Sussex Megafinal

The Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge

Sussex Megafinal – Saturday 29th April 2017 – Downlands Community School, Hassocks

Nationally, over 40,000 children enter the UK Chess Challenge through their School or Chess Club. In Sussex, nearly 80 Schools joined in the fun this year resulting in 405 children taking up their qualifying places at the Megafinal. Just to get that far is an achievement in itself.

This is a unique event where children of all ages playing their first ever tournament rub shoulders with County and even National level players. The standard overall was very high – there were many County level players present and in the Upper Hall I counted at least 12 England players. But several of last years first time players are now this years County players. So if you didn’t make the next level this year don’t be disappointed – you will have benefitted from the higher level of competition – keep practising and come back next year to try again.

It was a truly County-wide event with some players travelling considerable distances – I spotted Selsey in the West to Hastings in the East; there must have been some early breakfasts!

Congratulations to those children who qualified for the Southern Region Gigafinal in Twickenham in July – over 130 of them. On average, we would expect a handful to make it through to the final stage – the Terafinal – will it be you?

We are a not-for-profit organisation and everyone you saw helping was a volunteer – most were also trying to support their own children through the highs and lows of the day at the same time. Without this support it simply wouldn’t be possible to run this event, so many thanks to;

Friday Set Up Team: Tom Borland, Chris Clarke, Martin Faulkner, Carol & Dave Graham, Trevor Norton, Simon Ralph, Gareth Rees

Car parking : Jan Crosby, Graham Banks, Andy Laurillard

Registration Team: Lorraine Guldemond, Karen Keeling-Munn, Mimi Khan, Jason & Maya McMahon, Helen Miller, James Rayment, Jeninifer Robertson, Boo Sherriff

Catering Team: Balvinder Ahluwalia, Jane Armstrong, Caroline Bartrom, Ed Chapman, Derek Ferguson, Puja Labroo, Keith Martin, Gill Samworth, Debbie Steenhuis,

Photography: David Gray

U7 Team: Gary McCulloch, Karen Meakings

Lower Hall Team: Tom Borland, Mark Currah, Dave Graham, Jaideep Jadav, Rob Kay, Karen Keeling-Munn, Mimi Khan, Bunesh Labroo, Rasa Norinkeviciute, Chaski Patrick

Upper Hall Team: Peter & Catherine Finn, Lorraine Guldemond, Chris Jones, Rajesh Kolani, Denise Kong, Andy Mitchell, Trevor Norton, Sue Howell, Bernard Power, Adrian Vyse

…and finally the parents, teachers and friends who gave up their Bank Holiday Saturday to allow their children to take part

We hope you and your child enjoyed the day. If so, we would love to see you at some of our other events. We run training sessions and tournaments at various venues across the county. Our calendar lists the events for the current season, which is drawing to a close. We hope to have our new calendar for the 2017 – 2018 season available by June or July.

Photo Galleries:

Under-7s

[Show slideshow]

Downstairs Hall (U8-U11 Girls, U8-U9 Boys)

Upstairs Hall (U10 Boys, U11-U18s)

Prizegiving

Prizewinners and Gigafinal Qualifiers:

U7 – U11: 4 points needed for qualification

U12 – U18: 3.5 points needed for qualification

Gigafinal qualifiers: Keep an eye on the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge website – online entry to the Gigafinal should open early May.

Additional Sussex Junior Chess Prizes (U7 Section):

Arbiter’s awards:

Mia Allin-Calvo, Niamh MacCarthy, Cillian Nagy, Quinn Stephenson