Over 80 children arrived on a glorious sunny day in Blackpool for the latest Lancashire Junior Congress event, which took place at St Cuthbert’s Academy. A great turnout for a Saturday Bank Holiday weekend. We were a little concerned that the turnout would be low. In the event, our concerns were unfounded.
We ran six sections, and this time, we promoted everyone to a new section. It was still the same section, just renamed. This is to allow us to add further sections at a later date.
The top Queens section was an all play all, with the top rated 6 players paired in this section. It was a good battle, with the winner being decided in the last game of the day and boy did that game deliver! Eyad needing a win to win the section. Natalie needed to avoid losing to win the section for the first time. In the end, Natalie steered the game into a drawn position. The final position resulting with Eyad having to accept a perpetual check. With the game drawn, Natalie was the outright winner in the Queens section. The Queens section was hard fought. With every player winning a game, in what turned out to be a competition with the stronger players not having it their own way, and having to fight for every point.
Leon won the Rooks section, with an impressive 100% score of 6 out of 6. Leon’s prize, he gets to play in the top section next time out. Gracjan won the Bishops section with a score of 5 out of 6, Josh and Lorenzo pushed him hard.
Marcus and Ammaar tied the Knights section, both achieving a score of 5 out of 6. Marcus seemed poised for a perfect score, but Adam defeated him in the final round. This allowed Ammaar to pull level, but because of their head-to-head record, Marcus won on the tie-break.
We divided the pawns section into two, the Red Pawns and the Green Pawns. Raul won the Red Pawns section, with an impressive 100% record, 6 out of 6. Finally, the winner of the Green Pawns was Ellis, who also scored an impressive 100% record, 6 out of 6.
THANK YOU!
Thanks to St. Cuthbert’s for their wonderful hospitality; the venue was excellent, and the children appreciated the enclosed play area, where they burned off a lot of energy between rounds in the glorious sunshine outside.
A thank you to the PTA, who put on a sumptuous spread of tuck-shop goodies. All went down very well from what I could see. I am sure the children enjoyed their tuck!
A special thanks, as always, to all the helpers and section controllers, who all help to make the event run so smooth. Ensuring children sit down at the right table, collecting the results, wiping away the odd tear. It all takes time and effort, so a big thank you, to you all.
Results – the full results can be found on Chess Results, links below for each section.
Green Pawns, Red Pawns, Knights, Bishops, Rooks and Queens
This will be our last congress of the school year. We will be back with our next event in October, where we will be on the lookout for players to represent Lancashire in next year’s U9 and U11 team events; as well as look out for players to take part in the Pennine Cup for players U16.
A big thank you to all parents, guardians and, of course, the players for making this season a memorable one.!
Congress Gallery
Wonderful set of pictures from the day, capturing our prize winners and pictures from the event. Thank you to Jaqui for sharing her photos from the day.
