RESULTS – click here | LIVE GAMES – click here | Gallery by Carl Portman

Over the weekend of 19th/20th October 2019 at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The ECF English Girls’ Chess Championships 2019 were held over the weekend of 19-20 October at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The main Championship title was contested over two days, 5 rounds, and the games were broadcast on live boards from a very quiet room with a stunning view across the Blenheim Palace grounds. There were additional one-day Rapid Chess tournaments based on age groups. The playing room for these was the fantastic Orangery. The space, playing conditions and surroundings at the venue were outstanding, and this resulted in a much more peaceful atmosphere than at many junior tournaments. Quoting one parent (but typical of comments received), ‘the venue was definitely the most beautiful we have ever been to and the children were aware of it as they were all very calm, well-behaved and content’.
There were over 100 entries in total from all over England, but especially from Oxfordshire and surrounding counties. The tournaments also incorporated the inaugural Oxfordshire Girls Chess Championships as part of the annual Oxfordshire Girls’ Chess Festival. Courtesy of the Oxfordshire Girls’ Chess Festival, a simul was held on the Saturday evening by WFM Sarah Longson, in the Library of the main Palace building. Parents came to watch the invited children play. Among the players, three drew and one won in a field of seventeen matched against Sarah.
The winners of the various titles in the tournaments were –

Section / English Girls / Oxfordshire Girls
Champion / Imogen Dicen / Tashika Arora
Under 9 Minor / Elis Dicen / Elisabeth Houlihan
Under 11 Minor / Elis Dicen / Cecilia Kendall
Under 14 Minor / Thisumi Jayawarna / Kristin Domingo
Under 18 Minor / Thisumi Jayawarna / Sana Kassey

Bespoke trophies and signed book prizes were to be won, the latter courtesy of WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Judit Polgar and Chess & Bridge Ltd. In the main Championship there were also invitations to play for ECF Juniors on offer. The Dicen sisters went home with a small library’s worth of signed books!

The event would not have been the success it was without the hard work of many behind the scenes beforehand and in numerous tasks at the weekend itself. I want to thank Andrew Walker (ECF) and Kathryn Gillow (Oxon Junior Chess) for going beyond the call of duty in facilitating and processing entries, the efficient and fair arbiters Jo Wildman, Priscilla Morris and Douglas Vleeshhouwer, the cheerful and hard-working volunteer Oxfordshire Junior Chess helpers, Sarah Longson, Carl Portman (photos), the Oxfordshire Girls Chess Festival committee and the staff at Blenheim Palace. Chess equipment was supplied by Kidlington Congress, the ECF and Oxfordshire Junior Chess.

— Andrew Varney

Open to any girls under 18 on 31st August 2019, and incorporating the 1st Oxfordshire Girls’ Chess Championships – part of the Oxfordshire Girls’ Chess Festival 2019
Championship
Saturday and Sunday, five round Swiss. All moves in 50 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move
Minor
Under 9 and Under 14 sections Saturday – six round Swiss, all moves in 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move
Under 11 and Under 18 sections Sunday – six round Swiss, all moves in 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move
Special event – Simul with top female chess player planned for Saturday evening

The following applies to all sections — ECF Junior Silver, Gold or Platinum membership is required of all entrants to play in the event. For players who have not yet held ECF membership, one year’s free Silver membership is available via https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-membership/. Previous members can renew their membership via this link as well. Entry to the main Championship requires ENG affiliation.

Contact: Andrew Varney Email: av.chess@outlook.com | Download an entry form here

For parents of entrants — the following downloadable document contains important information about what you need to bring, arrival times and procedures, links to webpages, and other details. You may also like to bring a copy with you for reference …
Parents Information – Blenheim [PDF]

PLEASE NOTE — entries for this event are now closed!

List of entries as at Fri 18 Oct 2019.

Championship		17 entries
Name		Fedn	Club	ECF	TR
Dicen, Imogen		ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	152	152
Headlong, Georgia		ENG	Check Inn	134	134
Arora, Tashika		ENG	Oxford High	132	132
Jayawarna, Tarini		ENG	Heywood	125	125
Haria-Skuse, Ashwina		ENG	Bucks Youth CA	118	118
Maton, Emily		ENG	St Albans	113	113
Ashraf, Zoha		ENG	Wiltshire Juniors	112	112
Macdonald, Amaya		ENG	Hammersmith	109	109
Parnes, Shira		ENG	Witney	106	106
Ball, Katie C		ENG	St Albans	103	103
Wang, Sophie		ENG	Wey Valley	93	93
Cuthbert, Larissa		ENG	Southbourne	89	89
Zeng, Rosa		ENG	OJAYs	89	89
Barbier-Ramaiah, Riya Aude		ENG	Highgate Junior School	78	78
Hidouci, Naila		ENG	Wiltshire Juniors	69	69
Watson, Scarlet		ENG	Kent Juniors	44	44
Macey-Dare, Teresa		ENG	Headington

Under 18		6 entries
Name		Fedn	Club	ECF RP	TR
Jayawarna, Thisumi		ENG	Tameside Juniors	104	104
Topping, Rachel		ENG	Bolton	88	88
Granger, Dominique		ENG	Colchester	70	70
Mascarenhas, Ellie		ENG	CCF	56	56
Brown-Higgins, Quba		ENG	none
Kassey, Sana		ENG	Oxford High School

Under 14		15 entries
Name		Fedn	Club	ECF RP	TR
Jayawarna, Thisumi		ENG	Tameside Juniors	104	104
Hullah, Iben		ENG	Somerset	98	98
Pyun, Lindsay		ENG	Leicester Juniors	96	96
Correa, Rebecca		ENG	Saint Joseph	88	88
Lisowski, Olivia		ENG	South Hampstead	81	81
Arora, Prachi		ENG	RGS Newcastle	80	80
Karjodkar, Praneeta		ENG	Ashtead	68	68
Domingo, Kristin M		ENG	Ojays	61	61
Mascarenhas, Ellie		ENG	CCF	56	56
Cook, Grace		ENG	none	48	48
Knight, Zoe B		ENG	Uxbridge	28	28
Chawdhary, Zunairah		ENG	Berkshire Juniors	22	22
Eshwar, Ananya		ENG	Uxbridge	13	13
Siddiqui, Zainab		ENG	Uxbridge	0	0
Vijakaumar, Mrinali		ENG	Uxbridge

Under 11		27 entries
Name		Fedn	Club	ECF RP	TR
Latypova, Olga L		ENG	Essex Juniors	129	129
Dicen, Elis Denele		ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	125	125
Pyun, Lindsay		ENG	Leicester Juniors	96	96
Fear, Lavinia E		ENG	Wallington	94	94
Goel, Anika		ENG	Edgware Gambits	83	83
Dupree, Madeleine		ENG	Upton St Leonards	81	81
Arora, Prachi		ENG	RGS Newcastle	80	80
Wiggett, Sophie		ENG	Upton St Leonards	80	80
Anand, Dhriti		ENG	NLCS	79	79
Mehta, Sophie		ENG	Leicester Juniors	79	79
Kendall, Cecilia		ENG	Oxford Juniors	78	78
Parikh, Naavya		ENG	Harrow	72	72
Groot Wassink, Emma		ENG	Barnet Knights	70	70
Sastry, Shriya		ENG	Bloxwich	70	70
Holland, Tessa		ENG	Kent Juniors	68	68
Kamat, Krisha		ENG	Maidstone	68	68
Granger, Charlotte		ENG	Colchester	63	63
Mouskos, Mia		ENG	Barnet Knights	62	62
Terrado, Rhianne		ENG	St Josephs	56	56
Lakshmeesh, Tvisha		ENG	Ojays	53	53
Gough, Aoife		ENG	Kent Juniors	51	51
Pitcher, Emilia		ENG	Godstowe	48	48
Li, Sophia		ENG	Richmond Juniors	42	42
Buelau, Amanda		ENG	Headington School	37	37
Mottengad, Nyo		ENG	OHS	32	32
Satsangi, Jyoti		ENG	Headington School	26	26
Spirling, Florence		ENG	Purbeck

Under 9		39 entries
Name		Fedn	Club	ECF RP	TR
Dicen, Elis Denele		ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	125	125
Chen, Olivia		ENG	Shirley Heath	79	79
White, Jessica		ENG	Moonrakers	74	74
Mouskos, Mia		ENG	Barnet Knights	62	62
Norris, Melanie		ENG	Bradley School of CHess	60	60
Yang, Rachel		ENG	Bute House	56	56
Tomy, Judith		ENG	Watford	55	55
Hughes, Alexandra		ENG	none	54	54
Houlihan, Elisabeth		ENG	Oxford Juniors	53	53
Chugh, Amaira		ENG	RIchmond Juniors	52	52
Patel, Amya Hetal		ENG	Edgware Gambits	52	52
Mayouran, Chinmyee		ENG	Lady Eleanor Holles	49	49
Li, Sophia		ENG	Richmond Juniors	42	42
Ramesh, Eshitha		ENG	Abbey School	40	40
Webster, Elizabeth		ENG	Hallfield	33	33
Allen, Grace		ENG	Kent Junior Congresses	27	27
Ou, Siyuan		ENG	BCS	20	20
Wang, Scarlett		ENG	Oxford High	14	14
Pal, Rhea		ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	13	13
Chappell, Eleni		ENG	Oxford Juniors	9	9
Ou, Siyao		ENG	BCS	9	9
Manouvel, Maelys		ENG	Bristol	5	5
Trifunovic, Maja		ENG	Kent Junior Congresses	5	5
Agrawal, Naisha		ENG	Berkshire Juniors	4	4
Chen, Linzi		ENG	Oxford High	2	2
Palmer, Abigail		ENG	Emmanuel Christian School	1	1
Backhouse, Jemima		ENG	St Josephs	0	0
Patel, Diah Dipal		ENG	Hallfield School	0	0
Schoeman, Amelia		ENG	Wallace Chess	0	0
Wood, Rebecca		ENG	Emmanuel Christian School	0	0
Ascencio, Elena		ENG	St Josephs
Barr, Sophie		ENG	Chinnor
Flossmann, Sayako		ENG	Headington School
Hettiarachchi, Amelia		ENG	Manor Prep
Ji, Sapphire		ENG	Yanling
Martinovic, Emma		ENG	Oxford Juniors
Reck, Georgina		ENG	Bicester Juniors
Sarangmat, Siri		ENG	Headington
Yerabati, Samiksha		ENG	YJCA

Total entries 104.