10th Teesside Individual Chess Championships: Report

The 10th Teesside Individual Chess Championships attracted a bumper entry, with 118 children from 19 different schools, several of whom had never been represented at our tournaments before.

The playing hall was packed with eager chess players and the outside area was full of parents, basking in the glorious sunshine.

As is well known, we have our own particular ethos on Teesside, which is essentially to let the children get on with simply enjoying playing chess, free from the external pressures which taint other events (have you ever seen a Saturday morning junior football match...!?).

Fortunately, everyone respected our ethos and, consequently, we all had a very good day.

The children found their social skills enhanced, as they had to find their own places in the hall and to take care of reporting their results too.

Chess remains a tough game, of course, and the battle for the titles was a tough one in all three sections.

Everyone received something from us at the prize giving ceremony, from chess-piece key-rings all the way to medals and trophies.

We always try to make as many people happy as possible and I think yesterday we did very well indeed on that score.

This was our last big local event of a very busy season but we will return to Yarm Preparatory School in October for our famous team tournament which will, remarkably be the 28th such event in our long-running series.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make yesterday such a great success.

Here is a round-up of the results. A gallery will follow in the next blog post.

The entries were from the following schools:

Barley Fields

Billingham South

Christ the King

Fairfield

Green Lane

Holy Trinity

Junction Farm

Linthorpe

Norton

Skelton

St. Alphonsus

Thornaby C of E

Throston

Viewley Hill

Village Primary

Westgarth

Whale Hill

Whinstone

Yarm

Remember, I don't like to use tiebreakers or play-offs for the main places. Why separate players who have earned the same title or places? I prefer to obtain more medals and trophies, in order to send as many people home happy as possible.

Under-7

1st and Boys' Champion: Jayden Wang (Yarm), 5/5

=2nd Lucas Ziyan Liu (Yarm) and Agam Vats (Yarm) 4/5

Girls' Champion: Zoyaa Soni (Yarm)

3/5: Harvey Wilson (Village Primary), Yenul Karunathilaka (Linthorpe) and George Birkin (Yarm)

2/5: Nael Saddiqi (Yarm), Poppy Betts (Throston), Edward Williams (Yarm), Edward Gildroy (Yarm), Senon Weekrakkody (Yarm), Angela Moukoko (Christ the King)

1/5: Darcie McGlade (Yarm), Alex Zavora (Yarm)


Under-9

=1st and Boys' Champions: Isaac Machin (Christ the King) and Japjot Nanda (Whinstone), 5/5

=3rd: Rory Fitzgerald (Yarm), Dara Jafari (Yarm), Henry Stanley (Yarm), Fathe Cathal (Yarm) and Tashil Sethika Lankapura (Green Lane), all 4/5

Girls' Champion: Manha Abdullah (Yarm), 3.5/5

3.5/5: Spencer Wadsworth (Fairfield), Bradley Murphy (Holy Trinity)

3/5: Tyler Hanson (Whale Hill), Louie McGarry (Whale Hill), Connor Pinder (Fairfield), Isaac Brette (Fairfield), Stan Dugdale (Yarm), Rosa Williams (Yarm), Isabelle Little (Throston), Alexander Neal-O’Kane (Westgarth), Paulina Roy Choudhury (Barley Fields)

2.5/5: Austin Oman (Yarm), Paari Muthukrsihnan (Yarm), Albie Dixon-Turner (Westgarth), Shadrach Moukoko (Christ the King), Harry Metcalfe (Throston), James Shipley (Throston)

2/5:Vishaun Susewhewage (St. Alphonsus), Benjamin Pearson (Village Primary), Maisey Webster (Holy Trinity), Freya Hind (Holy Trinity), Max Skelton (Whale Hill), Scarlett Todd (Viewley Hill), Sia Sidaginawale (Yarm), Harrison Gurney (Yarm), Tudugalage Yuthura Perera (Junction Farm)

1.5/5: Ziad Salim (Yarm), David Williams (Holy Trinity), Millie Webster (Holy Trinity), Daniel Degnan (Holy Trinity)

1/5: Jade Stockton (Norton), Nicholas Simmons Giles (Throston), Sebastian Green (Village School), Samuel Thompson (Whale Hill)

0/5: Ollie Smith (Viewley Hill)

Under-11

1st and Boys' Champion: Stanley Allan (Skelton Primary), 5/5

2nd: Monty Van Niekerk (Yarm)

=3rd: Kavan Sidhu (Yarm), Haashir Imran (Yarm), Agam Nanda (Whinstone), Leon Hammond (Norton), Patrick Smith (Viewley Hill), Joseph Dodds (Westgarth), Can Sezen (Yarm), Tristan Green (Village School), Miles Page (Yarm), all 4/5

Girls' Champions: Lila Thomson (Norton), Nikita Suryadevara (Yarm), Lolwa Soliman (Yarm)

3.5/5: Samuel Stevenson (Fairfield)

3/5: Marawan Saad (Yarm), Tyler Beazley (Whale Hill), Frankie Smart (Norton), Griff Williams (Yarm), Vedh Arcot (Yarm), Lewis Godwin (Fairfield), Dexter Macrae (Throston), Harrison Randall (Junction Farm), Udham Chahal (Yarm), George Butterworth (Thornaby C of E)

2.5/5: Deborah Onabajo (Norton), Tiger Chahal (Yarm), Phoenix Emadi (Yarm), Noel Adams (Throston), Annabelle Lyver (Throston), Libby Betts (Throston), Alexander Wormald (Yarm), Eric Pinedo Fuentes (Yarm), Samuel Isukapatha (Yarm), Thomas Ferguson (Yarm),
Mason Doherty (Norton), Lucas Bloor (Throston), Sophie Allen (Throston), Sid Suryadevara (Yarm), Maddison Green (Throston), Noah Daniel Graham (Skelton Primary)

1.5/5: Abbie Ainsley (Viewley Hill). Molly Marksby (Norton), Brian Franks (Yarm)

1/5: Anwita Dara (Yarm), Anika Sunkavalli (Yarm), Archie Carroll (Viewley Hill), Louie Nelson (Norton), Ollie Lynch (Norton), Isaac Brown (Norton), Alexia Gowland (Norton)

0/5: Harrison Covell (Yarm)