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Last update: Tuesday December 2, 2003 12:51

1,800 Turn Out For British Land National Gigafinal

A staggering 1,800 children took part in the 3rd stage of the The British Land UK Chess Challenge 2003, the National Gigafinal, which was held in the Keele University Leisure Centre in Staffordshire during the weekend of 12th and 13th July.

The children’s ages ranged from 5 up to 18 years old, with the younger ones (under 10s) playing on the Saturday, and the older ones (10 and over) on the Sunday. The majority of players hailed from the English counties, but there were also 71 players from Scotland, 45 Welsh entrants, 15 Northern Ireland players and two from Jersey.

Due to the size of the event, the children were accommodated each day in two halls seating 400 players each, and one hall of 200 capacity for the girls. Overall, conditions at Keele were excellent with plenty of space to play, and good ventilation in the halls, despite the blistering heat of the weekend.

There were 12 different age categories, which made 24 sections, as these were split into boys and girls groups. But some of these groups were further subdivided into sections, because some age ranges attracted hundreds of players. There were no less than five under 10 boys sections and five under 11 boys sections, each with about 60 players in them. During the weekend, more than 350 girls took part, a considerably higher percentage than is normal in chess events, and this was largely due to the policy of giving girls separate sections, to encourage more of them to take part.

In all, there were 44 section winners, called the Ultimi (Ultimo for boys and Ultima for girls). Each of the Ultimi received a winner’s cup and a cheque for £100, unless there was a tie for first place. In that case a playoff was held and the prize money was split but not the winner’s cup and the title. The Ultimi also gained the coveted right to compete in the final stage of the competition – the TERAFINAL – which will be held on 23rd and 24th August at the Source, an educational centre established by The British Land Company PLC next to its extensive Meadowhall shopping complex in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Table of Ultimi

	UK Chess Challenge - Ultimi 2003
	First Name	Last Name		Age	Sex	School	County
1	James	Abrams	U	7	B	Letchworth & Hitchin JCC	Herts
2	Mishael	Knight	U	7	B	Camberley JCC	Surrey
3	Briony	Brock	U	7	G	Gateway	Bucks
4	Jack	Harding	U	8	B	Mall	Middx
5	Saravanan	Sathyanandha	U	8	B	Haberdashers	Herts
6	Craig	Whitfield	U	8	B	Hassell	Staffs
7	Stephanie	Hale	U	8	G	Millfield	Somerset
8	Adam	Freeman	U	9	B	Tameside	Lancs
9	Toby	Thurgood	U	9	B	St Joseph's	Notts
10	George	Tunstall	U	9	B	Nine Mile Ride, Finchampstead	Berks
11	Andrew	Willis	U	9	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
12	Rhian	Hughes	U	9	G	South Morningside	Midlothian
13	Dominic	Foord	U	10	B	Christchurch	Middx
14	David	Grant	U	10	B	East Grinstead JCC	Sussex
15	Christopher	Linnett	U	10	B	Crowborough JCC	Sussex
16	Robert	Marx	U	10	B	Haberdashers	Herts
17	Michael	Rabbitte	U	10	B	Monton Green	Lancs
18	Sheila	Dines	U	10	G	Old Palace	Surrey
19	Jessica	Thilaganathan	U	10	G	L E H	Surrey
20	Charlie	Court	U	11	B	Aldro	Surrey
21	Eugene	Geidelberg	U	11	B	Basingstoke CC	Hampshire
22	Jeffrey	Levicki	U	11	B	New College	Oxon
23	Richard	Lobo	U	11	B	Holy Innocent's	Kent
24	Kaiser	Malik	U	11	B	Checkmate	Warks
25	Gwenaelle	Francis	U	11	G	Sketty	Glam
26	Amisha	Parmar	U	11	G	Stapleford C.C	Notts
27	Michael	Compston	U	12	B	3 Cs	Lancs
28	Dana	Hawrami	U	12	B	Ilford County High	Essex
29	Ankush	Khandelwal	U	12	B	Nottingham High	Notts
30	Selina	Khoo	U	12	G	L E H	Surrey
31	Charles	Evans	U	13	B	Hazlemere JCC	Bucks
32	Peter	Poobalasingam	U	13	B	Millfield	Somerset
33	Molly	Moruzzi	U	13	G	St Edward	Staffs
34	Peter	Constantinou	U	14	B	Bedford Modern	Beds
35	Li	Wu	U	14	B	Bancroft's	Essex
36	Katherine	Rattle	U	14	G	Holy Cross	Sussex
37	E Josiah	Lutton	U	15	B	Basildon JCC	Essex
38	Jemima	McGraw	U	15	G	Notre Dame, Lingfield	Surrey
39	Matthew	Harborne	U	16	B	Basingstoke CC	Hampshire
40	Sabrina	Chevannes	U	16	G	Checkmate	Warks
41	J Ezra	Lutton	U	17	B	Basildon JCC	Essex
42	Carola	Rotermund	U	17	G	Woodbridge	Suffolk
43	Lorin	D'Costa	U	18	B	John Henry Newman	Herts
44	Heather	Coupe	U	18	G	Wickersley Comp.	Yorks

The 44 Terafinalists will battle for the title of STRAT and a prize fund of about £6,000 including £1,000 top prize, and £500 each for the top girl player and the top Under 11 player. This tournament will be played over two days, with 3 rounds being played on each day, each round being of 2½ hours duration. The longer time limit corresponds to the higher quality of play in the last stage of the competition: in the Gigafinal the duration of rounds was 1 hour. The scoring system in the Terafinal will be 3 points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss. This is the same scoring system as used in the football league and is particularly important in chess events where the scourge of grandmaster draws, premature draws and even pre-arranged draws often reaches epidemic proportions in strong events. It is important that our young players should learn to fight for victory at every opportunity rather than distort the nature of the game by suing for peace!

The Terafinalists will be joined at the Source by up to 150 CHALLENGERS. These are the players who came 2nd or 3rd in their Gigafinal section, and these will compete in two separate sections on similar lines to the Terafinal, each with a top prize of £500.

Table of Challengers

	UK Chess Challenge - CHALLENGERS 2003
	First Name	Last Name		Age	Sex	School	County
1	Adam	Burroughs	U	7	B	Lawn	Wilts
2	Oliver	Demeger	U	7	B	Abbey	Devon
3	Samuel	Howard	U	7	B	John Betts	Middx
4	Harry	Mason	U	7	B	Strike Lane	Lancs
5	Thomas	Mavin	U	7	B	Yarm	Yorks
6	Rahul	Shah	U	7	B	Homefield	Surrey
7	Jessica	Smart	U	7	G	Yateley Manor	Hampshire
8	Afira	Sutanto	U	7	G	Carlton	Middx
9	Michael	Brook	U	8	B	Milborne Port	Somerset
10	Jamie	Craik	U	8	B	Buckingham JCC	Bucks
11	Christopher	Dunne	U	8	B	Homefield	Surrey
12	Daniel	Fernandez	U	8	B	Littleheath JCC	Herts
13	Nathan	Gittens	U	8	B	3 Cs	Lancs
14	Tom	Huband	U	8	B	Sir Robert Hitcham	Suffolk
15	Alexander	Jelicic	U	8	B	Homefield	Surrey
16	Nikhil	Lal	U	8	B	QEGS, Wakefield	Yorks
17	Robert	Lobo	U	8	B	Holy Innocent's	Kent
18	Cameron	Maher	U	8	B	Aughton St Michael's	Lancs
19	Nnamdi	Obiekwe	U	8	B	Hall	Middx
20	Yang-Fan	Zhou	U	8	B	Wimbledon Col.prep	Surrey
21	Holly	Carter	U	8	G	Ruskin	Wilts
22	Danae	Kokossis	U	8	G	Guildford High	Surrey
23	Francesca	Lloyd	U	8	G	Atti	Flintshire
24	Joanna	Wu	U	8	G	North London Collegiate	Middx
25	Ben	Blundell	U	9	B	St Lawrence	Sussex
26	Robert	Darby	U	9	B	Dulwich College	Surrey
27	Samuel	Durno	U	9	B	Knaphill	Surrey
28	Ted	Eales	U	9	B	Wellington Junior	Somerset
29	Mischa	Frankl-Duval	U	9	B	University College	Middx
30	William	Boulton	U	9	B	Norwich JCC	Norfolk
31	Alexander	Ho	U	9	B	Eltham College	Kent
32	James	Hopkinson-Hughes	U	9	B	Kings College	Cambridge
33	Alex	Leverson	U	9	B	NHS Prep	Notts
34	Peter	Mellor	U	9	B	Ladygrove	Shrops
35	Samuel	Milson	U	9	B	Grimoldby	Lincs
36	Vishaal	Patel	U	9	B	Haberdashers' Aske's	Middx
37	Patrick	Reeves-Dienes	U	9	B	East Grinstead JCC	Sussex
38	Elyes	Rigby Zeghlache	U	9	B	William Patten	Middx
39	Oliver	Schofield	U	9	B	King Edwards	Somerset
40	Nipuna	Senaratne	U	9	B	QEGS, Wakefield	Yorks
41	Peter	Watt	U	9	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
42	Fay	Birch	U	9	G	Claremont	Surrey
43	Stephanie	Dye	U	9	G	Warren Mead	Surrey
44	Sabrina	Salhi	U	9	G	Broomgrove	Essex
45	Sophie	Williams	U	9	G	Aughton St Michael's	Lancs
46	Rhiannon	Williams	U	9	G	East Grinstead JCC	Sussex
47	Jonathan	Andrew	U	10	B	Ibstock	Surrey
48	Harvey	Birch	U	10	B	Claremont	Surrey
49	William	Cheung	U	10	B	St. Cedd's Primary	Essex
50	Jack	Cleeves	U	10	B	Lethbridge	Wilts
51	Benjamin	Dangoor	U	10	B	Colet Court	Middx
52	Matthew	Dent	U	10	B	Bedford JCC	Beds
53	Amit	Desai	U	10	B	Brookland	Middx
54	Jonathan	Edwards	U	10	B	Deanpark	Midlothian
55	Robert	Glover	U	10	B	3 Cs	Lancs
56	Or	Goldreich	U	10	B	Chandlers Ridge	Yorks
57	William	Gonsalves	U	10	B	Homefield	Surrey
58	Andrew	Goodman	U	10	B	Bishopsgate	Surrey
59	Anthony	Gregory	U	10	B	Horsted	Kent
60	Daniel	Lin	U	10	B	Bramcote	Notts
61	Paul	Long	U	10	B	Checkmate	Warks
62	William	Mitchell	U	10	B	Aldro	Surrey
63	Julian	Ryan	U	10	B	Colet Court	Middx
64	Athman	Sivakumar	U	10	B	St Christopher's	Middx
65	Luka	Sugita	U	10	B	Brookland	Middx
66	David	Thorne	U	10	B	Wellington Junior	Somerset
67	Sam	Turner	U	10	B	Grange	Mon
68	Rory	Williams	U	10	B	Roundwood	Herts
69	Charlotte	Desouza	U	10	G	Sutton High	Surrey
70	Zoe	Geidelberg	U	10	G	Basingstoke CC	Hampshire
71	Anjali	Lakhani	U	10	G	NHS Girls	Notts
72	Melissa	Thomas	U	10	G	Dormer House	Glos
73	Sam	Austin	U	11	B	All Saints	Northants
74	Tom	Beckwith	U	11	B	RGS Newcastle	Northumberland
75	Tristan	Blundell	U	11	B	St Lawrence	Sussex
76	Alexander	Cheung	U	11	B	Garden Suburb	Middx
77	Jamie	Eales	U	11	B	Wellington Junior	Somerset
78	Rohan	Gupta	U	11	B	St Mark's S Of C	Surrey
79	James	Hoad	U	11	B	Aldro	Surrey
80	Ben	Jacobs	U	11	B	Woodridge	Middx
81	Matthew	Kinloch	U	11	B	Monmouth	Mon
82	Kishan	Lakhani	U	11	B	NHS Prep	Notts
83	Robert	Lydiard	U	11	B	Cranmore	Surrey
84	Ian	MacGregor	U	11	B	Jordanhill	Lanarkshire
85	Thomas	McFaul	U	11	B	Binfield Primary	Berks
86	Michael	Migan	U	11	B	Chingford C of E/Chessmates	Essex
87	William	Perera	U	11	B	St Boniface	Surrey
88	Lewis	Turner	U	11	B	Newtown Lindford	Leics
89	Tom	Whitaker	U	11	B	Sitwell	Yorks
90	Andrew	Winchcombe	U	11	B	Ridgeway, Maidenhead	Berks
91	Poppy	Maxwell	U	11	G	Cowley Chess Club	Oxon
92	Catriona	Meechan	U	11	G	Stepgates	Surrey
93	Lateefah	Messam-Sparks	U	11	G	NHS Girls	Notts
94	Amy	Officer	U	11	G	Perth Academy	Perthshire
95	Rebecca	Seavers	U	11	G	St Peter's	Leics
96	Christopher	Bellin	U	12	B	Queen Mary's Grammar	Staffs
97	David	Donaghy	U	12	B	St Alban's	Suffolk
98	Eren	Kilich	U	12	B	Queen Elizabeth's	Herts
99	Daniel	Lai	U	12	B	RGS Newcastle	Northumberland
100	Liam	Rabbitte	U	12	B	Swinton	Lancs
101	Daniel	Rey	U	12	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
102	Beau	Schofield	U	12	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
103	Benedict	Scholl	U	12	B	Ahshtead JCC/Danes Hill	Surrey
104	Beaummont	Tang	U	12	B	Dr Challoners	Bucks
105	Victoria	Crompton	U	12	G	Hulme Grammar	Cheshire
106	Natalie	Donohue	U	12	G	St Aidan's	Lanarkshire
107	Sally	Fletcher	U	12	G	Bury Knights JCC	Suffolk
108	Anita	Tse	U	12	G	Old Palace	Surrey
109	Claire	Wu	U	12	G	North London Collegiate	Middx
110	Sam	Cloake	U	13	B	Grappenhall	Cheshire
111	Richard	Glover	U	13	B	3 Cs	Lancs
112	Tom	Harbour	U	13	B	Bedford Modern	Beds
113	Calum	Kinloch	U	13	B	Monmouth	Mon
114	John	Terry	U	13	B	Hereford Cathedral	Here
115	Naomi	Miller	U	13	G	Oxford High	Oxon
116	Deepa	Patel	U	13	G	Sutton High	Surrey
117	Similan	Anandajeyarajah	U	14	B	Tiffin Boys	Surrey
118	Anton	Chernikov	U	14	B	Tiffin Boys	Surrey
119	Alexei	Chernikov	U	14	B	Tiffin Boys	Surrey
120	Gavyn	Cooper	U	14	B	Adams Grammar	Shrops
121	Edward	Devonshire	U	14	B	Yateley Manor	Hampshire
122	Josh	Smith	U	14	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
123	Yangshi	Yu	U	14	B	St Edward	Staffs
124	Charlotte	Hughes	U	14	G	Torquay	Devon
125	Emma	Nash	U	14	G	Norwich JCC	Norfolk
126	Sophie	Seeber	U	14	G	Tynemouth CC	Northumberland
127	Lynsey	Shovlin	U	14	G	Perth Academy	Perthshire
128	Yangshan	Yu	U	14	G	St Edward	Staffs
129	William	Bennet	U	15	B	Oakham	Rutland
130	Callum	Gordon	U	15	B	King Edward VI Camp Hill	Warks
131	Tariq	Oozeerally	U	15	B	Whitgift	Surrey
132	Chris	Wallis	U	15	B	Ipswich JCC	Suffolk
133	Deborah	Margolis	U	15	G	Brighton & Hove High	Sussex
134	Soraya	Maxey	U	15	G	Fitzalan	Glam
135	Christopher	Dorrington	U	16	B	Stamford	Lincs
136	Jonathan	Lappage	U	16	B	Magdalen College	Oxon
137	Emma	Atkins	U	16	G	Westwood	Staffs
138	Lisa	Higenbottam	U	16	G	Waterlooville JCC	Hampshire
139	Krunal	Kahar	U	17	B	Cleeve	Glos
140	Ammar	Karim	U	17	B	Lordswood	Warks
141	Lawrence	Lim	U	17	B	St Dominic's VI Form	Middx
142	Catherine	Wasilewski	U	17	G	Chancellors	Herts
144	James	Buchanan	U	18	B	Cowley JCC	Oxon
145	Samuel	Rignall-Tolson	U	18	B	King Edward VII	Yorks
146	Aline	Sauze	U	18	G	Helston	Cornwall

The UK Chess Challenge is now in its 8th year and has grown every year since it began. The original entry of 23,000 children from 700 schools has swollen to 66,000 from almost 2,000 schools. Under the sponsorship of The British Land Company PLC the tournament has grown rapidly in the last four years, giving thousands of children the opportunity to be introduced to the historic game of chess. The best players from each school have the chance to further hone their skills against the strongest players in their county or region and later nationwide.

Full details of the results of the Gigafinal can be found on the UK Chess Challenge website www.ukchesschallenge.com and further information can be obtained from Mike Basman – mobile 07715041320