Another great Junior Congress event, held at a new venue of Hope School in Wigan. The event was arranged and setup by the Wigan Community Chess Club team, and special thanks to the team for their enthusiasm and support for the Lancashire Junior Events.
Despite clashes with other events, 60 children ranging from reception class (yes!) up to Year 12 took part in the event run across five sections. A great tuck shop was available, and very popular from what I could see and breakout areas for parents (who stayed for the day) and the children where they were also provided with great coaching between rounds.
Full set of results are available on Chess Results : Wigan Junior Chess Congress Results
Winners
The Rooks featured the strongest players in the tournament. It was strongly contested, Leon ran out the winner with 4/5 but was given a scare in Round 2 losing to newcomer Saanvi for Wigan Community Chess Club. A 3 way tie for second with Josh, Oliver and Adeel scoring 3/5.
The next section down is the Bishops. These are also experienced chess players, but not quite at the level as the Rooks. This was a competitive section, with joint winner Eden and Joshua with 4/5. Gobishan was 3rd with a score of 3.5/5
The Knights section is the “step up” from pawns section, these are the up and coming players who have been promoted from the pawns section. Another section eagerly competed, and once again two join winners, Mubarak and Luke with 5/6. Mubarak was undefeated during the day, 4 wins and 2 draws. The last round draw was an amazing save by Mubarak who looked to be getting mated but found the only move to avoid mate and eventually got the draw to seal equal first. Adam from Wigan Community Chess came 3rd.
The Red Pawns section is for our pawns who have been with us before, but not ready for the Knights. They played 7 rounds and whilst it was competitive, no-one could stay with Freddie who won the section with an impressive 100% score 7/7. Second was Karel with 6/7, a good comeback having lost to Freddie in the first round. Shout out to Connie! Our youngest player, and showing great promise, scoring 50%, with 3.5/7
Our final section is the Green Pawns, this is reserved for the young players who are new to chess. This section can also be one of the more challenging one to manage with questions around checkmate, touch move, the odd illegal move but plenty of ENTHUSISAM.
The winner with a splendid 100% record 7/7 was Ramanathan, who unfortunately was unable to stay for prize-giving. Runner ups in the section were Zac and Shriaan.
The events would not be the success they are without the help and support of the many helpers and volunteers. Special thanks to Jacqui, John, Aiden, Helen, Steve and the rest of the Wigan team. Also thanks to the section leads Gordon and Peter who ensured that the results were correctly recorded and sort out most disputes – I was only needed on a couple of occasions to make an “arbiter” decision – which goes to show the spirit that all the kids played so well done to all the kids! Of course, thanks to the parents and guardians for bringing the children to the event, and picking them up at the end.
Final special thanks to Hope School and College for letting us use the school. It was an excellent venue and we hope to return again for a future event. Hope to see everyone at the next event in May, when we return to Blackpool.
Wigan Gallery
