News

Learn Chess Online

There is a wealth of free chess lessons available online on YouTube, especially from Saint Louis Chess Club. Here are some suggestions:

Play Chess Online

With there being virtually no opportunity to play traditional over-the-board matches and competitions outside a small number of school chess clubs, there has been a significant move to play online.

The most popular sites are lichess.org, chess.com and tornelo.com

Adam Raoof’s Chess England events (Hampstead Congress) are now being run online at: https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/chess-england

Tony Niccoli and Angela Eyton (organisers of Barnet Juniors) have just introduced the Junior Master Series, an online competition catering specifically to junior players of all ages. The first of five Cup Competitions commences  Sunday, 17th January. Details can be found by clicking on any of the events listed to the left.

Sign Up to play County Chess

Parents are invited to register their children to play chess in events organised by the HSCA, including the Hertfordshire county teams. Once you submit the form, we will be in touch with more details.

Your contact details will only be used by the HSCA Committee and Team Managers (under-9, under-11, under-11 girls, under-14, under-18) to contact you regarding County chess activities, training and competitions.

If you have any further questions, please, contact Peyman (U9 manager) by email at chess@peyman.uk

EPSCA Inter-Association Championship 2020

Under-9 Zone East

Saturday, 14th March 2020
Onslow St Audrey’s School, Hatfield.

Pos Team Points Wins Qualified
1. Kent 27 26 Q
2. Barnet A 27 25 Q
3. Richmond 26 25 Q
4. Hertfordshire 20.5 20 Q
5. Essex 17,5 17 Q
6. Newham 14 13
7. Barnet B 6 6
8. Buckinghamshire 5 5

Full results are available via the link: u9 Zone East

Under-11 Zone East

Saturday, 7th March 2020
Chingford Foundation School, Chingford.

Pos Team Points Wins Qualified
1. Kent 44 43 Q
2. Barnet 39.5 36 Q
3. Richmond 37.5 34 Q
4. Hertfordshire 30 27 Q
5. Essex 23.5 21 Q
6. Newham 5.5 4

Full results are available via the link: u11 Zone East

Hertfordshire Open Junior Chess Championships 2020

Sunday, 1st March 2020
Fleetville Junior School, 228 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 4LW

Results

Final Standings, Crosstables and Pairings are available on chess-results.com via the following links:

London Junior Chess Championships

The LJCC take place at University of Westminster, Northwick Park, Harrow, HA1 3TP, over the following dates:

  • 14th December 2019 – Harrow Junior under-12
  • 14th & 15th December 2019 – Northwick Park Congress (adult event)
  • 14th & 15th December 2019 – under-10, under-14 age groups
  • 28th, 29th, 30th December 2019 – under-8, under-12, under-16, under-18/21 age groups
  • 28th, 29th, 30th December 2019 – London Christmas Congress (adult event)

Players wishing to compete in the under-8, under-10 and under-12 age groups must qualify from one one the registered qualifying events. See list of  LJCC Qualifying Events

Players in the older age groups can enter the Finals directly.

Full details are available in the brochure: http://www.ljcc.co.uk/entry_forms/2019/LJCC%20Booklet.pdf

More information on the LJCC and associated events are available on the LJCC website: http://www.ljcc.co.uk/index.html

EPSCA Inter-Association Championship 2020

Date Event
Saturday, 7 March under-11 Zonal
Saturday, 14 March under-9 Zonal
Saturday, 21 March Girls under-11 Final
Saturday, 28 March under-11 Final
Saturday, 25 April under-9 Final

Summary of Individual Player Events

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge Terafinals

The Terafinals were played at Mercure Daventry Court Hotel, Daventry, over the weekend 21-22 September 2019

Tournament results can be found on www.chess-results.com via these links:

British Championship Torquay 2019
3rd= IM Ravi Haria (6½/9), under-21 Champion
52nd= Nadia Jaufarally (2/9)

EPSCA Inter-Association Championships 2019

U9 Final – Saturday, 27th April
Nottingham High School, Nottingham

Place Team Score Wins
1st= Richmond 28.5 28
1st= Barnet 28.5 27
3rd Kent 28 27
10th Hertfordshire 17 16

Overall, it was a good result by the team with some notable individual performances:

  • 3/3 Avy Dasgupta (bd 3), Aarna Arora (bd 9), Ashwin Ravithas (reserves & bd 11)
  • 2½/3 Rahul Shah (bd 12),
  • 2/2 Arya Fazeli (bd 7)

Full results are available at: EPSCA U9 Final
U11 Final – Saturday, 30th March
Grace Academy (Solihull)

Place Team Score Wins
1st Kent 51.5 50
2nd Richmond 48 44
3rd Oxfordshire 44.5 41
4th Barnet 39.5 38
13th Hertfordshire 23.5 21

Although Hertfordshire  players struggled in individual games against the strongest teams we did manage to score points fairly evenly over the full range of boards by vitue of the jamboree pairings system.

Overall, it was a satisfying team performance with some notable individual performances:

  • 3/3 Avy Dasgupta
    (bd 4),
  • 2½/3 Anton Pavlov (bd 9) & Robert Shaporenkov (bd 14),
  • 2/2 Jorawar Rai (bd 19) & Ashwin Ravithas (bd 20 & 17),
  • 2/3 Nichiforos Petcov (bd 2) & Nicholas Holland (bd 18).

Full results are available at: EPSCA U11 Final

U11 Girls Final – Saturday, 23rd March
Grace Academy (Solihull)

Place Team Score Wins
1st Essex 27 26
2nd Sussex 25 24
3rd Berkshire 23.5 22
4th= Barnet 23 23
4th= Hertfordshire 23 23

Hertfordshire Girls team achieved their best ever performance in sharing 4th place alongside local rivals Barnet. There were 16 teams competing in the Final.

The following players scored especially well:

  • 3/3 Darya Vayzert (bd 8), Dhriti Anand (bd 9), Amya Patel (bd 10)

Full results are available at: EPSCA U11 Girls Final

U9 East Zone Qualifier – Saturday, 16th March
Bishop Douglass School, Finchley

Hertfordshire was one of five teams that qualified to the Under-9 Final.

Final standings and point scores are:

Place Team Score Wins Qual
1st Richmond A 28 27 Qual
2nd Kent 24 22 Qual
3rd Richmond B 17 16 –
4th Barnet 16 15 Qual
5th Hertfordshire 14.5 13 Qual
6th Essex 13.5 12 Qual
7th Cambridgeshire 13 12

Detailed results (including player names and pairings) are available at: EPSCA U9 Zone East

U11 East Zone Qualifier – Saturday, 9th March
Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School, City of London

Final standings and point scores are:

1st Kent 54½ Qual
2nd Richmond 47 Qual
3rd Essex 37 Qual
4th Barnet 35½ Qual
5th Hertfordshire 23 Qual
6th Cambridge 22½
7th Newham 11
8th Suffolk 9½

The top 5 teams have qualified to play in the final, to be held on Saturday 30th March 2019 at Grace Academy (Solihull), Chapelhouse Road, Birmingham B37 5JS.

Detailed results (including player names and pairings) are available at: EPSCA U11 Zone East

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge 2019

Last Chance Saloon – Sunday, 3rd March
Windermere Primary School, Windermere Ave, St Albans AL1 5QP

This is a first round qualification tournament of the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge for players who have not qualified through their own school or club’s tournament, and were under 11 years of age on 31st August 2018.

Top performing boys and girls qualify (separately) to the Megafinals in each of the age groups:

  • under-7
  • under-8
  • under-9
  • under-10
  • under-11

Players in the under-12 to under-18 age categories may enter directly to the MegaFinals.

The tournament final standings & cross-table is now available on the UTU Swiss Results Service: Herts UKCC Qualifier

Hertfordshire Open Junior Chess Championships 2019

Sunday, 3rd February 2019
Fleetville Junior School, 228 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 4LW

Championships (u9, u11, u13, u18 minor, u18 major)
6-round ECF graded Swiss

Stars Barred Tournament (for less experienced players)
6-round ECF graded Swiss

After an absence of two of years, HSCA were delighted at the return of the Hertfordshire Junior Chess Championships together with a Stars Barred Tournament in the afternoon for less experienced players.

Tournament Results

Hertfordshire Champions 2019

  • Under-18 Major: Savin Dias
  • Under-19 Minor: Adhil Kumar
  • Under-13: Emily Maton
  • Under-11: Manaav Nagda
  • Under-9: Charlie Ball
  • Stars Barred: Harrison Pickup

Under-18 Major (12 players)

Under-18 Major (6 players)

Under-13 (18 players)

Under-11 (35 players)

Under-9 (36 players)

Stars Barred (28 players)

Training Tournament

posted: 9 Nov 2018

The first Training Tournament at our new venue, Cunningham Hill Infants school, took place on Sunday 4th November.

Players who attended had a range of experiences with some being new to competitive chess and others having grades of up to 100 ECF.

During the session players had the opportunity to play two graded games against opponents of a similar standard to themselves.

These games provided the basis of the analysis and discussion led by ECF registered coach, IM Ravi Kumar.

One of common themes that arose from the games was how best to conduct a mating attack on a castled king.

Players also received advice on how best to develop the pieces in the opening phase of the game and investigated some interesting positions aimed at developing tactical awareness and endgame skills.

The next session will take place at the same venue on Sunday 25th November, 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

South West Herts Primary Schools League

posted: 27 Oct 2018

The South-West Herts Chess Tournament enters its 41st year.

For full details of this season’s competition, please,  download: SW Herts League Invitation Letter

Each school will play 6 rounds over 3 sessions, all to be played at Cunningham Hill Junior School on the following dates:-

  • Friday 18th January 2019
  • Friday 8th February 2019
  • Friday 15th March 2019.

Matches to start at 3.45 pm (or as soon after as possible).

A team will be 6 players ranked as accurately as possible in chess playing ability from 1 to 6.

Entries accepted up to 10th January 2019, provided there is sufficient space.

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge: Terrafinal

posted: 17 Sept 2018

The Terrafinal took place at at Holiday Inn Hotel, Peterborough, on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th September.

Congratulations to all the Hertfordshire players who qualified and played in the national final.

Below are links to the results chess.results.com and the scores of Hertfordshire players.

  • under-8:   Judith Tomy (2/6))
  • under-10:  Maanav Nagda (3/6)
  • under-12:  Jeff Tomy (4.5/6), Emily Maton (1.5/6)
  • under-14:  Nadia Jaufarally (3.5/6), Connor Clarke (2.5/6)
  • under-18:  Taran Jina (3/6)

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge: Southern Challengers

posted: 17 Sept 2018

The Southern Challengers took place at Tormead School, Guildford, on Sunday 9th September.

Congratulations to all the Hertfordshire players who qualified and played.

Below are links to the results chess.results.com and the scores of Hertfordshire players.

  • under-7:  Dara Owladi (3.5/6)
  • under-8:  Charlie Ball (4/6), Robert Shaporenkov (3/6), Avyukt Dasgupta (2.5/6)
  • under-9:  Nichiforos Petcov (4.5/6), Vanshika Reddy Tummala (3.5/6)
  • under-10:   Alex Sorica (3/6). Imara Popat (2.5/6), Rory Lynn (2/6)
  • under-11:  
  • under-18:  Niall Clarke (4/6)

Hertfordshire Primary School League 2019

posted: 14 Sept 2018

The dates have been updated. The match in October 2018 has been moved back to March 2019.

  • Day 1: Tuesday 27th November 2018
  • Day 2: Tuesday 5th February 2019
  • Day 3: Tuesday 5th March 2019

EPSCA Inter-Association Championships 2019

updated: 30 Sept 2018

Some dates for your diary:

Date Event Location
29th September 2018 EPSCA Annual General Meeting Birmingham
9th March 2019 under-11 Zonals East Zone: Newham
16th March 2019 under-9 Zonals East Zone: Barnet
23rd March 2019 under-11 Girls Final Birmingham
30th March 2019 under-11 Final Birmingham
27th April 2019 under-9 Final Nottingham

Notes:

  • Teams play in one of three Zonals (North, South and East) from which they qualify to the Final.
  • In the U11 Girls competition there are no Zonals and all teams play in the Final.
  • The East Zonal comprises Barnet, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Newham, Northamptonshire, Richmond, and Suffolk.
  • All matches comprise three rounds of Jamboree pairings.
  • Team size:
    • U11: 20 players, plus 4 reserves
    • U11 girls: 12 players, plus 4 reserves
    • U9: 12 players, plus 4 reserves

London Junior Chess Championships

Posted: 30th August 2018

The HSCA qualifying event scheduled for Saturday 8th September has unfortunately had to be cancelled due to not having a suitable venue available.

There are, however, many other opportunities to qualify for the Championships as can be seen from the LJCC website: LJCC Qualifying Events

Players in the higher age categories (i.e. under-14, under-16 and under-18/21) are able to enter the Finals directly without having to play in a qualifying event.

The LJCC finals will be held at University of Westminster, Harrow Campus, Northwick Park, Harrow HA1 3TP, as follows:

Age Group London Junior Chess Championship Dates
Under 8 Sat 29th & Sun 30th December 2018
Under 10 Sat 15th & Sun 16th December 2018
Under 12 Fri 28th, Sat 29th & Sun 30th December 2018
Under 14 Sat 15th & Sun 16th December 2018
Under 16 Fri 28th, Sat 29th & Sun 30th December 2018
Under 18/21 Fri 28th, Sat 29th & Sun 30th December 2018

EPSCA Inter-Association U9, U11, U11 Girls – Results

Posted: 28th May 2018.

Here are the results of the EPSCA competitions in which Hertfordshire competed this year. Apologies for the late posting.

U9 Final, Birmingham (28th April)

Congratulation to the team managed by Sam for achieving a creditable tenth place (out of sixteen teams) in the national final.

Our top scorers were Kyal (bd 2), Robert (bd 9) and Charles (bd 10) each of whom won two of their three games.

U11 Girls Final, Oxford (24th March)

U11 Girls Team

This year we were fortunate to have Ursula step-in as this year’s team manager.

Starting from the difficult position of having virtually no returning players and with only a few months to prepare for the competition, it is a tremendous achievement to have gained ninth place (out of twelve teams) in the national final.

In the limited number of training sessions available which were run by husband, Matt, players developed a genuine camaraderie and team spirit; the cakes might have helped!

Well done to top scorers Vanshika (3/3) and Imara (2/3).

U11 Zone East, Bromley, Kent (17th March)

The team’s lowly position (tenth out of ten teams) can be explained by a number of factors which affected the team this year: firstly, a number of our stronger U11 players weren’t available; secondly, the snow in Hertfordshire on the day of the match caused six players to withdraw at late notice.

Credit must be given to the players that did turn out for the team and who individually met tougher opponents than they might normally have expected; the competition rules stipulate that players have to move up the order so that the defaulted games are on the lowest boards.

Well done to our highest scorers, Emily (bd 7) and Karan (bd 14), who both won two of their three games.

U9 Zone East, Twickenham (10th March)

Under the leadership of experienced U9 manager, Sam, our team comfortably qualified to the national final by taking fourth place, only one point behind local rivals, Barnet. Six of the nine teams progressed to the final.

Congratulations to the team. Our top scorers were Maanav (3/3), Ruwan (3/3), Robert (2.5/3) and Sohum (3/3).

Hertfordshire MegaFinal 2018 – Results

Posted: 7th May 2018.

This year the Hertfordshire Megafinal was held at St George’s School, Harpenden. on the Saturday 5th May during Early May Bank Holiday weekend. The weather was good.

After accounting for late withdrawals (almost balanced by the number of unexpected entries on the day) we had a confirmed entry of 180 players which is a slightly fewer than last year.

All tournaments took place in the main hall and a selection of hot and cold refreshments were available in the adjacent Green Room.

Photo: Gigafinal 2015. © John Upham

Although we didn’t have use of the school canteen as home base for parents, we managed to accommodate everyone in the classrooms.

The players had use of the large playground to get some fresh air and chill out between rounds.

All players who gained Supremo/Suprema titles or 3.5 points have qualified to the Gigafinals.

A list of qualifiers from this event will be submitted to the National Organiser following a final review of results.

New Date: St Albans Last Chance Saloon – Tuesday 10th April

Posted: 21 March 2018

A Last Chance Saloon, replacing the one cancelled due to adverse weather, has now been scheduled to take place at Skyswood Primary school during the school Easter Holidays.

The tournament provides an opportunity for players who have not already qualifed for the MegaFinals through their own school or club to do so in an OPEN competition.

Boys and Girls in each age group from u7 to u11 will compete to qualify to play in the MegaFinals.

The Hertfordshire Megafinal will be held at St George’s School, Harpenden, on Saturday 5th May where qualification places in the Southern GigaFinal will be awarded alonside the Hertfordshire Supremo and Suprema titles.

St Albans Last Chance Saloon: CANCELLED

Posted: 18 March 2018

Due to the adverse weather today’s Last Chance Saloon at Skyswood School, St Albans is CANCELLED.

We will try and find another date.

ECF U18 County Championship

Posted: 5 March 2018

Hertfordshire entered teams in both the Open and Minor sections of the U18 County Championships which took place at King’s School, Grantham, on Sunday 25th February.

U18 OPEN

Position Team Score Average ECF Grade of Team
1st Kent 16.5 151
2nd Sussex 16 161
3rd Surrey 15 154
4th Hertfordshire 9.5 131
5th= Leicestershire 7.5 118
5th= Suffolk 7.5 122

U18 MINOR (under 130 ECF)

Position Team Score
1st Norfolk 9
2nd Yorkshire 8.5
3rd Kent 7
4th Nottinghamshire 5
5th Surrey 2
6th Hertfordshire 1.5

In the Open we faced rather strong opposition and experienced a rather a shaky start, but we performed considerably better in the second round.

Our top board, Taran Jina, had the satisfaction of winning both his games as did Alan Wang on board 10. Other players who scored well were Asha Jina (bd 5), Harjivan Singh (bd 6) and Aman Gogna (bd 7), each achieving a win and draw in their two games.

The School’s Trophy, for a team of 4 players from the same school, was won by our players from Haberdashers’ Aske’s school with 5.5 points. The winning Habs team comprised Harjivan, Aman, Param, Alan.

In the Minor section, we were handicapped by only being able to field a team of four, instead of six players.

A report of the event can be found on the ECF website through the link: U18 County Championships 2018

U110 and Stars Barred Tournaments

Posted: 12 February 2018

This event took place at Aboyne Lodge School on Sunday 11th February.

The U110 is a tournament for experienced junior players who have an ECF grade (or estimated grade) below 110, whereas the Stars Barred is designed as a friendly introduction to tournament play for beginners and less experienced players.

U110 (12 players)
1st  Emily Maton (5/5)
2nd  Dara Owladi (4/5)
3rd=  Rohan Tathare, Tia Patel, Utkarsh B Bhamidimarri (3/5)

Stars Barred (27 players)
1st  Jai Jha (4/4)
2nd  Vincent Lee (3.5/4)
3rd=  Aarav Chavan, Arya Fazeli, Isabelle Lee, Joel Skeet (3/4)

The cross-tables and full results are available on the UTU Swiss Results website through the following links.

All games played in these tournaments will count towards players’ rapid play grades in the ECF July 2018 grading list.

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge

Posted: 6 February 2018

The 2018 Chess Challenge is underway with many schools and junior chess clubs running competitions which allow players to qualify to play in the ever popular Megafinals.

Players also have the opportunity to qualify from the one day events, details of which are now published on the UKSCC website: Last Chance Saloons

Please note: Only players in the under-11 and lower age groups are required to participate in the first round qualifying events. Under-12 and older age groups do not need to qualify and can enter the Megafinals directly.

The Hertfordshire Megafinal will held on Saturday 5th May (Bank holiday weekend) at St George’s School, Harpenden. Our maximum capacity is 200 players.

Further information can be found on the UKSCC website: Enter The Challenge

Maidenhead Junior Chess Club – Results of U11 and U9 Team Events

Posted: 20 January 2018

The results of the recent Jamborees in which Hertfordshire U11 and U9 teams participated are now available on the Oxford Fusion Chess Results website:

These events provide new and existing players the opportunity to play chess and represent Hertfordshire in preparation for the EPSCA Inter-Association Zonals and Finals that take place in March and April.

We also run an U11 Girls Team and would be pleased to hear from players wishing to play in any of our teams.

Annual General Meeting starting at 12.00 noon on Sunday 29th October 2017

The AGM of Hertfordshire Schools Chess Association will take place at Aboyne Lodge School, Etna Road, St Albans AL3 5NL.

It will be held in combination with junior tournament comprising two sections:

  • Players graded below 110 ECF,
  • Stars Barred. Players graded below 40 ECF or ungraded.

The meeting is open to all chess parents and volunteers. It is opportunity to meet the committee, ask questions or make suggestions regarding the work of the Association.

If you wish to attend, please, email so that we can arrange sufficient refreshments.

LJCC Qualifier: Hertfordshire

Posted: 23 October 2017

The Hertfordshire qualifying tournament for the London Junior Chess Championships took place on Sunday 15th October at Aboyne Lodge Junior School.

Qualifiers to the LJCC final in December are:

  • U12 Major:  Rohan Olsen (5/6), Oliver Robbins (5/6), Adiveer Baweja (5/6)
  • U10 Major:  Vikas Kalaria (6/6), Deniz Ozdenoren (5/6)
  • U10 Minor:  Siddhartha Rathke (4/6), Adhritt Seth (3.5/6)
  • U8 Final:  Robert Shaporenkov (5/6), Rudra Debnath (5/6), Dara Owladi (5/6)

Full results of the three sections are available on the UTU Swiss Results website, as follows:

British Chess Championship, Llandudno 2017

Posted: 08 August 2017

The British Championship has now concluded and it is pleasing to report some excellent performances from Hertfordshire Junior (under-18) players.

The British Championship (103 players)
6th= FM Ravi Haria (Haberdashers), 6/9 – U21 Champion
31st= Taran Jina (Harpenden), 5/9 – performance rating FIDE 2222

Under 14 Tournament (39 players)
6th= Nadia Jaufarally (St Albans), 4.5/7 – Girls Champion

Under 12 Tournament (44 players)
3rd= Adithya Pramod Paleri (Watford), 5/7

Under 11 Tournament (52 players)
7th= Kian Shah (Watford), 4/7

Under 9 Tournament (74 players)
22nd= Kaveer Mehta (Watford), 3.5/6

Under 8 Tournament (56 players)
6th= Siena Gurjar (Watford), 4.5/6 – Girls Champion (joint)
8th= Ruwan Dias (Radlett), 4/6

Yates Weekend Under 120 Tournament (63 players)
3rd= Roshan Gurjar (Watford), 4/5

The full list of Prizewinners and Results are available on the British Championship website

South-West Herts League

  Winners in 2017: Roundwood Primary School

New Website

Posted: 19 May 2017

This is the new website of HSCA. It has a shorter and more user-friendly name, and its look and performance on mobile devices is improved by adopting a modern responsive template.

Our most recent event is the Hertfordshire Megafinal.