Sussex Megafinal

The Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge

Sussex Megafinal – Saturday 12th May 2018 – 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 388 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 several 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 Chichester in the West to Hastings in the East; there must have been some early breakfasts!

This year we were pleased to welcome Delancey Schools UK Chess Challenge directors Sarah and Alex Longson. Having taken over the running of the Chess Challenge last season they are keen to meet the participants and hear feedback. Having toured all the playing halls and watched some games, Sarah presented the prizes to the U7s.

Congratulations to those children who qualified for the Southern Region Gigafinal in Twickenham in July – over 170 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: Derek Ferguson, Mark Godwin, John Higgs, Keith Martin, Karen Meakings, Trevor Norton, Gareth Rees

Car parking : Jan Crosby, Graham Banks, Simon Ralph

Registration Team: Mark Appleton, Karen Keeling-Munn, Mimi Khan, Anita McMahon, Claire Ralph, James Rayment, Jen Robertson, Boo Sherriff and Lucinda Weis supported by ‘runners’ Elizabeth Finn and Toby Appleton

Catering Team: Jane Armstrong, Caroline Bartrom, Teresa Blades, Ed Chapman, Derek Ferguson, Keith Martin, Debbie Steenhuis, Pam Stockham

Photography: David Gray

U7 Team: Gary McCulloch, Karen Meakings

Lower Hall Team: Mark Appleton, Tom Borland, Mark Currah, Dave Graham, Sue Howell, Karen Keeling-Munn, Anita McMahon, Andy Mitchell, Liz Neale, Trevor Norton, Rasa Norinkeviciute,

Upper Hall Team: Shaun Brewer, Peter & Catherine Finn, Mike Forster, Jaideep Jadav, Chris Jones, Chris Howell, Chaski Patrick, Adrian Vyse

Clearing Up: Tjadine Ullmann 

…and finally the parents, teachers and friends who gave up their 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 2018 – 2019 season finalised by July.

Photo Galleries:

Under-7s

Main Hall (U8-U11 Girls, U8-U9 Boys, U12 Boys & Girls)

Upstairs Hall (U10 Boys, U11 Boys, U13-U18s)

Prizegiving

Prizewinners and Gigafinal Qualifiers:

Additional Sussex Junior Chess Prizes (U7 Section):