Successful season for young Kent trio - Shlok, Shreyas and James
Our Kent Juniors are doing wonderfully well this season with our tournaments receiving fantastic attendance and our teams in various competitions doing brilliantly.
It feels wrong to single anyone out for additional praise but there can be no denying the impact that the three youngsters above have had on the National stage.
From left to right, Shlok Verma has won plenty of prizes this year including becoming the London U-8 champion and topping the U-8 EYGP courtesy of an excellent 5/5 in their most recent event. He has been selected to represent England in the forthcoming European U-8 Championship.
Shreyas Royal has accrued loads of trophies and titles too including the British U-8 and London U-10. He has been selected to represent England in the World U-8 championship in Brazil although would greatly appreciate any contributions on https://www.gofundme.com/fund-for-international-chess-tourna to help make that happen.
James Merriman won the British U-10 Championship and in topping the EYGP in that category has been asked to represent England in the World U-10 championship, completing a hat-trick of prestigious invites for Kent.
It is unprecedented to have three U-9s on the top three boards in an U-11 team as Kent have and we wish them the best of luck alongside the rest of the Kent players in the forthcoming EPSCA final.
It would however be a lovely gesture if any ECF members could support them by at least considering nominating/voting for them in the ECF player of the year awards. When I see who has received this award in the past, there is no doubt that our trio should receive backing given their successes and amazing progress over the last year.
The first round of balloting is on https://britchess.wufoo.eu/forms/ecf-player-of-the-year-2017-ballot-1/ and you voting would mean a lot.
Good luck everyone!
GM Chris Ward