Form 4 pupil, Xavier, became a national chess champion, after winning the National Youth Chess Association U12 County Championships in November, playing a year above himself with his Sussex U12 team. He has since taken part in some England team qualifying events.
The London Junior Chess Championships is the third of seven England team qualifying events of the season. Entry is open only to children who have scored 75% or more in one of 30 or so regional qualifying events this Autumn. These strict entry requirements make the LJCC the toughest event of the English Chess Federation Grand Prix calendar.
At the U14 Major section before Christmas, Xavier (U11) was ranked 40 out of the 42 entrants by grade; this was a bit ambitious. He accounted for himself fairly well with a score of 1.5 matches out of 6. This included his best ever draw versus a player graded higher than the current England U11 number one.
After Christmas, Xavier took part in the three day U12 Major event, the main England team qualifier for both U11s and U12s. There were 80 entrants, who were all county standard players. Having lost an extremely tight round one to the England No.2, Xavier had a disappointing first day, winning only one out of three matches. However, he won two out of his three matches on both day two and day three, giving him a total of 5/9 wins. This excellent result enabled Xavier to qualify for a place in the England team trial in April.
Many congratulations to Xavier, this is a superb achievement! We wish him lots of luck and look forward to hearing how he gets on in April.
