Check this for chess success (From Warrington Guardian)

Check this for chess success

THE Vale Royal Chess Congress was hailed a king-size success at the weekend as more than 50 pupils pitted their wits against each other.

It was the first time the event, held at Winsford's High Street School, attracted more than 50 entrants.

The matches were played in three separate age group sections, with a play-off between the under-10s and under-11s champion for the Perpetual Trophy, which is held for one year.

Home success came in the under-10s contest, which was dominated by High Street pupils, who took up the top three places.

Martin Weller took the crown from last year's champion NIcholas Field, who was the runner-up, with David Ellison Smith in third place.

Jeremy Wiliams of St Chad's and Hartford CP pupil Sam Walters were also in the top five.

The under-11 champion and overall winner was Alex Martin (Hartford), who took the top prize ahead of Matthew Barber and David Bucknall (both Hartford), Sam Hopkinson (Grange) and Stephen Lomas (Darnhall CP).

In the under-9s event, another Hartford grand master, Ian Petch, swept the board, with Darnhall's Jonathan De Souza and High Street's Peter Weller in second and third respectively.

Jack Bleach (Darnhall) and Andrew Bucknell (High Street) were in equal fourth place.

Sportsmanship prizes went to Leanne Marriot, Andrew Lloyd (both St Chad's), Jordon Murphy (High Street) and Terry Edwards (Darnhall).

Organiser George Davison was once again impressed with the young talent on show.

He said: "It's a very positive message for Vale Royal and Winsford that there are five under-9s who will be playing in the North West Champioships in Oldham next week.

"The three under-11s and two under under-10s winners are already county players, which means 11 players from Vale Royal are now invited to represent the county in 1999."

George was also pleasantly surprised by the huge turn-out, and enthusiasm for the event.

He added: "We had to put extra chess sets and tables up because we got more children turning up than we expected, which can only be a good thing."

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