Girls Chess Day 7th March in York

White Rose Junior Chess Academy organised a very successful chess day at Wakefield Junior School in Mulberry Hall. 34 girls attended from all over Yorkshire, and teaching was led by Lateefah Messam-Sparks, who came from Madrid where she now lives. Helpers were Olivia Westmoreland and Steve Westmoreland from Upperthong; and Noel Stewart, Peter Cloudsdale, Bradley and Mike Triffitt from York. Unfortunately the local MP did not appear, although invited …

Lateefah opened proceedings by demonstrating a famous game on the display board played by Judith Polgar against Berkes using the French Defence. The girls were split into 2 sections and a 5 round Swiss competition held, also with tuition. All received a certificate and medal, and winners were as follows —

Section A
1st – Julia Smith Wakefield; 2nd – Alana Glennan, Wakefield; 3rd – Isabella Bardsley, Wakefield
Merit Awards – Lini Lara, York; Arushai Burau, Wakefield; Eva Young

Section B
1st – Elsie Luna; 2nd – Samishka Yerabati, Leeds; 3rd – Natasha Pointon, Thirsk
Merit Awards – Nina Hitzeroth, Olivia Roebuck, Claudia Jozefowski, Camilla De-Luca, Pippa Colver, Felicity Tinker, Rebecca  Trout

Thanks to Richard Ribeiro and the school for their excellent facilities and good refreshments from the PTA. We hope to hold another one in due course.

— Peter Cloudsdale, Organiser