NYCA (National Youth Chess Association)

The National Youth Chess Association was founded in the 1970s, and is analogous to EPSCA, except that it concerns itself with those of secondary education age. Normally, the NYCA organises two Jamborees in Autumn Term, one for teams of players aged U16 and U12, and for players of teams U18 and U14. The U12 and U14 teams are of twelve players and the U16 and U18 players are of eight players. The ages are relative to the Academic Year, i.e. the players must be under the specified age before the 1st of September. The teams may be county teams or suitable junior associations. The time control has for many years been 30 minutes per player plus 10 seconds per move completed, with results submitted for both FIDE and ECF rapidplay rating. There is a perpetual trophy in each age division, which the winning teams keep for one year, whilst the players receive individual trophies for finishing first, second or third.

NYCA Jamboree 2023

The National Youth Chess Association Team Championships will be held on Saturday 4th November at Cheney School, Cheney Lane, Headington, OXFORD OX3 7QH. There will be three age limited sections, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 18, ages at the start of the academic year on 1st of September. Each section will be contended between teams of six players, over three rounds of FIDE and ECF rated Rapidplay (30 minutes per player plus 10 seconds per move). Round 1 will start at noon and the prize ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m.

Richmond Juniors will enter a team in each section and is seeking its best players to fill its teams.

NYCA Jamboree 2022

The NYCA suspended its activities in 2020 and in 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it returned in Autumn Term, 2022, by holding a single Jamboree on Saturday 29th October at Kenilworth High School. This took place in three age sections only, U12, U14 and U18. Each team was of only six players.

Richmond entered teams in each section. The U12 team, comprising Alexander Kairat, Arthur Kendall, Yuk Hei Lee, Harvey Li, Lucian Li and Anthony Dane won their age section, with 13½ from a possible 18 points. The U14 team of Alexey Lapidus, Anirudh Shidlagatta, David Varghese, Brian Tang, Dawood Alam and Jake Poghosyan came 2nd in their age section, with 13½ points, behind only Barnet with 15 points. The U18 team of Diego Cordova-Lopez, Kai O’Neill, Vedaant Saggi, Sohana Sengupta, George Archer and Leon Colquhoun came 3rd in their age section. Additionally we entered a ‘B’ team in the U14 age category, which did well, coming 4th from 6 teams.

Richmond U12 Team – NYCA 2017

Richmond Juniors won the U12 in 2017 in quite convincing fashion, scoring 32½ from a possible 36 points. See this web-page for details of the event and the Richmond team.

Success at the NYCA Championships

Richmond has been successful over the years in the NYCA Inter-Association Championship, winning on at least the following occasions:

• Under 12 ‒ 2017, 2022
• Under 14 ‒ 1992, 1996, 1997
• Under 16 ‒ 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002

Richmond Juniors has also happily hosted various zonal and final events.

History of Richmond Participation in NYCA Events

We are putting together a record of Richmond Junior’s participation in NYCA Events. This is currently incomplete, research is ongoing and this record will be updated as more is found.

NYCA Section	Year	RJCC Position	Score	Details/Source
U12	2022	1st	13½ (18)	Kenilworth, 29/10/2022. Exceptionally, to restart the NYCA competition after being closed during the Covid-19 lockdown, the sections were played with teams of 6. 6 teams participated, the final placings being: 1. Richmond 13½, 2. Wey Valley 12½, 3. Hillingdon & Ealing and South Wales, both 11½, 5. Maidenhead ‘A’, 6. Maidenhead ‘B’. The victorious Richmond team was 1. Alexander Kairat (2), 2. Arthur Kendall (1), 3. Yuk Hei Lee (2), 4. Harvey Li (3), 5. Lucian Li (2½), 6. Anthony Dane (3). The rating file can be found at: ECF Rating – NYCA U12 2022
U14	2022	2nd	13½ (18)	Kenilworth, 29/10/2022. Exceptionally, to restart the NYCA competition after being closed during the Covid-19 lockdown, the sections were played with teams of 6. 6 teams participated, the final placings being: 1. Barnet 15, 2. Richmond ‘A’ 13½, 3. Leicester 10½, 4. Richmond ‘B’ 6, 5. Maidenhead, 6. South Wales. Richmond entered two U14 teams. The A team was 1. Alexey Lapidus (2), 2. Anirudh Shidlagatta (2), 3. David Varghese (2½), 4. Brian Tang (2½), 5. Dawood Alam (2), 6. Jake Poghosyan (2½). The B team was 1. Hari Singh, 2. Ismail Mallick, 3. Gabriel Bernard, 4. James Dane, 5. Jonathan Brennan, 6. Kevin Lu. Gabriel and James each scored 2/3 and Kevin 1½. The rating file can be found at: ECF Rating – NYCA U14 2022.
U18	2022	3rd eq.	8 (18)	Kenilworth, 29/10/2022. Exceptionally, to restart the NYCA competition after being closed during the Covid-19 lockdown, the sections were played with teams of 6. 6 teams participated, the final placings being: 1. Maidenhead 15, 2. South Wales ‘A’ 9½, 3. Richmond and South Wales ‘B’ both 9, 5. Hillingdon & Ealing ‘A’, 6. Hillingdon & Ealing ‘B’. The Richmond team was 1. Diego Cordova-Lopez, 2. Kai O’Neill, 3. Vedaant Saggi, 4. Sohana Sengupta, 5. George Archer, 6. Leon Colquhoun. Diego scored 3/3, Vedaant 2½/3 and Sohana 1½/3. The rating file can be found at: ECF Rating – NYCA U18 2022.
U12	2017	1st	32½ (36)	Kenilworth, 04/11/2017. 6 teams participated. The victorious Richmond team was 1. Christopher Tombolis (2), 2. Nishchal Thatte (2), 3. Ben Hammond (3), 4. Ron Usharovsky (3), 5.Anthony Yazhou Jiang (3), 6. Sagnik Chatterjee (2), 7. Kennan Kesterson (3), 8. Abishekdev Ramesh (2½), 9. Nandinee Thatte (3), 10. Anshuman Nautiyal (3), 11. Jack Esiri (3), 12. Tom Usharovsky (3). https://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/TeamsOverall.cfm?EventID=105
U16	2017	6th	5 (24)	Kenilworth, 04/11/2017. 6 teams participated. Xavier Cowan top-scored for Richmond with 2 points on board 2. https://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/TeamsOverall.cfm?EventID=106
U12	2015	5th	15½ (36)	Telford, 07/11/2015. 1. Sussex 32½, 2. Kent 27½, 3. Cheshire & N. Wales 18, 4. S. Wales 16, 7 teams participated. Samuel le Rendu 2½ points on board 11, Tomas le Rendu and Sagnik Chatterjee, both 2 points on boards 5 and 6 were Richmond’s top-scorers. https://www.oxfordfusion.com/epsca/TeamsOverall.cfm?EventID=70
U16	2002	1st	30 (36)	Birmingham. 16/03/2002. 14 teams participated. http://www.sccu-chess.com/archive/0102/j.htm
U16	2000	1st	24 (36)	Reading, 18/03/2000. First on tie-break, ahead of Glamorgan, also on 24 points. 12 teams. http://www.sccu-chess.com/archive/9900/j.htm
U14	1999	2nd	26 (36)	Stoke on Trent, 13/11/1999. 12 teams. http://www.sccu-chess.com/archive/9900/j.htm
U16	1999	1st	30½ (36)	Solihull, 20/03/1999. 9 teams. There was also a B team tournament, in which only Kent and Richmond took part. Kent B won, Richmond B scored 16/36. SCCU Bulletin 245 March 1999
U14	1998	2nd eq.	24 (36)	Stoke on Trent, 14/11/1998. 1. Kent 27½, 2-3. Essex, Richmond 24. 10 teams. SCCU Bulletin 244 Nov. 1998
U16	1998	1st	31 (36)	Solihull, 14/03/1998. 13 teams. SCCU Bulletin 240 March 1998
U14	1997	1st	27½ (36)	Stoke on Trent, 29/11/1997. 10 teams. There was also a B team tournament, Richmond B scored 28 and came 3rd behind Kent B and Glamorgan B. SCCU Bulletin 239 Jan. 1998
U16	1997	2nd	25 (36)	Walsall, 08/03/1997. Kent won with 30½, 15 teams participated. SCCU Bulletin 234 March 1997.
U14	1996	1st	26½ (36)	Stoke on Trent, 29/11/1996. 39 teams. Richmond B came 10th with 9½ points. SCCU Bulletin 232 Nov. 1996.
U16	1996	3rd	26 (36)	Walsall, 09/03/1996. 1. Kent 30½, 2. Manchester 27, 17 teams participated. SCCU Bulletin 228 March 1996.
U18 Quickplay	1995	3rd	38 (60)	Stoke on Trent, 30/09/1995. 1. Manchester 41½, 2. Surrey 38½, 13 teams, 5 rounds, matches not jamboree. SCCU Bulletin 226 Nov. 1995.
U14	1995	2nd	25½ (36)	Stoke on Trent, 25/11/1995. 38 teams. SCCU Bulletin 226 Nov. 1995.
U16	1995	5th	23½ (36)	Walsall, 11/03/1995. 1. Surrey 30½, 2. Warwicks. 28, 3. Kent 27½, 4. Gtr. Mancs. 27, 16 teams participated. SCCU Bulletin 222 March 1995.
U16	1994	2nd	30½ (36)	Walsall, 12/03/1994. 1. Kent 32, 14 teams participated. SCCU Bulletin 216 March 1994.
U16	1993	2nd	27½ (36)	Walsall, 13/03/1993. 1. Surrey 30, 16 teams participated. SCCU Bulletin 210 March 1993.
U14	1992	1st	29 (36)	Wolverhampton, 28/11/1992. 32 teams, of which the top 8 went into a championship section with retained scores after round 1. SCCU Bulletin 209 Jan. 1993.
U16	1992	1st	27½ (36)	Walsall, 14/03/1992. 19 teams, of which the top 6 went into a championship section after round 1. SCCU Bulletin 204 March 1992.
U14	1991	3rd	25½ (36)	Newcastle under Lyme, 30/11/1991. 1. Surrey ahead of 2. Kent by board count, both pn 26½ points. 28 teams. The top 8 teams appear to have gone into a championship section with retained scores after round 1. SCCU Bulletin 203 Jan. 1992.