First and foremost chess should be fun! This is the ethos of Ojays, the Oxfordshire Junior Squad Chess Club. We meet weekly on Thursdays between 6.15pm and 8pm, either in person or online, to develop young chess players in preparation for county tournaments and individual competitions.

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11 Nov 2017

On Sunday 29 October, Oxfordshire Junior Chess hosted a 4-county girls' chess tournament. In addition to Oxfordshire, the adjacent counties of Berkshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire took part in the event which was held at Headington Prep School.Matches were played over 8 boards in each of two sections: Under 11 and Under 18.
The Under 11 section was amazingly close, almost a four-way tie, the difference between first and fourth place coming down to just one game point! Marc Ives, the U11 Oxfordshire girls' team manager, writes:
"The U11 girls fought in the most incredibly tight competition at Headington Prep School on Sunday 29th October.
Right until the last board had finished of the whole competition, it could have been a 4 way tie on 4 points.
In the end, Oxfordshire came 4th, but played some fantastic chess with some super wins by all the players.
We'll be back stronger and aiming to win next time!"
Despite the teams being reasonably close in terms of average grades for the teams, the results in the Under 18 section were far more definitive. The words of Duncan Young, the Oxfordshire U18 girls' team manager, sum it up nicely:
"Errr... we won! Comprehensively."


From everything I have heard, from the team managers and from parents, it was a great day for girls' chess. Thank you to the Oxfordshire girls' teams' managers, Elliot Kendall (Oxon U9 team manager) for acting as my deputy for most of the day and clearing up, Alex Holowczak for running the tournament itself, Headington School for the venue and Kidlington Congress for the loan of the equipment.
Full results can be found here: http://chess-results.com/tnr310112.aspx?lan=1&art=0&wi=821

Andrew Varney