UKCC Mega Finals results?

[John Upham]

Does anyone have results from the Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and /or Buckinghamshire Mega Finals?

I'd like to have access to them all but the ones above are of personal interest.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Berkshire ones are at http://www.bjca.org.uk/event.php?eid=1546

[Susan Lalic]

The Surrey results are available here: http://www.ukchesschallenge.com/MFResul ... 2011.shtml

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I've started to upload the results of the Oxfordshire Megafinal:
http://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/GetTour ... esults.cfm

Can anyone spot the ringer in the under 7 boys?

[John Upham]

Can anyone spot the ringer in the under 7 boys?

I suspect THE Brandon Clarke did not score 2.5/6 unless there is an Oxfordshire Brandon Clarke.

Brandon is also quite tall for an under 7 year old!

[Malcolm Clarke]

The list of Hampshire qualifiers are now on the UK Chess Challenge website. I did the pairings for the Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18 sections, which had to be combined, although there were still only nine players. There were also comparatively few players in the Under 13, Under 14 and Under 15 age group, but I think there was a good turnout in the younger age groups.

If more detailed information is required it would probably be better to speak to Joe French.

[Alex Holowczak]

The list of Hampshire qualifiers are now on the UK Chess Challenge website. I did the pairings for the Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18 sections, which had to be combined, although there were still only nine players. There were also comparatively few players in the Under 13, Under 14 and Under 15 age group, but I think there was a good turnout in the younger age groups.

This sounds about par for the course. The Worcs. Megafinal today had precisely 0 Under 17s and Under 18s.

[Steve Rooney]

The list of Hampshire qualifiers are now on the UK Chess Challenge website. I did the pairings for the Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18 sections, which had to be combined, although there were still only nine players. There were also comparatively few players in the Under 13, Under 14 and Under 15 age group, but I think there was a good turnout in the younger age groups.

This sounds about par for the course. The Worcs. Megafinal today had precisely 0 Under 17s and Under 18s.

The Mercia Megafinal (Herefordshire and Shropshire) had 39 entrants aged 12 and over which is the highest for a while I understand, and there were around 80 in the 11 and under age groups. Fewer at the older age groups - only one entry at under 16, 17 and 18 and unfortunately only one girl. The under 14-18 was run as a joint section of 11 players which worked OK given that age didn't equate with playing strength in a number of cases.

[Jim Wadsworth]

By way of comparison, in Berkshire we had a total Megafinal entry of just over 200. Of these 26 were teenagers.

If my understanding is right then Surrey had almost 400 entrants, of whom about 28 were teenagers. What was excellent to see in the Surrey entry is that about 50% of participants were female. Clearly they are doing something right - in Berks our female entry was only about 17% of total. Would love to know what Surrey's formula is.

[John Upham]

Would love to know what Surrey's formula is.

I suspect that the influence of MJBs UKCC coaching , Wey Valley, David Archer, IAPS, Neill Cooper and maybe also Sabrina Chevannes, Susan Lalic, Sarah Hegarty and others doing excellent work is helping to promote girls playing chess. Someone from Surrey Junior Chess could flesh out the details much better than I. Apologies for many others worthy of mention that I have omitted.

I could be wrong but I get the impression that teaching of chess in schools is very well established in Surrey and maybe also there is a higher degree of private coaching.

Berkshire is also doing very well as the BJCA is doing an excellent job.

[Steve Rooney]

Would love to know what Surrey's formula is.

I suspect that the influence of MJBs UKCC coaching , Wey Vally, David Archer, IAPS, and maybe also the influence of Sabrina Chevannes, Susan Lalic, Sarah Hegaraty and others doing excellent work is helping to promote girls playing chess. Someone from Surrey Junior Chess could flesh out the details much better than I.

I could be wrong but I get the impression that teaching of chess in schools is very well established in Surrey and maybe also there is a higher degree of private coaching.

Berkshire is also doing very well as the BJCA is doing an excellent job.

MIke Basman has produced an analysis of players by percentage of population in the UKCC overall, although the latest data is for 2009. Surrey is top as might be expected but there are some larger counties who have sizeable entries but still relatively low in terms of percentage of county population. There are also large fluctuations from 2008 to 2009 which suggests you shouldn't read too much into one year's figures.

http://www.ukchesschallenge.com/county_league_uk.shtml

[Alex Holowczak]

Would love to know what Surrey's formula is.

I suspect that the influence of MJBs UKCC coaching , Wey Vally, David Archer, IAPS, and maybe also the influence of Sabrina Chevannes, Susan Lalic, Sarah Hegaraty and others doing excellent work is helping to promote girls playing chess. Someone from Surrey Junior Chess could flesh out the details much better than I.

I could be wrong but I get the impression that teaching of chess in schools is very well established in Surrey and maybe also there is a higher degree of private coaching.

Berkshire is also doing very well as the BJCA is doing an excellent job.

MIke Basman has produced an analysis of players by percentage of population in the UKCC overall, although the latest data is for 2009. Surrey is top as might be expected but there are some larger counties who have sizeable entries but still relatively low in terms of percentage of county population. There are also large fluctuations from 2008 to 2009 which suggests you shouldn't read too much into one year's figures.

http://www.ukchesschallenge.com/county_league_uk.shtml

I'm not sure how he's got his figures. Worcestershire being ahead of Warwickshire, for example. He's probably allocated all of Birmingham into Warwickshire's population, but in reality he splits Birmingham's schools up three ways into Worcs, Warks and Staffs.

[Neill Cooper]

By way of comparison, in Berkshire we had a total Megafinal entry of just over 200. Of these 26 were teenagers.

If my understanding is right then Surrey had almost 400 entrants, of whom about 28 were teenagers. What was excellent to see in the Surrey entry is that about 50% of participants were female. Clearly they are doing something right - in Berks our female entry was only about 17% of total. Would love to know what Surrey's formula is.

Surrey actually had almost 700 players over the 3 days, so girls were about a bit below a third of the numbers. Surrey has a long history of strong girl players, dating back to the many years when Neil Clifton ran lots of girls chess events and teams. This year in Surrey the top 3 sections were all won by girls.

There were more than 26 teenagers as quite a few of the 22 U13s are now 13! Many teenagers don't play because the Megafinals are too close to important public exams. In total 46 qualified from Wilson's School but only 21 played, with a lower proportion of years 10 to 13 (7 out of 20 playing).

[Alex Holowczak]

There were more than 26 teenagers as quite a few of the 22 U13s are now 13! Many teenagers don't play because the Megafinals are too close to important public exams. In total 46 qualified from Wilson's School but only 21 played, with a lower proportion of years 10 to 13 (7 out of 20 playing).

Is there any reason why these things are still organised for May (and/or to clash with the 4NCL)? I gather that you usually have a choice of any time in April or May, so why do people put them in May? I can't think of a reason why they couldn't all be held in April, thus older players don't have so much of a problem with exams being close by.

[Steve Rooney]

There were more than 26 teenagers as quite a few of the 22 U13s are now 13! Many teenagers don't play because the Megafinals are too close to important public exams. In total 46 qualified from Wilson's School but only 21 played, with a lower proportion of years 10 to 13 (7 out of 20 playing).

Is there any reason why these things are still organised for May (and/or to clash with the 4NCL)? I gather that you usually have a choice of any time in April or May, so why do people put them in May? I can't think of a reason why they couldn't all be held in April, thus older players don't have so much of a problem with exams being close by.

Is the timing of the Megafinals the reason for fewer secondary age entrants, or is it because lots of them drop chess when they leave primary?