North Walsham Taster Chess Tournament

Fifty children and adults (aged 7 to 86 years) took part in a 4-round chess tournament at North Walsham Community Centre on Friday 17th February The event was organised by Norfolk County Chess Association (NCCA) in conjunction with North Walsham Library Chess Club (NWLCC) and was aimed at raising the profile of NWLCC and giving inexperienced players a taste of playing competitive chess

The main winners were David Owen (Aylsham) - Open Section, Eliot Etheridge (N Walsham) - Over 11s, Tekshan Malempati (Norwich)Under 11s & Raksheta Sriram (Norwich) - Under 9s

During the event, NWLCC was presented with 4 new chess sets These were provided by the charity ‘Chess in Schools and Communities’ www chessinschools co uk In addition, Cllr Lucy Shires generously donated a ‘demonstration board’ - to help with future training sessions Some of the funds raised from the tournament will be used to pay for FM Martin Walker http://martinwalkerchess weebly com/ to run training during NWLCC’s Friday afternoon sessions (from 4 00pm to 6 00pm)

North Walsham Deputy Mayor Cllr Bob Wright presented the prizes and commented: “It is lovely to see children and adults taking such an interest in learning and playing chess This was a very successful eventlargely due to the combined efforts of NCCA and NWLCC volunteers

Hopefully, North Walsham can aspire to soon having its own chess team ”

Fay Sheldon - NCC Development Worker commented: “We were really pleased to host this first N Walsham chess tournament and hope there will be many more The Friday afternoon and early evening chess sessions at N Walsham Library also seem to be going really well These are very relaxed, informal sessions - focusing on younger, lessexperienced, players at the start and mature players, of all abilities, at the end The new equipment and training should help the club develop further. Anyone interested in getting involved as a player, or as a helper (ideally an experienced player to support the juniors and newer players), can talk to library staff or contact me via mob: 07450-655475 or e-mail fay sheldon@norfolk gov uk “

To find the locations of Norfolk Chess Clubs (including Aylsham, Broadland & North Norfolk) visit www norfolkchess org/clubs html Details of other venues offering ‘face-to-face chess’ can be found via Norfolk Community Directory at: www.communitydirectory.norfolk.gov.uk

To find out more about Junior Chess e-mail: norfolkjuniorchess@gmail com

North Walsham parkrun is a free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event Walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate – it's up to you! We meet from 8 30 on the high school field with the run starting promptly at 9am You don’t need fancy gear, simply register online once with parkrun and bring your barcodeit’s that easy!