Sussex juniors named national champions

The Sussex Junior Chess team travelled north to Telford in Shropshire on Saturday to compete for the title of top chess county in the UK

The 12 boys and girls, Calum Salmons, Michael Banks, Alec Hedger, Amardip Ahluwalia, Roland Bourne, Xavier Laurillard, Polina Shchepinova, Zevon Rustom, Jonathan Britnell, Giovanni Currah, Matthew Liu and Batuhan Kaya, were joined by their families for the trip.

Mark Currah, from Sussex Junior Chess, said: “Each member of the team played three hard-fought rounds and emerged with the remarkable score of 32½ points out of a possible 36.

“Chess scoring awards a single point for a win, so the margin equates to five more victories than the team finishing second in the final. Sussex Junior Chess were crowned National Youth Chess Association (NYCA) U12 Champions, 2015.”

Also making the journey was the U16 team, which just missed out on first place in the the age group by half a point.

Sussex Junior Chess is a not for profit organisation run by volunteers. It exists to promote and popularise chess among school-age children in the county.

It provides training days at venues around the county and organises tournaments for individuals and schools. It also selects and runs county teams who compete in national and international events.

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