UK Chess Challenge Mega Final 2018

Sunday, 13th May, saw the first of this summer's major junior chess events - the Mega Final, held at Woodbridge School.  This is an event where players qualify through school or club stages to compete in the county final.  From these, the top Suffolk players, the very best qualify to compete in the national Giga Finals.

​Congratulations to all players who played in this event - they have all done extremely well to qualify.  The results will be appearing shortly on the UK Chess Challenge Website.

​Before we move on to the results, it was great to see the representation from Suffolk's schools and chess clubs, with many players coming from the Bury Knights.  Players also came to the event having succeeded in the schools / clubs stage at Woodbridge school, Bosmere, East Bergholt, and Handford Hall - and other schools which I have not recorded.  Thank you to all schools and clubs who took part in this event - it is a great way to make chess fun and competitive in clubs and also helps give a target and competition.  Thank you to the UK Chess Challenge organisers for running the competition, and thanks also to Adam Hunt ​and Dagne Ciuksyte and for organising and running the event.

​With the U7s category having been grouped with the U8s, Indula Dedigama played extremely well to win all his games while still an U7, while Lade Laguda won the U8s with some excellent chess, with both being Supremo in their categories.  Athene Ross won the title of Suprema in the girls U8 category, again with some excellent chess.

​In a big section with many players, Rowan Kent played well to win all his games to takes the title of Supremo in the boys U9 category, while Sofia Ciuksyte took the title of Suprema in the girls section.

​The main drama of the day took place in the U10s section.  Here there were 3 main protagonists who were all equal at the end of the event with Amy John, Georgia Pommier and Louis Thomas all equal on 5 wins from 6 games respectively, with Amy having beaten Louis, Louis having beaten Georgia, and Georgia having beaten Amy.  The boys section was straightforward with victory and the title of Supremo going to Louis Thomas - congratulations to him.  After checking the rules, it was confirmed that Georgia would take the title of Suprema due to her victory over Amy, so very well played, Georgia, for some excellent and consistent chess.  And congratulations also to Amy for some excellent chess and a very well deserved qualification for the Giga Final.

With the U11 & U12 sections grouped together, Toby Martin earned the title of U11 Supremo with 4 wins from 6 games, while Amber Cook earned the Title of U11s Suprema.  In the U12 section, Adam John earned the tile of Supremo with a perfect score of 6 wins from 6 games, while the title of Suprema was awarded to Charlotte Ciuksyte.

​Tom Roy took the U13 Supremo title with an excellent 5/6.  Samuel Prior won the U14 Supremo title, while Caitlin Shore won the U14 Suprema title.  In the U15 section, Rowland Kerr took the Supremo title with an excellent 5.5/6, while Jenny Rochford took the Suprema title.