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 2025
The date has been set for Saturday 8th November 2025 at Bristol Grammar School, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SR. The event will be held over three rounds. All games will be played at the rate of 30 minutes per player per game plus 10 seconds increment per move made. All games will be FIDE and ECF (Rapidplay) graded. The U12 and U14 sections will be played with teams of 12 and the U18 section will be played with teams of 8. There will be no U16 section this year. If there is sufficient interest in any age section, we will enter a second team.
Richmond Juniors will enter a team in each section and is seeking its best players to fill its teams.
If you are interested in taking part, please complete the following short form: U12/14/18 Teams – Declaration of Interest.
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.
L to R: Ben Hammond, (Kevin Staveley, NYCA Chairman), Christopher Tombolis, Anshuman Nautiyal, Nishchal Thatte, Ron Usharovsky, (Sorin Atanasiu, RJCC Coach), Sagnik Chatterjee, Abishekdev Ramesh, Nandinee Thatte, (Peter Purland, Arbiter)
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. |