Tweets

We now have a Twitter account for events news and discussion and coach travel updates.

News and discussion: http://twitter.com/devonjunchess

We used to echo Tweets here, but like everything else on Twitter these days, it doesn't work properly any more

Devon Juniors play for SW England against Wales

Pengxiao Zhu and Viacheslav Ovcharenko both played for the SW England U14 Team against Wales on Sunday 26th May.

The SWE Team won the U14 by a wide margin but the U11 event was very close.

Well done to all taking part and many thanks to the organisers for making everything happen.

5th Simon Bartlett Memorial Congress 2024

Congratulations to Suhayl Abdalla who won the Minor section with 5/5!

Devon Juniors Daniel Smith, Vincent Dong and Pengxiao Zhu also took part, scoring at least half-marks in their respective sections.

County colours for Devon juniors

In last Sunday's Devon County chess match for all ages, Devon juniors were selected: Caleb Caleshu, Jack Wills and Harvey Cooper. Congratulations to all.

Devon junior in UK Chess Challenge Terafinal

Pengxiao Zhu scored 7½/11 and achieved 3rd place in the UK Chess Challenge U12 Terafinal (final of finals). Many congatulations!

Results and games here: https://lichess.org/broadcast/ukcc-terafinal-2023-u12/round-11/VZhEiJIr

British Champs 2023

I've been trying to find and follow the progress of Devon juniors in this year's Championships, but please email me if I've missed anyone.

I spotted Luke Honey and Reece Whittington having a go in the strong 9-round Major Open, scoring 5 and 3.5 respectively. A tough week in the office! (For context, the winner was an International Master who scored 7/9.)

Reece and Luke then took part in the U1900 Rapidplay, which was won by Luke with 5.5/6 -- very well done!

Opening choices

Thank you for filling in the opening questionnaires online, and I'm sorry we didn't get time to look at your responses on Saturday. But here is what I might have said:

Systems for White

Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4)
My main recommendation for a first opening system, leading to an open game with chances to attack. Good stuff, just the style you should use when you start playing chess.

Colle System (1.d4 with Nf3/e3 and without c4)
A good first opening system -- develop and attack!

Best puzzle books

While we were talking to the U14/U18 squads, the ChessDojo folks were discussing the best puzzle books for improvement. Their recommendations are:

The Dojo List!
1. Perfect Your Chess, Grabinsky/Volokitin https://amzn.to/43gqYI6
2. 5334 Problems, L Polgar https://amzn.to/43HyJH4
3. Think like a Super-GM, Adams/Hertado https://amzn.to/3qkFzDP
4. Mastering Chess Strategy Hellsten https://amzn.to/43jk9ph

Devon Juniors at the Simon Bartlett Congress 2023

Congratulations to the several Devon juniors who won prizes in the Minor U1600 section:

Devon Junior Online success -- ECF Grand Prix

The ECF have been running a Grand Prix series of online rapid events where your overall performance is added up.

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/2022-online-grand-prix-series/

Devon Junior Pengxiao Zhu took part in lots of these last season and came out with more than one title!

Devon Junior Chess Association (DJCA)

Supporting junior chess in the county

Devon Junior Chess

DrDave's blog