David Baren is a deserved recipient of the inaugural David Hardcastle Trophy given for services to chess in York.

David Hardcastle died last year and the trophy named in his honour is a lasting tribute to those people like himself who gave so much time and effort to chess, often without the recognition they deserve.

Baren received the trophy for his involvement in junior chess that has so far lasted more than 20 years.

He has worked tirelessly in organising the York Junior Chess club and the numerous junior competitions in York.

He leaves the junior chess club in propbably the most healthy situation it has ever been.

The York Evening League has two full teams entirely of juniors and the fourth team on a Saturday regularly boasts five junior players.

Junior player Patrick Gower has won the John Morris Trophy for the most improved player last season.

Playing board one for Whippersnappers he had a memorable season, including a terrific win against a player who is graded at 180.

Two Shepherd's players won the divisional scoring awards.

Mick Rawlings won the award for the top scorer in Division One of the York Evening League and Shepherd II's Don Glasgow won the award for the second division.

One of the last events David Baren helped organise was the York City Council's celebration of chess.

The event was held on the giant boards in Parliament Street and was split into four junior events. The top 12 players in each age group competed in two all-play-all groups of six with the top two going forward to a semi-final and then final.

The Under-17 was won by Paul Barber with Fahad Yousif second, Arjuna Prithiviraj third and Kyle Dunning fourth.

The Under-13 was won by Tom Anderson with Chris Brookes second, Andrew Mather third and Katy Smowton fourth.

The Under-11 was won jointly by Arjuna Prithiviraj and Edward White with Chris Sommerville third and Sean Liddle fourth.

The Under-nine was won by Joshua Wilson with Daniel White second, Jonathon Burr third and Joe Inns fourth.

Apart from the main events there were other games and many members of the public joined in.

All the prizes were given out by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Irene Waudby.

Updated: 12:46 Thursday, June 21, 2001