one was put back by half an hour to 11.30am. This was no real bother as each county was allocated their own team room for the day, so there was plenty of time for parents and players to get to know each other
We had assembled an excellent squad of 13 players:
James Thomas, Elliott Bleeg, Soumil Saha, Alexis Malibiran, Maddy Dupree, Ahnaf Sheikh, Advay Misra, Alexandra Hughes, Charliey Cooper, Charlie Higenbottam, Siddharth Krishna, Anay Misra, Rayyan Mussa.
As well as under 14 teams, there were also under 11’s and under 18 county teams taking part. For the under 14’s there were 3 rounds to be played, with a time control of 30 mins + 10 secs. As well as us, Devon and Glamorgan had entered under 14 teams
There were also reserve games alongside the main tournament, again with 3 rounds and a time control of 30 mins + ten secs. We had decided beforehand that all of our 13 player squad would get at least one game in the main team of ten.
So 30 points to play for, and for our reserve team of three, 9 points to play for.
Round One
Everyone was keen to get started and in round one we had or best team score of 6/10.
Great wins for James on board one, and also Soumil, Alexis, Alexandra and Charliey.
However, the reserves were not to be denied and scored a full house of 3/3. Great play from Siddharth, Anay and Rayyan.
In between rounds Oli manged to look at several games, and for those who were not entirely sure, he explained exactly how to notate a chess game.
With the experience of three tough county games (and ECF rated) it was another plus that all 13 players can now notate a game. The next step is for them to start annotating their games ?
Round Two
For this round we scored 5/10.
Excellent wins for Elliott and Soumil on boards two and three. The same for Maddy, Ahnaf and Advay. The reserves were at it again! Another 3/3, with wins for Charlie, Alexandra and Charliey.
After a short break for lunch, we moved on to the final Round.
Round Three
For the final round we scored 4/10, not our best effort, but at least two games that were lost could/should have been won. So a score of 15/30. Very respectable, especially if you consider how young our team was. Several aged under 10 !
Could the reserves keep up their 100 % record? Yes they could ! 3 more wins for Siddharth, Anay and Rayyan.. Beat that ! Our reserves scored 9/9
For the main under 14 team Ahnaf and Advay had a tremendous day with both scoring 2.5/3. For the reserves Siddharth, Anay and Rayyan all scored 2/2.
Our top three boards also showed their quality, with James on board one scoring 1.5/3.
Elliott on board two scoring 2/3, and Soumil om board three scoring 2/3.
Charliey also had an excellent tournament, scoring 1.5/2 for the main team and 1/1 for the reserves.
But the most important result was that all our players secured at least one win.
Very impressive, especially as we were up against two other strong county teams, and had such a young team.
Well done to all the players, and thank you to the parents for looking after them.
The final standings for the under 14’s
1st Glamorgan
2nd Bristol/ Gloucestershire
3rd Devon
There is no doubt that our team will have gained a lot more experience for next year.
I am sure we can better our score of 15/20, and there is no reason why we can’t seriously challenge for the top spot. I have no doubt we will !
Finally we would all like to thank Downend & Fishponds for their contribution of £40 towards the team entry fee, and also the Bristol & District League for covering the other £90. Their support is much appreciated.
It was a good day. The Megafinal next…that is on 17th June.
