Teesside Megafinal 2019: Gallery One

We posted the results of our Megafinal yesterday and today we present the first of two galleries from the tournament.

Mr Grundmann and I went to the Princess Alexandra Auditorium on the Saturday to set up the rooms. Lots tables, chairs, boards and pieces were required to cater for the 140+ children.

View from the stage

View from the gallery

We were determined to pull out of the stops for our Megafinal

Sunday saw the hall and the recital room full of eager chess players from the ages of Under-7 to Under-18.

All photos from this point on are © Mr Grundmann

Tomorrow's gallery will feature the prize giving.

Teesside Megafinal 2019: Results

The Fourth Delancey UK Schools' Chess Challenge Teesside Megafinal took place on Sunday 5 May and attracted just under 150 entries from 22 different schools and clubs.

We were fortunate indeed to have the Princess Alexandra Auditorium for the third consecutive year. The auditorium attracts lots of big-name acts each year (Leo Sayer will be there on Sunday, for example). The facilities are excellent and the staff magnificent.

Once again there were titles for boys ('Supremo') and girls ('Suprema') in all sections from Under-7 to Under-18.

All Supremos, Supremas and players who scored 3.5/6 or more have now qualified for the Gigafinal stage of the challenge, which can be entered via the UKCC website as soon as the relevant facility goes 'live.'

Here are the results from our very busy and enjoyable day.

U-7s

5/6: Arvind Kumar (Supremo on tiebreak), Rehan Krishnamoorthy

4/6: Harry Chapman, Joseph Davies

3.5/6: Anjali Ramisetty (Suprema on tiebreak), Freja Cooke, Annabelle Pears Robinson, Matthew Ward 

3/6: Akansha Mendis, Daisy Ridsdale, Frankie Savage, Ruby Lloyd

2.5/6: Kai Garner, Sydney Rose McKittrick

2/6: Theo Charles, Imogen Prior

1.5/6: Alexander Thompson

Absent: Lacey MacSween


U-8s

4.5/6: George Forshaw (Supremo on tiebreak), Rowan Arya, Jack Foster

4/6: Olly Bruce, Archie Axtell

3.5/6: Fenton Longworth, Flynn Gorton, William Foster

3/6: Aisling Timmons (Suprema)

2/6: Jack Ford, Ava Jo McClurg, JJ Hepburn, Hollie McFarlane


U-9s

5.5/6: Vinh Han (Supremo)

5/6: Natasha Pointon (Suprema), Zachary Green, Noah Coulman

4/6: Caiden Day, Lucas Howie, Lucy Cartman, Jack Wilkinson, Ben Whitwell

3.5/6: Oliver Hamilton, Sonny Weeks, Taylor Dale, Cody Hodgson

3/6: Oscar Edwardson, George Hall, Lucas Jordan, Hannah Weid, HW, Ava Norris, Katie Middleton

2.5/6: Jessica Lloyd, Seth Myer, David Reidy, Angel Baxter, Ben Francis, Luca Smith, Isla Horlock, Callum Clegg

2/6: Robyn Durdan

1.5/6: Abigail Doherty, Izzy Watkinson, Sophia Moran

1/6: Ella Turner, Liam Boon

0/6: Callum Smith (withdrew after three rounds)

Absent: Ruby Hodgson, Alex Campbell 

U-10s

5.5/6: Aryan Nalawade (Supremo)

5/6: Harry Charlton

4.5/6: Isobel McGlade (Suprema), Cody Braithwaite, Harvey Canwell

4/6: Sabeeh Qureshi, Aditya Paul

3.5/6: Hudson Galloway, Harrison Keegans, Ewan Flynn, Lucas Adamson, Amy Steel, Amonique Allen, Richard Kensey, Alfie Hopwood, Arthiga Rajeev

3/6: Lewis Fryer, Kaitlyn Bowes, Isobel McKinnell

2.5/6: Alex Smith, Charlie Heath

2/6: Jessica Nicholson, Cleo Piercy, Isobel Wilson, Anthony Durdan

1.5/6: Chloe McKinell, Olivia Rose Griffiths, Evelyn Southern

1/6: Dolly Williams

0/6: Jacob Smith (withdrew after two rounds)

Absent: Elissa Scott, Elliott Laycock 

U-11s

5/6: Avanish Batra (Supremo on tiebreak), Ajay Selvan

4.5/6: Tenuk Mendis

4/6: Freya Costello (Suprema), Jacob Howie

3.5/6: Hannah Thomas, Alex Gray, Grace Crawford

3/6: Hannah Allenayre

2.5/6: Aaron Owen Thomas, Isabel Kelly, Ella Field, David Daw

2/6: Tahlia Smith, Grace Wilson, Joseph Ford

1/6: Harry Ward (withdrew, ill, after four rounds) 

Over-11s (Combined section)

5/6: Alfie McMonagle (U-15 Supremo on tiebreak), Morgan French, Yusuf Syed (U-12 Supremo)

4/6: Ben Fulton (U-13 Supremo), Gautam Sathyamurthy

3.5/6: Benedict Francis (U-14 Supremo), Dimitir Schwartz-Hall, Ellis Anderson, Vignesh Janakiram

3/6: Aishani Paul (U-14 Suprema), Alice Sturman (U-12 Suprema), Saisparsh Sidaginamale

2.5/6: Evie Harbisher, Ella Francis

2/6: Sam McGreal, Darragh Reid, Oscar Thomas, Jamie Kelley

1/6: Callum Thornton

Absent: Brad Best 

Withdrew before tournament: Lili Szasz, Anna Szasz, Eleanor Whitwell, Luke Nargol

Two galleries will follow over the next two days, followed by some concluding thoughts.

Excellent Feedback

St. Aidan's Primary School in Hartlepool is one of our 16 CSC Teesside schools and they have just received this piece of excellent feedback from their School Improvement Partner:

'The curriculum also provides a variety of opportunities to develop pupils’ experiences and skills. Using pupil premium money so that all pupils in Year 3 learn chess is one example. Observing pupils playing chess was fascinating. They sustained concentration for extended periods, showed resilience when faced with loss, managed their time and challenged themselves – invaluable self-regulation skills.'

Well done, St. Aidan's!

Radio Stars

CSC Teesside once again attracted the attention of the media this week when CSC Tutor and library supremo Sean Cassidy was invited onto Joe Mack's afternoon show.

Joe Mack is a volunteer presenter at Community Voice For Middlesbrough CVFM and he spoke at length with Sean, plus Alfie and Ihsaan (two of our best local juniors).

Sean is having an exceptional year. Aside from the tutoring, he is also the key figure at The Buffs chess club in Stockton-on-Tees. He is part of the team that has just clinched the B Division championship and it was his victory in the semi-final of the Tom Wise KO Cup - against A Division champions Middlesbrough Rooks - that earned The Buffs a place in the forthcoming final. Sean has also earned promotion from the C Division with his other team, The Buffs B. 

Well done, everyone!

New Chess Group

This week I worked for the first time with a Home Education group.

The venue was provided by SNAPS (Special Needs Activities with Parents Support) at the Newtown Community Centre in Stockton-on-Tees and I was immediately given a very friendly welcome - including tea and biscuits - by the mighty Ruth.

Our session brought together a very hard-working group of children and parents and we had a great deal of fun learning some of the basics of chess and playing mini-games.

Opinions on the merits of Home Education will obviously vary. For some, it will be a necessary step to bring the best out of their children. For others, it will be an obstacle in the way of cooperation and progress. 

I am not now - and never have been - interested in politics, but I am interested in breaking down boundaries and working with dynamic and highly positive people.

Take a look at the photographs and judge for yourselves if the intended combination of fun and learning came to fruition.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the group and we are hopeful that more sessions can be arranged over the course of the year.

There is even talk of creating wide-ranging community sessions at the centre. Let's do it!

Thank you Fiona for organising everything and thank you to everyone in the group for such an excellent day.

All photograph in this report are © Fiona Tierney, with the exception of the picture of Ruth.

International Links

I have been establishing international links of late in an effort to share ideas and learn lots of new skills, to try and make me better at what I do.

I have already mentioned our ongoing links with New Zealand and Germany and today I took part in my first-ever Webinar, with Stephen Lipschultz in Illinois.

Stephen very patiently talked me through numerous features offered by the hugely impressive 'Think Like A King' system.


I now have a lot to think about and I am hoping this important new link can be developed much further.

See me concentrating in the screenshots!

Confessions

Discussing my latest film project, ‘Confessions of a Chess Tutor’, with Robin Askwith. This veteran of the genre is hoping to have a large part in it.