We completed the club-based rounds of the British Land Chess Challenge 2005 after Easter, & the following players scored 17 points (15 points if over 11 years of age) & qualified for the Suffolk Mega Final held at Woodbridge School on May 8th: Ben Phipps, Patrick Stevens, Tom Clarke, James King, Michael Booth, Edward Harker & Paul Smith. Within the seven club rounds, the overall winner was Ben Phipps, who jointly scored 19 points out of a possible 21 with Patrick Stevens. Ben won the subsequent playoff to claim the cup.
There were approximately 100 qualifiers from local schools & clubs at the Mega Final. From IJC, Ben Phipps managed 6 points from 6 games & became the U12 Supremo. In the U11 section, Patrick Stevens & Tom Clarke both scored 5/6, with Patrick taking the Supremo title on progressive scores (ask me if you don’t know what this means). Playing in his first tournament, Edward Harker managed 3/6 in the U9 section. Well done to you all. Patrick, Tom & Ben now qualify for the National Giga-Final next month in Manchester.
Thank you to all parents who have come along & helped on Saturday mornings. We couldn’t run the club without your support. If you have any skills that you think might help the club, please don’t wait to be asked (we are particularly short of people who are able to provide short coaching lessons). As another example, several of our tournament clocks no longer work reliably. These cost upwards of 30 pounds each, & if anyone feels they might be able to repair a clock or two, please speak to one of the organisers.
We will be holding our annual AGM in a few weeks whilst club is running. Parents please try & come & have your say. The club belongs to all of us, & there are some important issues this year. Specifically, we have had fewer children attending this year, which has meant that takings are down, & we are not covering our costs (our main cost is the hire fees for Clopleston school).
Additionally, Liz & Tim are finding it difficult to commit every Saturday morning to running the club. Whilst parents’ help is vital & very much appreciated, we really need one or two other parents to be available regularly to help run the club. We need to discuss these issues & make a decision on the future of IJC. I will fix a date for the meeting as soon as possible & let you know.