On Wednesday 18 April Chepstow School came fourth in the finals of the ECF Junior Team Challenge, held at Hertford College, Oxford.
For this competition, open to players in year 8 and below, Chepstow fielded a team of David McIntosh, Neil Stevenson, Sam Goodfellow and Aaron Roberts. This foursome competed in a field of 13 teams, in a four-round competition with a time control of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. A round 1 win of 3.5 – 0.5 against Mill Hill County ensured a good start, but led to a tough encounter against Heathside, where Sam Goodfellow brought home the only points for the team with a win. In the third round, the team scored a fortunate 3.5, with Neil Stevenson netting a victory when his higher rated opponent, Charlie MetCalfe, lost on time.
This propelled the team to third place, and as the top two teams had already played each other, Chepstow were drawn against the leaders, Kings College Wimbledon. That team had Ranesh Ratnesan, ECF 170, on board one, and his older brother, Rajiev, on board 2. Chepstow managed just 0.5 points from that encounter, and finished fourth, behind winners Kings College Wimbledon, St Paul’s in second, and third-placed Skinners.
Earlier in the day Chepstow came third in a problem solving competition given to the teams on arrival, and attended a lecture on Chess, Computers and Artificial Intelligence by Professor Peter Millican, a GM of correspondence chess. The lecture included a review of the success he has had with the Double Muzio Gambit (more details can be found at: http://www.millican.org/chess/muzio.pdf) , and how to go about writing a computer program to win noughts and crosses.
Chepstow’s team for the ECF Junior Team Challenge: David McIntosh,
Neil Stevenson, Sam Goodfellow and Aaron Roberts
