Lancashire Chess held another successful coaching day on the 5th October at Our Lady and St Edward’s Parish Centre in Preston. Over 40 children turned up for a day of chess coaching and games at a wonderful venue. Our thanks to Our Lady and St Edward’s for allowing us use of the venue, the children all had a great time, and the venue was brilliant for chess!
We split the children into U9s and Over 9s based on age and then divided each group into an ‘A’ section and a ‘B’ section based on ability. This was to ensure all the children had competitive games with players of similar age and abilities. A coach ran each section, who then provided tailored coaching for that group of players.
The chess was very competitive and most of the children got to play 5 or 6 games, with clocks being used in the Over 9s sections. The chess games were enjoyable and excellent, with occasional shock results and inevitable stalemates, but overall most of the children got to play 5 or 6 games, with clocks being used in the Over 9s sections.
At the end of a great day of chess, we had some close finishes for the prizes.
In the Over 9’s A Section, the top players played 6 games, and we had two winners on 5/6 – Eyad and Oliver! Congratulations to both players. In the Over 9’s B Section, we had an outright winner in Archie who scored an impressive 5.5 out of 6. Bamboozling all his opponents with audacious mating attacks from the start. However, his perfect record ended when he allowed a stalemate against Mara, who won the coach prize for the day for grabbing the draw against the best player on the day. Sofia won a book prize for taking on the lessons from the coach on the day.
In the Under 9’s A section, both Umar and Veda ended up on the same score 5/5, and a quick fire blitz took place to determine the winner, with Umar emerging as the victor. However, brilliant play and scores by both players. In the Under 9’s B section, the winner was James and the coach prize went to Benita. Congraulations to both!
Special thanks to all the coaches on the day – Richard, Hambel, Jasmine and Carl.
Not forgetting, of course, thanks to Colin Greenwood for an excellent event and the various parents who helped with some of the administration, allowing for a smooth event.
Next event will be in November, venue to be decided. Hope to see everyone there.
