Bobby Cheng, winning everything!
Chess Kids Superstars Bobby Cheng and James Morris took out Australian Junior Championship titles in Hobart last week!
Bobby Cheng is having a great run, after winning the World U12 championships he won the Best Junior of the Year award and then just a few days later became the youngest ever Australian Junior Chess Champion!
IM James Morris has also had a good streak and took out the U16 Title in a playoff with Yi Yuan.
Full results on the Tasmanian Chess Association website.
Chess Kids took a team of 24 players to the Championships, making up about 20% of the field.
While the kids enjoyed daily coaching, team meetings, sports psychology, prizes and late nights the parents in the group were able to take in the tourist sights of Hobart in Port Arthur, Richmond zoo and bridge (cute white lion cubs!), Mt Wellington, Huonville and surrounds, walks to waterfalls and of course a trip (and then another one) to Salamanca market.
Our 5 coaches (Carl Gorka, Matthew Juszczynski, Frank Meerbach, Thomas Hendry and David Cordover) ensured every player was able to receive plenty of one-on-one time with a coach (usually 1-2 hours per day). Also, thanks to Superstar IM James Morris for assisting with the coaching.
The best individual game results were:
- David Cannon’s win against player 917 points higher rated
- Charlie Smith’s win against player 532 points higher rated
- Harry Briant’s win against player 431 points higher rated
- Charlotte Dilnutt’s draw against player 719 points higher rated
- Max Thornley’s draw against player 830 points higher rated
All players were taught the importance of goal setting by setting their own Target Scores for the event. Generally these targets were meant to stretch the players, yet 2 players still managed to exceed their Target! Well done to Bill Chen and Nathan Hibberd for doing so.
Our toughest day was round 1 where opponents were cumulatively rated 7295 higher than our team (av. 303 per game); yet we still scored 9.5 points! Our best day was round 7 with 16 points (67% and consequently showered with chocolates). The worst day was round 3 with only 6 points.
Overall the Chess Kids team scored 111.5 from 258 games (43%) but were out-rated by opponents by 20,603 points (80 points per game). Statistically we were expected to score just 39% – so an overall OVERPERFORMANCE by the team!
The 2011 Australian Junior Championships will run over 9 days, most likely 15-23 January, 2011 and possibly to be held in Perth. We’ll keep you updated with information as it becomes available.
All the games from the event can be found on the great tournament website and Carl Gorka’s blog has some interesting stories, photos and positions.
See you next time, from all the Tasmanians