LATEST CHESS NEWS 07/08 ...
On the May Day weekend four chess players went to Blackpool to play in the North-West Megafinal of the British Land Chess Competition.

Two of the students, Matthew Hoyle and Jacob Capelli were novices and we were really pleased when Jacob won two of his six games and Matthew Hoyle won three. If he had won just one more game he would have progressed to the Gigafinal.

However, Tim Goddard and Ben Atueyi both succeeded in reaching the Gigafinal, the Northern National Final, which will take place in Manchester University later on the 6th July. Tim gained his place with five wins out of six, whereas Ben won all six games and was the championship winner for his age group. Wish them luck for the competition.

CHESS NEWS 05/06 ...
The British Land UK Chess Challenge is, according to the organisers, the largest chess competition in the world. In 2004 it involved over 71,000 competitors across the British Isles.

Each school or chess club organises a tournament of seven rounds; competitors gaining 15 points (five wins out of seven) or more qualify for the Megafinal. The BRGS Chess Club ran the tournament and the following pupils qualified for the Megafinal:

Y7 /U12
Ayajul Malik
Josh Rawlinson
Saurav Kataria
Jordan Bond
Kelly Ngan
Courtnay Ives
Luke Pauline
Chloe Hetherington (Could not attend)

Y8/U13
Lawrie Brailey
Josie Ansell

Y10/U15
Shivali Kohli
Chris Holdsworth-Swan (Could not attend)

Y12/U17
Gareth Ashworth

The Lancashire Megafinal took place at Hodgson High School in Blackpool, a very intimidating venue, lines of cramped desks for nearly 400 competitors in a huge gym.
One of the competitors described it as being like a prison. The competition was fierce, including a national Girls' U16 champion, the son of a chess grand master, a significant number of chess club members and the girls were placed in a large pool from U12 to U16,
so that that Y7 competitors were playing Y11 experienced players.

To qualify for the Gigafinal ( the National Northern Final) the competitors had to win four
out of six games. Shivali Kohli and Gareth Ashworth won four and received trophies as best in their age group. Lawrie Brailey, Jordan Bond, Luke Pauline and Josh
Rawlinson missed out by a whisker, winning three games, which is extraordinary as they had no previous experience of the competition. Most of the rest of the competitors had two wins
and all the players improved as they progressed in the competition which bodes well for
next year, when they will have more experience.

Time between bouts was spent making silver jewellery for mothers and sisters; at least 30 sets of earrings and pendants were made - and most of it was made by the boys!

The Gigafinal is being held at UMIST (University of Manchester) in Manchester on Sunday, 9th July, and will include competitors from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the whole of England excluding 15 counties in the South-east and South-west of England.
We wish Gareth and Shivali the best of luck in their games.

As there was a wide range of ages in the BRGS tournament it was decided that the senior players should play each other in the semi-finals, so there would be a junior and senior finalist.
The top four players were:
Ayajul Malik 7R against Lawrie Brailey 8R
Shivali Kohli 10B against Gareth Ashworth 12MG

After tense, close-fought battles, Ayajul Malik and Gareth Ashworth went through to the final. With such a massive experience difference it was hardly surprising that Gareth beat Ayajul, though it was an amazing contest and Ayajul held off the older opponent for 25 minutes. Ayajul is an outstanding prospect for the future.

CHESS NEWS 04/05 ...

BRITISH LAND CHESS MEGAFINAL May 2005
Report written by Mrs Ashworth...

With a great deal of trepidation, six members of the BRGS Chess Club went to Poulton-Ie-Fylde for the British Land Chess Megafinal. Two of the contestants, Shivali Kohli and Gareth Ashworth, had competed at Hodgson High School before, but the rest, Marie Hartley, Emily Sawicz, Hassan Shakeel and Chris Holdsworth-Swan, were inexperienced but talented chess players, who had gained more than 15 points in the BRGS tournament.

The venue, Hodgson High, was intimidating;
rows and rows of desks were set up for 320 chess players. The matches were also very challenging; sixteen-year-olds played eighteen-year olds and year sevens played year tens. Most of the competitors belonged to chess clubs who played tournaments every week.

Despite the strength of the opposition, all of our competitors performed well. Gareth, Emily and Shivali were second in their age groups and Shivali Kohli won four of her six games which qualifies her to compete in the National Gigafinals in July this year.