News from 2021-22 for Oxfordshire Chess

News of Kelly Riley

People may have wondered why one of the most distinctive characters on our local chess scene has not returned to the board. He suffered a serious health crisis during 2021 and spent a long time in hospital. Sadly he has since had to enter residential nursing care and his condition means he is unable to play chess anymore. My especial thanks to Graham Willis for keeping me updated with news of our good friend. I plan to include an exploration of the unique world of Kelly on, or near, the chessboard in the next issue of Cowley's club magazine The Chequered Board.

Oxfordshire Junior Chess Championships 2021-2022

The championships were held over the weekend of 8th / 9th January 2022 
at Cumnor C of E Primary School.  

The 2021-2022 Oxfordshire Junior Chess Champions are: 

Under 18	Alex Hertog, Kenneth Hobson, Dimitrios Zakarian
Under 15	Alex Hertog, Kenneth Hobson, Dimitrios Zakarian
Under 13	Alex Hertog, Kenneth Hobson
Under 11	Jan Murawski
Under 9	        Aden Kennedy 

Congratulations to the champions and to those who have subsequently been 
selected to represent Oxfordshire Juniors in the forthcoming EPSCA 
(English Primary Schools Chess Association) U9 and U11 competitions. 

Full results (cross-tables) can be found by following the links below.
A schools competition is also run as part of the tournament.  Subject to 
not being allowed to win the prize two occasions in a row, the top-
scoring schools (top scores from top 4 individuals count) in primary and 
secondary sections are awarded an engraved chess clock.  The top schools 
this year were: 

Position	Primary School	 Points
1st	        St Joseph's*	 15.5
2nd	        MCS	         15 (prize winner)
3rd	        OHS        	 12.5


Position	Secondary School     Points
1st	        MCS	             15.5 (prize winner)
2nd	        Cheney	             14
3rd	        Cherwell* / OHS	     8
* 2020 prize winner

Thank you to the organisers, arbiters and Cumnor Primary School for 
enabling the tournament to happen after an absence the previous year due 
to covid-19.  Thank you to all players for participating and parents for 
supporting. 

Under 9 

Under 11 

Under 13/15/18