Record Win for KJCA U11 EPSCA team (team report by Rohan Shiatis)
Congratulations to our U11 Team for scoring an unprecedented 51.5 out of 60 to take the National EPSCA title in style. This is the highest score achieved by any team in recorded history, since the competition began in 1967.The triumphant team was:
Rohan Shiatis (Team Captain), James Meredith (Dulwich College Prep School), Alexander Selway (Eltham Junior School), Arul Gupta (Eltham Junior School), Michael Gilbert (Mersham Primary School), Girinath Haridas (Dulwich College Junior School), Zara Hussain (The Granville School), Anantha Anilkumar (Cumnor House School), Jackson Wen (Bickley Park Prep School), Zakary Warsop (Dulwich College Prep School), Rohan Datta (Fosse Bank School), Peter Mant (Townsend Primary School), Francesco Bernardini (Bishop Challoner School), Sachin Balaji (Eltham College Junior School), Adam Fidler (Amherst School), James Elgar (Amherst School), Ryan Cherian (Dulwich College Junior School), Daniel Carstairs (Southborough Primary School), Hasan Rahij (Home Educated), Ammar Kisat (Amherst School), Ethan Staunton (Dulwich College Junior School), Zeeshan Kisat (Amherst School), Jesse Creasey (Dulwich College Prep School), Kiran Shiatis (Home Educated). A special mention for our team mates from the zonal, Harry Chathli and Danyal Warsop who also helped the team to reach the finals.
It was a very exciting day with everyone in the team playing superb chess and contributing to the overall win. We arrived in Northampton on time and raring to go. The inspirational talks from Chris Ward GM and Krishna Shiatis helped to set the tone for the day and motivate us. Round 1 saw a solid and respectable start by many of the counties. Wey Valley and Barnet led the way with a score of 16 out of 20 with Kent ominously poised in third place just half a point behind.
After having missed out on the title for the last two years by just half a point, the team were galvanised into fighting mode and we put all our training and discipline into practice to secure an even better second round performance with a score of 17.5 out of 20. At this stage, Wey Valley still led the way with 33.5 out of a possible 40, with Kent advancing into second place, although still that elusive half a point behind on 33. Barnet and Sussex shared third spot, both on 30.5.
Going into the third and final round, as a team, we knew that we would have to do something special. All expectations were exceeded! It was a truly exceptional third round scoring an excellent 18.5 points out of 20.
This final round secured our well deserved victory by a 2.5 point margin over Wey Valley. With this awesome result, the Kent Juniors have cemented their reputation for being one of the most consistent and formidable teams in the country.
Many thanks to all the children, their parents, Chris Ward GM, Michael Gilbert and Krishna Shiatis (team managers), all the most excellent volunteers at KJCA who have loyally supported the GPs and children throughout and finally the hard-working training team at ACES.
Final scores were as follows:
1st Kent 51.5
2nd WeyValley 49
3rd Sussex 45.5
4th Barnet 44.5
5th Berkshire 36.5
6th Nottinghamshire 36.5
7th Hertfordshire 34.5
8th Richmond 33.5
9th Essex 30
10th Birmingham 29
11th Cheshire and NW 23.5
12th Northamptonshire 23
13th Yorkshire 22.5
14th Oldham 20
15th Lancashire 18
16th Manchester 17
17th Lincolnshire 14
18th Staffordshire 11.5