ers are split in to four groups with coaches Andrew Martin , Nigel Davies and Graeme Buckley . The fourth group goes swimming for 45 minutes and also has a session on the Laws of Chess both taken by Peter Purland . This year we again had the Torintone Suite with four teaching rooms , an eating area and a social area where the parents could relax , chat and drink tea or coffee . Some of the parents relaxing between sessions can be seen below .
Sunday morning saw the coaches working together with the whole group in three one hour sessions . The players worked in groups and thoroughly enjoyed the morning .
In the afternoon we had a themed tournament where the coaches set the opening and each player then had 10 minutes each on the clock to finish the game . Competition was fierce and , although we could only fit in 4 rounds we had no one on 100 %. In fact , five players tied on 3.5 ; Daniel Abbas ( Manchester ), Judd Bennett ( Lancashire ), Tim Chatys ( Tameside ), Jack Healings ( Staffs ) and Ravi Mahapatra ( Manchester ).
After the conclusion of the tournament we had a brief prize giving before all the parents were away shortly after 4pm .
After two sessions a buffet lunch was enjoyed ( beefburgers proving much more popular than salad !) and after two more sessions we had an hours free time followed by dinner in the orangery after which the braver ( or madder ) of the parents joined many of the players in a six round crazy lightning tournament . This included such rules as Queens move as knights , remove all pieces from the a and h files and , the favourite of sadistic arbiters , swop places !! Yes , at least one player was deprived of a mate in one . At the end the luckiest ( or craftiest ) players were Joe Benton from Richmond and Miles Hemingway from Yorkshire . Meanwhile the other parents were enjoying a more formal dinner in the Oak Room . This is part of the original Thornton Manor and is a magnificent setting for a meal . The rest of us had breakfast there in the morning . At the end of all this it was time for the players to go to bed although some coaches and parents took advantage of the Thornton Hall hospitality for slightly longer !
Thanks are due to the staff of Thornton Hall for making our stay so enjoyable , the coaches for all their hard work , the parents for their continued support , the players for working so hard and behaving so well and finally to Glynis Purland who organised the weekend and did all the behind the scenes work . We have already booked the equivalent weekend next year ( Jan 7 \ 8 ) so if you are still in years 5 , 6 or 7 do come along . If you are a promising player and would like an invite contact Glynis Purland next autumn ( glynispurland @ yahoo . co . uk )
Yateley Manor Schools Championship Last Chance Saloons
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Has your school been knocked out of the Yateley Manor Schools Championship ? Or perhaps you didn ’ t enter at the Zonal stage ? Either way , you can still get into the last 15 of the National stage by qualifying through a Last Chance Saloon . There are two , both on 6th February : Last Chance Saloon North at Nottingham High School ; and Last Chance Saloon South at Eton College . Enquiries to Richard Haddrell Email : rjh @ sccu . ndo . co . uk Tel : 01892 532361