Jonah Willow becomes an FM!

Following a 6-week break, Jonah came back refreshed and in an unbroken run gained the FIDE rating points required.

This started at the end of June, when he played in the North Wales Open in Llandudno and scored 5/5, gaining 55 rating points. This jumped him from 2210 to 2265.

He then followed this up with joint first in the 4NCL Congress at Telford with 4/5 including a draw against GM Peter Wells. This was enough to give him 38 rating points and so passed the milestone of 2300.

This is an example of how quickly juniors can progess, taking advantage of the 40 K-factor (it's 20 for adults, and is used to multiply the player's performance rating). It will be slower going now, however, as being an FM means his K-factor reduces to 20. Let's hope this acts as inspiration to our other juniors! In any case, our club should be very proud of the contribution we have made to his development, starting from his first visit aged 6 to the junior session and moving through the ranks. It's not all been plain sailing however, and the message to others is not to give up after setbacks, anything is possible!