Strongest U13 in England ?

[John Upham]

Quick quiz : who would you say was the highest graded Under-13 player playing in an English local league ?

Can anyone suggest anyone stronger than

Jagadeesh Siddharth who is ECF 237 ?

[Jonathan Rogers]

still playing? Now?

[John Upham]

His most recent graded standard play game was on June 7th 2019.

There is an unfortunate possibility of having to return to Singapore and miss the Terafinal for which he qualified.

He could well have been the Youngest Terafinal winner either as Strat or Under-18 winner.

[Jonathan Rogers]

yes, that was my point, I believe he has gone back now.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Yichen Han probably would haven given him some trouble in the lower age groups, and he has better results, for example, against recent mutual opponent, GM Nigel Davies. Plus the Terra Final is now ten round or more of 20+10 rapid play, and could end up a little more random, with the knock out format.

[Martin Crichton]

I played him a few weeks ago and just played a poor game and was beaten easily enough. B.1 in the final of the Hillingdon K.O. competition. I spoke to his father after the game and enquired if they were returning to Singapore (I lived there for a year in 99-2000) He told me that they were now living in England. His game on 7th June was in fact against me...just spotted that John.

[Thomas Rendle]

Isn't he U12 (both in World and UK terms)?

Also he's down to play an IM norm event in Coulsdon in August: https://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Adult%20 ... I_Norm.htm

[John Upham]

Isn't he U12 (both in World and UK terms)?

Also he's down to play an IM norm event in Coulsdon in August: https://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Adult%20 ... I_Norm.htm

That is good news Tom.

I'd forgotten what web sites designed in the 1990s looked like : thanks for the reminder !

It was fun choosing the worst colour clashes imaginable.

[Leonard Barden]

The simplest and probably only solution to the long absence of world class English junior talent described in today's Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/ ... uay-battle
would be for Jagadeesh Siddarth to follow Dan Fernandez and transfer from SGP to ENG.
He obviously has 2700+ potential.

[Martin Crichton]

Hi Leonard
like I said , his father informed me that they are now living in England. That implies the boy is attending school here and there have or are in the process of settling in England. It therefore would follow that he could change federation to Eng in due course but I am sure the boys father will choose the best course of action for his son. England and Singapore have close ties but he may decide to retain his Singaporean status and live in the UK as a Singaporean national.
The guardian article omits reference to one chess star (not a junior) that is steadily rising up through the ranks. I think I have a talent for spotting these things. Jonathan Hawkins ...now rated 2580 is obviously putting huge work into his game and I have noticed this in his games. I am certain his will break the 2600 barrier and maybe in a few years the 2700 barrier.

[Leonard Barden]

The guardian article omits reference to one chess star (not a junior) that is steadily rising up through the ranks. I think I have a talent for spotting these things. Jonathan Hawkins ...now rated 2580 is obviously putting huge work into his game and I have noticed this in his games. I am certain his will break the 2600 barrier and maybe in a few years the 2700 barrier.

Hawkins is aged 36, so older than McShane, Jones or Howell. His peak rating was 2592 in early 2018 but essentially his rating graph below shows a plateau in recent years:

https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=412686


My understanding is that his priority is now coaching where his former pupils include Jacob Yoon, the youngest player in the current British championship, and Sohum Lohia, who at this moment leads the British U11 with 4/4.

[Matt Bridgeman]

I remember seeing Jonathan in Llandudno in 2017, when he was off the pace a little in the Championship.

[Leonard Barden]

I remember seeing Jonathan in Llandudno in 2017, when he was off the pace a little in the Championship.

Sorry! In a rush I took that info from a previous post by Jonathan Rogers which nobody challenged so I assumed was correct.

In fact Hawkins played both 2017 and 2018, scoring 6/9 and 5.5/9 behind the joint winners on 7/9.

My point that he cannot sensibly now be described as a rising talent remains unchanged.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Yes I think Hawkins by his own admissions is quite a laid back character, and I heard him marvel at the work ethic of say Matthew Sadler.

[Martin Crichton]

well he seems to be a late bloomer and is only 1 year older than Luke McShane and at the age of 36, Hawkins could be at his peak if you follow traditional thinking and statistics that chess players peak between the ages of 32 and 36 however he might be one of those 1 in 500 that defy the statistics like Korchnoi who maintained his peak powers well into old age.
In my 41 year chess career I only came across 1 player over the board that was a late developer...chap by the name of Jim Morgan....took up playing chess when he was 40 years old and got a first ECF rating of 110 or 120 (that was impressive in itself)...couple of years later he was rated over 200 on the ECF list and playing on board 1 for Ealing Thames valley chess team (I was captain at the time) and among his chess victims were FM's Chris Duncan and Mark Lyell (his score that season against Chris and Mark was 3.5/4 from memory). He gave up after that as he told me he found it hard going competing at the top....he used to record his games on an a4 note pad that he bought on the high street.
So I will go against the statistics and stick my neck out and boldly predict that Hawkins will be the next English GM to surpass the 2600 mark.
I was very impressed watching his 4NCL wins against Tan, Wells and Fressneint
https://ratings.fide.com/individual_cal ... 2019-06-01
getting back on topic...I note from Tom Rendle's post that Jagadeesh is playing in the IM norm tournament in Coulsden as Tom is also playing! I will follow with interest.