Teesside Megafinal 2020

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

Event: 2020 Delancey UK Schools' Chess Challenge Teesside Megafinal. This for anyone who has qualified for a Megafinal through their own school or club. Over-11s (children at Secondary/Senior schools) do not need to qualify; they can just enter at this stage.

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 3 May 2020

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: Monday 27 April 2020

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

Gigafinal Qualification: All players require three and a half or more points out of six to qualify for the Manchester Gigafinal.

The full Gigafinal dates have now been confirmed:
London Gigafinal – Orleans Park School, Twickenham, TW1 3BB 18-19 July 2020

Midlands Gigafinal – Grace Academy, Solihull, B37 5JS 1-2 August 2020

Northern Gigafinal – Wright Robinson College, Manchester, M18 8RL 4-5 July 2020

Southern Gigafinal – Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, KT10 9AJ 11-12t July 2020

Scotland Gigafinal (new for 2020 one day only) – Broughton High School, 29 East Fettes Avenue, EH4 1EG 7 June 2020The tournament is not just about qualifying for the Gigafinal. It should be seen primarily as an excellent experience for all competitors who will be able to learn a lot by playing against new opponents from a large number of different schools.

If you have not qualified for a Megafinal and would like to try to do so, please consider the Last Chance Saloons.

General Information:

The Megafinal has a set number of 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.