10 of our best juniors represented Jersey in the European Youth Chess Championships, which took place during September online due to COVID restrictions.
Jem Gurner and Joe Beddoe represented Jersey in the under 18 section, Aditya Vanjare under 16, Yuvraj Singh and Matthew McConnell in the under 14, Gus Weber, Robbie Tieppo and Ethan Mwanga in under 12 open section and Amelia Weber and Emma Mwanga in under 12 girls.
There were over 700 players from 40 European federations taking part. As Covid restrictions prevented traditional chess taking place over the board, the participants played each other online using laptops and The Games had to be played in an approved venue, which for the Jersey squad was at Digital Jersey Hub, 3 The Forum, Grenville Street.
Jersey’s local qualified Arbiter Graham Mooney was in charge in Jersey and the venues connected to the chief arbiter by camera to ensure that no cheating was possible.
Each player played 9 Rounds and had 25 minutes on their clock with an additional 5 seconds every time they move for each round they played. All the Jersey players scored at least one point, despite tough opposition from much larger and stronger chess playing nations, including Russia.
Jem Gurner , Aditya Vanjare and Joe Beddoe all had very good wins and the full game detail can be found here. The highest scorers for Jersey were Jem Gurner who scored 3.5/9 and Aditya Vanjare who scored 3/9. All of the players enjoyed the weekend and are keen to play more online chess until traditional over the board chess returns.
The Jersey Chess Federation wish to thank Digital Jersey in assisting us with the venue and the technology for all the players to connect online and no one lost internet connection, which was a fantastic effort by Digital Jersey. Junior chess in Jersey is sponsored by Grant Thornton and SaSo Strategic Advisers Limited. Full results of the tournament can be found here.
The best young players in Jersey have also been given the opportunity to pit their wits against the strongest young chess players in Scotland, Ireland and Wales in The Celtic Online Junior Team Invitational event to be held on the weekend of Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December. Jersey will be represented at U12, U14 and U16 level and each participant will play 6 games with 25 minutes per player with a 5 second increment for all moves.
