Eighth Teesside Megafinal: Managing Expectations

As previously mentioned, the Eighth Teesside Megafinal (click on the link to find the entry form) will soon be here and it seems to be a good moment to think about general expectations.

The vast majority of children play in Megafinals so they can have fun, enjoy the company of their friends, make new friends and to test their chess skills against children from other schools. Their level of play will almost certainly improve as a consequence.

Chess tournaments can be tough, especially if a player has unrealistic expectations going into the event.

Mixing wins with a similar number of defeats is perfectly logical expectation. Expecting to win every game without any particular difficulties along the way is not so logical.

Occasionally, it is reported to me that a child is 'heartbroken' or 'devastated' after (what they see as) an unsuccessful tournament performance. It goes beyond hyperbole, because the parents in question really do appear to believe that what they are saying is true.

This usually isn't far away from those who claim they want their child to learn the art of resilience through chess, only to claim, retrospectively, that not only did their child have to play strong opponents but also that their opponents cheated in every game.

If expectations are realistic then we wouldn't have to navigate through so much smoke and so many mirrors.

We never apply pressure to our pupils to perform at tournaments either in our chess classes or on a one-to-one basis.

We cannot monitor or control parental pressure, but we do find ourselves having to deal with the aftermath.

I have plenty of stories to tell another time, including how a parent threatened to set his Rottweiler dogs on me after his son failed to win a game.

For now, here is a reminder of the ethos of our Teesside tournaments:

'We will be working very hard on the day trying to ensure everyone has a great time. As usual with our events, we want to keep the pressure on the children to an absolute minimum.

To help protect this ethos, we want the children to relax between the rounds and to temporarily forget about their chess battles.

It would be greatly appreciated if all parents, guardians, teachers, chess coaches et al supported this ethos too and helped all of the children to enjoy the day without applying any pressure between the rounds.'

Eighth Teesside Megafinal: Essential Information

 

I am very pleased to announce the details of the Eighth Teesside Megafinal.

Event: 2025 Delancey UK Schools' Chess Challenge Teesside Megafinal. This year, children do not need to have qualified from the initial phase to enter a Megafinal. Entry is open to all!

Venue: Yarm Senior School, specifically the Princess Alexandra Auditorium.  This is one of the North East's premier concert venues and we are delighted to be back here. Parking is available on site.

Date: Sunday 4 May 2025

Timings: Please arrive for 9.30 a.m. Play will start at 10.00 a.m. The prize giving will be at approximately 5.00 p.m. but we are hoping to pull the timings forward if we have the opportunity to do so on the day.

Closing Date for Entries: Friday 25 April 2024

The online entry form and other information can be found on the UKCC Website.

Format: All players will play six rounds, on the Swiss system. We will combine some of the sections but the champions of each one will receive the trophies and titles. Tied places will be resolved by the Sum of Progressive Scores tiebreaker.

Arbiter: Sean Marsh

General Information: 

The Megafinal has a set number of 150 places. Once these have been booked the online entry system will not allow any more.

We cannot accept any more entries once the Megafinal is full and we will definitely not be able to take extra entries on the day.

If you miss out on a place on Teesside, please try another Megafinal. They are listed here.

We cannot offer full supervision anywhere outside of the playing rooms. Parents/guardians must supervise their children at all times other than when the children are in the playing rooms.

Parents, guardians, teachers and chess coaches will not be allowed in the playing rooms during the rounds.

Problems arising during the games will be solved by the tournament Arbiter. Children must alert the Arbiter to any problems by raising their hand. It is very difficult to solve problems retrospectively.

The venue's cafe will be open and basic refreshments will be on sale throughout the day. However, we advise you to bring a packed lunch too.

We will be working very hard on the day trying to ensure everyone has a great time. As usual with our events, we want to keep the pressure on the children to an absolute minimum. To help protect this ethos, we want the children to relax between the rounds and to temporarily forget about their chess battles. It would be greatly appreciated if all parents, guardians, teachers, chess coaches et al supported this ethos too and helped all of the children to enjoy the day without applying any pressure between the rounds.

Full reports will appear across our range of social media platforms. Please let me know on the day if you have any concerns regarding the use of photographs.

The Arbiter's decision in all matters relating to the tournament is final.

A full list of Megafinal rules can be found on the UKCC website.

The First Inter-Library Chess Event

Yesterday brought yet another groundbreaking and innovative event on Teesside, in the form of the first-ever inter-library chess event.

It was back in August 2017 when we launched the new community chess sessions in our library and, as can be seen from this report, Sean Cassidy and Paul Weightman were there from the very start.

The library sessions have gone from strength to strength in Stockton (delivered by volunteers Sean Cassidy and Nicky Britton), Thornaby (Chris Swales and Tim Hind), Ingleby Barwick (Joe McGinnis) and Billingham (Paul Weightman), even managing to come back stronger after the dreadful COVID years.

A few months ago, we started group discussions on creating an inter-library event, with the aim of providing a friendly, slightly competitive occasion, with each team compromising of a whole range of ages and abilities.

Catherine Lloyd and I delivered the tournament, which featured three rounds on the Jamboree System.

Records were broken and headlines were made.

For example, there were 45 people in the Stockton Central Library chess room throughout the two-hour session (24 were playing in the event; the others were there for the love of chess).

Sean and Nicky had done a wonderful job of preparing the room and the team managers of the respective libraries had organised their teams well, too.

The family, community spirit of the day was further enhanced by the fact that the Ingleby Barwick team of six players featured players from three families and the Thornaby team was composed of two families, with three players from each one!

Just when one would think that was already enough action and excitement for the day, we were blessed by the presence of three of Marsh's Angels, who had a mini-match of their own against three other Stockton Library chess players.

Ingleby Barwick took an early lead in the tournament and they looked to be on course to be the clear winners when they emerged from the first two rounds two points clear Stockton.

However, the third and final round changed things again and Stockton managed to close the gap.

Final Scores

=1st: Ingleby Barwick and Stockton, both on 12.5 points.

3rd: Thornaby, 7.5 points

4th: Billingham, 3.5 points

All 24 players received medals and mini-chess sets, courtesy of CSC. There was also a brand-new shield for the winners, which will soon have two names engraved upon it (readers will know I never use tiebreakers; why make people unhappy?).

Thank you to everyone who helped to make the first-ever inter-library chess event such a huge success.

We shall conclude with a gallery from the very fine day.

Stockton Captain Alice Sturman has been supporting CSC events for 10 years!

The incredible Marsh's Angels

With the winning team managers and captains

We are extremely fortunate to have such dedicated chess volunteers in our libraries.
Thank you Joe, Paul, Sean, Nicky, Tim and Chris!

Co-champions Ingleby Barwick 
(Photograph copyright Nicky Britton)

Co-champions Stockton
(Photograph copyright Nicky Britton)

Angel Training

 

It was very good to spend another evening with Marsh’s Angels.

The theme of the session was planning and it is becoming more and more apparent just how much they are improving all of the time.

There will be another all-Angel gathering in the not-too-distant future.

Thank you, everyone!

Webinar Success

Webinar One, Take Two, has now been delivered.

We had 50 people on the call tonight and all went well.

Thank you to the great Catherine Lloyd, who provided invaluable help from start to finish, whether she was wearing glasses for the chat box or not.

Catherine is, of course, known to a lot of readers due to her excellent chess sessions in our local schools and for her role as Training Day assistant all across the UK.

Catherine is also one of the famous Marsh's Angels, who will be meeting up again very soon indeed. Her brave journey from novice chess parent to top tutor is absolutely remarkable and an inspiration to us all.

In Catherine and Jo (who was on duty last Tuesday) I have the two best helpers imaginable. It is no coincidence that they are also my two best friends.

Details of the webinars can be found here.

Open all Hours

 

No rest for the Wicked!

Chess time at the Yarm Preparatory School Open Morning.

UKCC 2025

Here we go!

It is time for the Delancey UK Schools’ Chess Challenge in our schools.

The details of our Teesside Megafinal will be going ‘live’ very soon, too!