Spelthorne Borough Junior Chess Championships 2013

04 Apr 2013

The fifth Spelthorne Junior Chess Championships took place at Staines Prep on Saturday 16th March. These championships were organised by Dr Noel Stewart following an initiative by Mike Basman, organiser of the UK Chess Challenge.

The competition was open to boys and girls who live, or attend a school, in Spelthorne. There were five rounds with a trophy being awarded to the winner of each of the three age sections, U9, U11 and U15. This year there were forty entrants from twelve different schools.

The U15 Championship was fiercely contested with Kurran Patel (Thamesmead) and Angelo Umashangar (Tiffin School) tying for first place on four points. An extra rapid-play game with ten minutes each was won by Angelo who received the U15 trophy.

The U11 Champion with five straight wins was Stephon Umashangar (Staines Prep) who came second last year. In joint second place with four points were Christopher Sanders (Chennestone) and Ellen McGregor (Staines Prep). Ellen won the U11 girl’s trophy for the second successive year (having been the overall U9 Champion in 2011).

The U9 Champion, also winning all five games, was Matthew Turley (Staines Prep) narrowly beating last year’s winner, Arjan Tucker (Staines Prep) who finished second. Ellie Smith (Staines Prep) came third and won the U9 trophy for the best score of any female competitor.

All competitors received a Certificate of Participation with those gaining three points also winning a rosette. The winners were presented with their trophies by the Mayor, Councillor Robin Sider, who enjoyed playing three games against the competitors and was delighted to see chess being played so enthusiastically by school children in the borough.

Photo (L-R):
Chess winners – Matthew Turley (9), Ellie Smith (9), Angelo Umashanger (12), Cllr Robin Sider – The Mayor of Spelthorne, Ellen McGregor (10), Dr Noel Stewart and Stephon Umashanger (10).