National Schools Championships 2010-11

[Richard Haddrell]

My school... hasn't received any fixtures yet. Should we be worried?

Yes. See my earlier post:

...Let me know if your school hasn’t heard. Only do it privately. You know my email address if you’ve entered a team.

I’ve an idea which school we’re talking about, and I have re-sent the info I sent them nine days ago. If nothing arrives, your team manager should contact me. He doesn’t need to register for the Forum.

[Brent Smith]

The finalists are almost all decided. So far Manchester Grammar and RGS Guildford have qualified for the finals in July. I know that Reading School beat Dr Challoner's tonight to also book a place (I'm sure it wasn't deliberate, but these were the last two state schools in the championship, so by playing each other, there was guaranteed to be at least one non-independent school represented in the final). This leaves only Nottingham High School v. Norwich for the final slot. The grades for all these teams suggest that it will be very tight, and that there is no clear favourite. Should be fun.

[John Upham]

How do the entry numbers for this season compare with previous ones?

[Richard Thursby]

How do the entry numbers for this season compare with previous ones?

According to the SCCU website, "This year's entry ... was a disappointing 148 teams, rising to 153 with the appearance of new teams in the Last Chance Saloons."

[John Upham]

According to the SCCU website, "This year's entry ... was a disappointing 148 teams, rising to 153 with the appearance of new teams in the Last Chance Saloons."

Do we know which schools that normally enter were not able to (for any reason) this year?

What are the entry number for the last few years?

[Brent Smith]

According to the SCCU website, "This year's entry ... was a disappointing 148 teams, rising to 153 with the appearance of new teams in the Last Chance Saloons."

Do we know which schools that normally enter were not able to (for any reason) this year?

What are the entry number for the last few years?

The SCCU website has an excellent history. The last 10 years entrants have been:
2000-01 246
2001-02 192
2002-03 154
2003-04 143
2004-05 124
2005-06 93
2006-07 93
2007-08 140
2008-09 156
2009-10 165

So this year's entry of 153 may have reversed a slowly rising trend (but not by much), but is still much higher than those two sub-100 years.

[Neill Cooper]

So far Manchester Grammar and RGS Guildford have qualified for the finals in July. I know that Reading School beat Dr Challoner's tonight to also book a place. This leaves only Nottingham High School v. Norwich for the final slot. The grades for all these teams suggest that it will be very tight, and that there is no clear favourite. Should be fun.

Indeed last year's top 3 have all been knocked out, Reading defeating the reigning champions in their zone final. So with both grades and ages close it could be an exciting 2 days.
I think the last time a state school won was in 1986-87 when Queen Mary's GS, Walsall were winners. Last year Wilson's School were the first state school at the championship final since Blue Coat Oldham came 2nd in 2005.

[Neill Cooper]

So this year's entry of 153 may have reversed a slowly rising trend (but not by much), but is still much higher than those two sub-100 years.

Richard's tournament history page is very useful.
Numbers were already falling in the late 1990s (http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/9899/let.htm#jun) but fell even more when the Times stopped sponsoring the event (in 2001 I think - due to a chess dispute). By 2005 the entry fee had risen to £25, which was high considering you might only get one match.
Claire Summerscale led a successful initiative in 2007 to get more schools to take part. However, the main increase has been in the number of primary and prep schools taking part.
Richard's introduction of a 'Last Chance Saloon' has not got many extra entries (as most teams who play are those who have previously been knocked out) but it provides valuable extra inter-school chess. This year RGS Guildford will be the first championship finalists to have been knocked out and then got to the final.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think the last time a state school won was in 1986-87 when Queen Mary's GS, Walsall were winners.

Would it surprise you to learn they no longer have a chess team?

[Richard Haddrell]

Richard's introduction of a 'Last Chance Saloon'...

Not mine. Claire Summerscale introduced Last Chance Saloons in 2007-8.