Chess

 National Primary Schools Chess Team Championship 2013

National Chess Championship
Mr E. Jones again led NHJS to the annual zonal National Primary Schools Chess Championships 2013 in Birmingham on 2^nd February. We attended it as a large contingent of 5 teams with 26 pupils supported by parents galore. There were two Under 9 Teams and three Under 11 teams. Our school teams were one of the favourites after an excellent performance from both age groups last year.
Each of us played five matches against other schools and our own teams. Both the Under 9 teams won most of their matches against the other schools. The Under 9 ‘A’ team won the heats while the U9 ‘B’ team were the runners- up. Our U11’A’ were runners- up, U11 ‘B’ took third place and U11’C’ were ranked fifth on the day.
We are all excited and proud about the fact that all of our teams have qualified for the national semi-finals. All of the boys are now eagerly waiting for the next round of the chess challenge.
We would like to thank Mr Jones for entering the teams in the competition and working hard to help us achieve these results. Thank you also to our parents for supporting us during the competition.
Rohan Shenoy, 4C
 

Heats at Birmingham

First three places qualify for the Semi Finals

Nottingham High Junior School

Under 11sTeam A -Team Manager, Ed Jones

Nottingham High Junior School

Under 11s Team B- Team Manager,

 Nottingham High Junior School 

Under 11sTeam C- Team Manager,

National Primary Schools Chess Team Championship 2013

Heats at Birmingham

First five places qualify for the Semi Finals.

Nottingham High Junior School

Under 9sTeam A -Team Manager,

 Nottingham High Junior School

Under 9sTeam B-Team Manager,

National Primary Schools Chess Team Championship 2013

Heats at Birmingham

National Primary Schools Chess Team Championship 2013

Heats at Birmingham

First five places qualify for the Semi Finals.

 National Chess Champions-Our under 9 team consisting of all Year 3 boys were crowned National Chess Champions this week.  In the Under 11 compeition we were runners up in the National Finals held at Brean Sands.  This is a fantastic achievement. More news to follow shortly.

England Chess Internationals-Congratulations to Hari Solomonides, John Croasdale (Year 5 pupil) and Taylor Pearson, who have all qualified to represent the U11 England chess team.  This is a magnificent achievement and we are very proud of their efforts.

U11 IAPS Chess Champions-Following our unprecedented success over the last 12 months, we can now claim to be IAPS champions too.  Congratulations to all of the boys involved in winning such a prestigious tournament.

Chess Schools Chess Qualifying Tournament for National Semi-Finals

On Saturday 25^th February 2012, our under 9 ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, along with our under 11 ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C ‘and ‘D’ teams arrived at the High School ready to be taken to Rotherham by coach.

After the first round, in which our A team played our C team and our B team played our D team, the results table showed the B-team first with 5 points and the A-team second with 4 ½ points. The maximum points that you could score on each round was 5 points. We were all very excited and all of the rounds went well.

Our under 11 A, B and C teams finished first, second and third  whilst our D team finished seventh, just missing out on qualifying for Prestatyn. Both of our Under 9 teams also qualified for Prestatyn. When we arrived back in our room, we were given really pleasing information. The arbiter had counted the scores wrongly, meaning that our under 11 D team had finished sixth, so they also qualified for Prestatyn.

 It was a wonderful day and all of our teams had qualified for the National semi- finals at Prestatyn on the 15^th,16^th and 17^th of June. Many thanks to all the boys who participated and special thanks to Mr Jones and the parent helpers.

Sahrin Ahluwalia and Donald Flynn, 6S

England Schools’ Chess Tournament at Oundle

On Sunday 11^th March 2012, our Under 8 team competed in the Under 9 age group qualifiers national tournament at Oundle. The team performed exceptionally well and qualified in style for the national semi- finals at Prestastyn in June.

Adi Munshi, Abhishek Thakar, Rohan Shenoy, Neel Badhe, Imran Zaman and Rohan Shah combined to win ALL their 25 games, which is outstanding, particularly as they were competing in an age group a year above them. As a school we now have a total of SEVEN teams competing at Prestatyn – the most ever!

Mr Jones

National Chess Tournament - On the 11^th March 2012, Sahrin Ahluwalia, Ishaan Bedi, Taylor Pearson, Hari Solomonides and Karam Sangha travelled to the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool to play in a national chess tournament against people of all ages.

After a tiring 3-hour journey to Blackpool Promenade, the first round commenced. Hari and Taylor played in the intermediate section whilst Karam, Ishaan and Sahrin played in the minor. Disappointingly, Ishaan and Sahrin were defeated and Karam, Taylor and Hari won. After a delicious dinner, we collapsed into bed.

The next day, there were two more 3-hour chess matches to be played. After that, we all headed straight for the swimming pool for a deserved cool down.

The next day ended with Taylor with 3 ½ points out of 5; Hari with 3 out of 5; Karam with 2 ½ out of 5; Sahrin with 1 ½ out of 5 and Ishaan with 1 out of 5.

Sadly, no prizes were won in the end but as we were playing against adults, these were fantastic performances from everyone. Many thanks to all the parents who gave up their weekend to come and support their children in this eventful chess tournament.

Sahrin Ahluwalia, 6S

 Swindon Chess Tournament

On 17^th February 2012, six boys from Nottingham High Junior School travelled to Swindon to compete in a National chess tournament for under twelves . 

We arrived there the night before so that we could have a good night’s sleep and play to our maximum the following day. As soon as we entered the playing hall (the next morning) and saw the draw, we knew we would have to play to the best of our abilities to survive the challenges that lay ahead. Furthermore, after our first day of playing our individual scores were as follows: Ishaan Bedi 2/3, Hari Solomonides 1.5/3,Taylor Pearson 1/3, Karam Sangha 1/3, Donald Flynn 0.5/3 and Will Atiomo 0.5/3.

After a hard day of chess we retired back to our hotels and readied ourselves for another tough upcoming day. The next day proved to be as difficult as we had anticipated. Consequently, when the tournament had ended our individual scores were: Hari Solomonides 3.5/6, Taylor Pearson 2.5/6, Karam Sangha 2.5/6, Ishaan Bedi 2/6, Donald Flynn 2/6 and Will Atiomo 2/6.

 I enjoyed the event immensely and I am extremely grateful, as are the other boys, to our parents who gave up their weekends to take us to the competition.

Hari Solomonides, 6S

Rotherham Chess Tournament

On Saturday 25^th February 2012, our under 9 A-team and B-team, together with our under 11 A, B, C, D teams travelled to Rotherham to compete in the qualifying matches for the national semi- finals.

After our first round, in which our A team played our C team and our B team played our D team, the B team were lying in 1^st position with 5 points whilst the A team were second with 4 ½ points. The maximum points that you could score on each round was 5 points. We were all very excited and all of the rounds went well. Our A team scored what must be a record- breaking amount – out of a total score of 25 points they dropped only half a point! The B team finished with 16 points whilst the C team were only half a point behind them. Our Under 11 D team completed the day on 12 points. The Under 9 A team scored 17 and a half points whilst the B team finished only 2 points behind them. 

Our under 11 A, B and C team came 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd  respectively whilst our D-team originally finished 7^th which meant they just missed out on qualifying for Prestatyn. Our under 9 A team and B team also qualified for Prestatyn. When we arrived back to our room, we received some really pleasing information. The arbiter had counted the scores wrongly, meaning that our under 11 D team came 6^th and also qualified for Prestatyn.

It was a magnificent achievement and Mr Jones was extremely proud to see all of our teams go through. Many thanks to all the boys who participated and special thanks to Mr Jones and the parent helpers.

We are now all eagerly awaiting our matches at Prestatyn in June.

Donald Flynn and Sahrin Ahluwalia, 6S

England Chess Trials-In the recent England chess trials, Sahrin Ahluwalia, Will Atiomo, Ishaan Bedi, Donald Flynn, Taylor Pearson, Karam Sangha, Hari Solomonides and James Webster travelled to the High School to compete with chess players from all over the country.

The boys were on familiar territory and performed to their maximum ability. The longest time that a game could last was three hours therefore  we had plenty of time to analyse and plan our attack.

The people who obtained a half norm (3 points out of 5) included Sahrin Ahluwalia, James Webster, Hari Solomonides and Taylor Pearson.

To conclude, we have all enjoyed these events  leading up to the trial and I hope we can all represent our country.

Sahrin Ahluwalia, 6S

UK Chess Challenge- On the 25^th January 2012 Nottingham High Junior School started the UK Chess Challenge. This tournament takes place at school and there are 7 rounds which boys can play at lunch or at break times. There are prizes such as badges, stickers, mascots and trophies. So far there are 120 boys playing.

If you win a game you will score 3 points, a draw will score 2 points and even if you lose a game you will score 1 point. To gain entry to the next stage of the tournament you will need to have gained 17 points. NHJS has been running this event for 17 years and this is the longest length of time in the whole of the United Kingdom. By Karam Sangha (6G) and Simon Onions (6S)

Liverpool Chess Trials-On Saturday 14^th January, James Webster, Karam Sangha, John Croasdale, Ishaan Bedi and I travelled to a small primary school in Liverpool. Here we all competed to make our first steps towards the England trials. To do so, all of us had to obtain 3 and a half points out of 6, a half norm.

Once there, we settled down to a luxious hot chocolate before the games commenced. By the end of the first round we were sad to hear that the majority of us did not win our games, however by the second round we were all at least on one point.

Gradually, the competition started to increase in difficulty but after receiving some reassurance from parents (and eating a well-deserved lunch), we marched  into the playing hall to try our very best. This made things slightly easier and after a few well -fought battles, it was finally time for the last round, which was definitely the most difficult. We were all trembling, as we knew that if we did not win this round it was most likely we would not qualify.

With some brilliant performances by everyone, John Croasdale , Ishaan Bedi and I managed to achieve a half norm, meaning that we are half way towards England trials. James Webster also qualified for the England trials. Overall it was a brilliant day and we returned home excited and tired.

Will Atiomo, 6S

Chess Match-On the 26^th of November, Taylor Pearson, Karam Sangha, Donald Flynn, Ishaan Bedi and I travelled to Warwick for a chess tournament. This was the first time that Nottingham High Junior School had entered. All of us won our first game, nearly all of us won our second and there was only 20 minutes for each person in every round. Unfortunately, only four of the highest scorers in our school would count towards our overall score.

Hallfield were the favourites to win because they won last year and each player had to achieve 3 ½ points out of 6 to receive a medal. Taylor won the under 12 section with a whopping 5 ½ points, a boy from Hallfield came second with 5 points and Karam came third with 4 ½ points, which also meant that he was awarded a gold medal. Sahrin and Ishaan won a silver medal with 4 points and Donald won a bronze medal with 3 ½ points.

King Henry VIII Primary School came third with 10 points, Hallfield finished runners up with 12 points whilst Nottingham High Junior School won the under 12 section with 18 points. The overall prize was a huge shield. Well done to everyone who played.

Sahrin Ahluwalia, 6SEast Midland Grand Prix-On the 12^th of November 2011, Taylor Pearson, Karam Sangha, Hari Solomonides, Will Atiomo, Donald Flynn, James Webster, Ishaan Bedi and Sahrin Ahluwalia travelled to Dovecote Primary School to take part in the East Midlands Grand Prix. There were also many other pupils from different schools who competed in this event.

Hari Solomonides won the tournament with 5 out of 6 points, Donald Flynn finished runner up also with 5 points, Karam Sangha came third with 4 ½ points and Taylor and Sahrin both finished joint fourth also with 4 ½ points. The finishing positions of players with the same amount of points were decided by count back. It was a clean sweep of all the top positions for NHJS.

Sahrin Ahluwalia, 6S

Chess League-In the ‘A’ team chess league we played four matches against Roundhill, Fernwood, Bramcote Hill and the High School ‘B’ team.

In the first match we beat our ‘B’team then we beat Bramcote Hill 5-3. We then beat Roundhill and overall we came out victorious with 16.5 points.

Thank you to Mr Jones for organising this great opportunity.

Ben Carlisle, 6S

Results following the recent round of matches:

  A Team

B Team

NOTTINGHAM HIGH JUNIOR SCHOOL ARE UK NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONS

Pupils at Nottingham High Junior School are celebrating after being crowned the best under 11’s chess team in the country in the English Primary Schools’ National Chess Team Championships at Brean Sands in Somerset.    

The school successfully competed against over 170 schools that initially took part in the competition.

This fantastic achievement was all the more memorable in the fact that only two of the six boys representing the school were from Year 6, Michael Fletcher & Nikhil Sahdev. Year 5 representatives were Hari Solomonides, Karam Sangha and Taylor Pearson along with Year 4 pupil John Croasdale. The boys won a huge trophy together with individual gold salvers.

“I am so pleased with the boys’ efforts. To win this prestigious tournament is a great achievement,” said Eddie Jones, Deputy Head of Nottingham High Junior School. “It has been a reward for their years of dedication to the game. I speak for the whole school when I say we are delighted with the performance of our U9 team too. Each boy played brilliantly and I am sure that given their abilities, they will progress  even further in this competition in the coming years.”

Rotherham Report -By Ishaan Bedi                   

On Saturday 5^th March 2011 we were scheduled to go to Rotherham. My mum and I had to wake up at 7:00am to be on time. We arrived at 7:40am and everybody in years 3,4,5 and 6 who had arrived played an exciting game of football whilst we waited for the coach. At 8:15 the coach still wasn’t there! Finally, it arrived and the teachers, parents and students eagerly boarded the coach. After 45 minutes the coach stopped and we were at Sitwell School. We were provided with a  classroom and made it our team base for after every round of chess.  We entered 4 teams in the Under 11’s, and I was board 4 for the Under 11’s C team. There were 8 different teams in the Under 11’s category all competing for a place in the Prestatyn final. There were 5 strong rounds of chess to play throughout the day.

After the 4^th round we needed 2 points to qualify to Prestatyn. In the end we won 5-0; therefore the C team came 3^rd overall. Ekelston A came first, High School A came 2^nd and High School B came 4^th. 

Overall it was a fantastic day and I enjoyed it very much and look forward to Prestatyn.

Chess B League-On the 8^th of February 2011, Mr Jones took our ‘C ‘and ‘D’ teams to Jesse Gray School to play in th ‘B’ team league. When we arrived we were given our stickers saying which team we were in.

As we played our first match, the ‘C’ team had won 5 and lost 3. Our ‘D’ team also scored 5 wins and 3 losses. After everyone had played, the ‘C’ team still maintained the lead, with our ‘D’ team just squeezing into second place.

After our second round, the ‘C’ team had won 6, drawn 1 and lost 1 whilst the ‘D’ team had won 4, drawn 1 and lost 3.

In the second round, all the year 3’s won their matches, which is a phenomenal achievement as they are new to the school.

In the third round we were still first and second so we needed lots of points to stay in the lead and fortunately these remained the positions.

A special mention goes to Ben Peirce, Ben Naish, Alex Irons, Arjun Srinivas and Tom Bedforth for scoring 3 out of 3. Also a special mention goes to Oliver Brenchley, Ben Naish and Tom Bedforth ( all Year 3) as this was their debut for the school.

Well done boys.

Matthew Pickering, 6S ( captain of the ‘C’ and ‘D’ teams).

 Youngest Chess Champion Crowned

Over the weekend of 27th and 28th November, I competed in the Under 160 Nottinghamshire County Chess Championship 2010, staged at our school.

There were five rounds, each lasting a maximum of three and a half hours. This was an extremely challenging tournament because I was playing adults with grades as high as 158.

I won the Championship by achieving four out of a possible five points, and became the youngest ever junior to win the Under 160 section. I am also the Under 18 Junior County Champion for this year.

Michael Fletcher, 6G

Chess match 

On the 18^th November 2010, Nottingham High Junior School hosted the second set of rounds for the Autumn League Chess matches, in our dining hall. The competing teams were Fernwood, Round Hill, Bramcote Hills, NHJS ‘B’ team & NHJS  ‘A’ team.

The ‘A’ team played the first round against Fernwood, whilst the ‘B’ team played Bramcote Hills and the result was a win for both our teams.

In round two, the ‘A’ team played Bramcote Hills and the ‘B’ team were playing Round Hill, again! The score was a win for both of our teams.

In the final round, our ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams played each other, with the ‘A’s coming out victorious. The overall position was a glorious first and second place for NHJS.

George Taylor, 6G

Nottinghamshire Schools’ Chess

Autumn Term League Results 2010

West League Autumn (2010) Results table

Round One

Round Two

Boys High School ‘A’……..36

Boys High School ‘B’………25.5

Round Hill…………………………20.5

Bramcote Hills…………………19.5

Fernwood………………………… 18.5

London Junior Chess Championships 2009 by Harry Croasdale-On the 29^th December five boys from NHJS travelled down to Harrow to play in the largest tournament of the year, the London Junior Chess Championships.

The U12s (Michael Fletcher, Tobias Schroder, Saaras Mehan and myself) had all played three matches the day before with scores of: Michael 2.5 Me 2 Saaras and Tobias 1. In the U8s was John Croasdale and with £90 up for grabs John was sizing up the list showing the opposition before anybody else had turned up!

Two rounds into the U12s’ second day, as we all chowed down into a lovely chilli con carne, came the scores : Michael 3.5, Saaras and myself 2.5 and Tobias 2. John was on a roll and had beaten two unrelated boys with a surname of Elliot to score 2 out of 2!

The final round of the day produced a lower standard of chess with all the bleary eyes having stared at a chess board for at least 3 hours already! This turned out to be one of the toughest rounds so far for all of us. Michael was unlucky to be matched against the second seed and consequently lost. Saaras deserved a draw in a 3 hour long match in which he almost lost on time! I also drew and Tobias won against a top U10. Meanwhile in the U8s, John was now being matched up against leading contenders and was not found wanting. That left the scores as: Michael 3.5 Saaras Tobias and I on 3. John was on 3.5 out of four at the end of the day.

After a delicious breakfast we returned next morning to the University of Westminster. Following two stressful rounds the scores were: Myself and Saaras 5, Michael 4.5 and Tobias 4 (5 being the ‘half norm score’ to get into the England trials). John by now had beaten two of the top ranked southern juniors (one of whom was another Elliot!), and was playing for the tournament against a boy with whom he drew a year ago.

After messing about with one of my friends from Kent, it was time to play the final round. Tobias was trying to get to 5 but faced a tough challenge against a boy I had been lucky to get a draw against in a previous round. The final scores were: Michael and myself 5.5, Saaras 5 and Tobias 4 (although I’m glad to say Tobias has since qualified for the trials in a subsequent tournament in Liverpool).

Oh, in case you were wondering, John conquered his nerves to win his last game, scoring 6.5 out of 7 overall, to bring the U8 trophy and the winner’s cheque back to Nottingham. An outstanding achievement, when you consider that three previous winners in the 1990’s are now Grand Masters.