Scottish Girls Championships 2022 - Results

Many thanks to everyone who came along on Sunday. Here are the results:

Open

1st Kanishka Bhatia 5/5

2nd Florence Wilson 4/5

3rd = Nivedita Suyal 3/5

3rd = Prachi Pardeshi 3/5

Grading prize (U700) Keerthana Sreekanth 2.5/5

Nivedita and Prachi could not be separated on tie-break for third place

Primary

1st Angharad Hunt 4.5/5

2nd Shriya Madhu 3.5/5

3rd Crysa Mitraka 3/5

Grading prize (U600) Sahana Chakraborty 3/5

Medal Meiting Wang 3/5

P5 & Under

There was a three-way tiebreak for first place

1st Vihaa Vadalia 4/5

2nd Shruti Madhu 4/5

3rd Nilakshi Bhattacharjee 4/5

Grading Prize (U100) Anaya Malpure 3.5/5

Medals

Anika Munshi 3/5

Kalina Lu-Czartoryjska 3/5

Poppy Finlayson-Russell 3/5

Selma Alwan 2.5/5

A full report will follow.

Scottish Girls Details

We are looking forward to welcoming girls from across Scotland to the Championships on Sunday. Entrants should have received these details by email

Health

Do not attend if you feel unwell. It is very helpful if you let us know in advance if you cannot come.

Hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities will be available.  Please encourage your child to use them before and after games.

Venue

The St George’s Centre, St George’s School, Garscube Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 6BG  Map

The St George’s Centre is number 10 on this Campus Map.

There is a car park on campus, just beyond the St George’s Centre, but parking is limited. There is free parking available on the surrounding streets.

St George's is approximately a 20 minute walk from Haymarket train station.

Lothian Buses services 12, 26, 31 and 98 stop in Roseburn and Service 38 on Ravelston Dykes.

Dogs, apart from Assistance Dogs, are not allowed on-site.

No stiletto or any type of thin heel is to be worn by anyone attending

Schedule

Please arrive for 9.30am. You will be asked to fill in a form to check eligibility for the title (see below).  If your child is not eligible they can still play, they just cannot be awarded the Scottish title if they finish in first place.

Round 1 is scheduled to start at 10am and we expect prize giving to be around 4 pm.

If you decide to leave before the final round it is important that you let a member of the LJC team know.

Tournament Rules

The players will be involved in five games throughout the day – i.e. it is not a knockout. Clocks will be used in all sections, and players will have 25 minutes each to make all their moves.  There will be a demonstration of how to use the clocks before the first round for players not used to them. Scoring is 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. Pairings and Standings will be published on chess-results.com and posted around the venue.

Only players and officials are allowed in the playing hall. Mobile phones and other electronic communication devices, such as smart watches, should be switched off during play and preferably left outside the playing hall.

There are 3 sections:

Open - for any girl of school age in Scotland, including 2022 leavers

Primary - for any girl in Primary School in Scotland

P5 & Under - for any girl in P1- P5 (or younger) in Scotland

Players may ‘play up’ if they wish, e.g. a strong P5 player may wish to play in the Primary or Secondary section.

Please check what section you are entered for and let us know if you wish to change.

Depending on final numbers sections may be merged, but prizes and titles will be awarded for the 3 sections above.

Default time is 10 minutes, i.e. if a player does not arrive within 10 minutes of the start of the game, it is a default loss for that player.  Their opponent, if present, will be awarded a default win.

Where there are an uneven number of players in a section then one player in each round will get a ‘bye’.  This means they do not play a game as part of the tournament but score a point.  If there is a bye in more than one section, two players with byes may play a friendly against each other, with the score recorded for grading purposes.

Eligibility for Titles

The Chess Scotland Eligibility policy can be found here

The titles of Scottish Girls Champion, Scottish Primary Girls Champion and Scottish P5 & Under Champion will be awarded to the highest placed eligible player in each section, broken by tiebreak if necessary. If a player finishes in first place but is not eligible they will still win a prize, but the title and championship awards will go to the highest eligible player.

To be eligible one of the following questions must be answered positively

    • Was the Player born in Scotland?

    • Was either of the Player’s parents born in Scotland?

    • Has the player been resident in Scotland for at least one year on the date of the tournament?

As this is a junior tournament with a rapid time control the players do not need to be FIDE registered, however if the player is FIDE registered it must be with an SCO designation, i.e. they must not be registered with FIDE with a different federation.  

The requirement for a Scottish title holder to be a Chess Scotland member at the time of the award does apply, but Chess Scotland are gifting a six month membership to the title winner in each section, so this condition will be met.  If they are an existing Chess Scotland member the renewal date of their membership will be extended by six months.

Supervision between games

Players are only supervised whilst in the playing hall, therefore parents and careers are responsible for their child between games. There is a large waiting-out area for parents, and for players between games, in the St George’s Centre.

Refreshments

Unfortunately we are not able to provide refreshments. There are cafes, takeaways and supermarkets within a few minutes walk in Roseburn. You are welcome to bring you own food and drinks.

Contact

To get in touch with us, please use the contact form on the entry website

2022 Megafinal Results

The Edinburgh Megafinal was played on Saturday May 28th 2022 at The Edinburgh Academy Senior School under the rules of the UK Chess Challenge

The top players qualified for the Gigafinals.

The prize winners and qualifiers are listed below. The scores are out of a maximum of 6 points.

Under 18

Boys

1st Oliver Whalley 5*

2nd Karthikeya Vundi 4.5*

3rd Matthew Willder 4*

Girls

1st Florence Wilson 3.5*

2nd Nivedita Suyal 1.5

Under 14

Boys

1st Daniel Kitaev 5.5*

2nd Morvin Gera 5*

3rd Xia Rong 4*

Also Qualified

Ishan Kumar 4

Osian Hunt 4

Girls

1st place Eugenia Ramsay 1*

2nd Alice Ocytko 0.5

Under 12

Boys

1st Srinivas Rath 5.5*

2nd Kritan Boggarapu 5.5*

3rd Joseph Zhao 5*

Also qualified

Drisith Palaniswamy 4

Alexander Malham 4

James Meyer McKeon 4

Tom Aitken 4

Jonathan Shi Chit Kan 3.5

Girls

1st Angharad Hunt 4.5*

2nd Kanishka Bhatia 4*

3rd Sahana Chakraborty 4*

Under 10

Boys

1st Rithvik Deepak Ambattu 6*

2nd Humam Al Dakl Alla 5*

3rd Tristan Del Mar 5*

Also Qualified

Alagu Karthick 4.5

Vedanth Vikram 4.5

Nicholas Kitaev 4

Unnabh Shrestha 4

Nathan Lee 4

Rowan Oren-Woods 4

Leo Li 4

Oluwarotimi Akanmu 4

William Buchan 3.5

Shaurya Vundi 3.5

Girls

1st Cecelia Lu 3.5*

2nd Meiting Wang 3*

3rd Nilakshi Bhattacharjee 3*

Also qualified

Poppy Page 3

Under 8

Boys

1st Louis Cheng 6*

2nd Devesh Sharma 5*

3rd Nick Yan 4*

Also qualified

Ruben Chandra 4

Tushit Chatterjee 4

Girls

1st Isabella McGeough 2*

2nd Alba Gorman 1.5

A * by the score indicates a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place prize winner who qualified for the Gigafinal. If there were 4 or more people in the age/gender pool (eg Under 12 Girls) the top three qualified. If there were 3 or fewer only the first placed player qualified. In addition, players scoring 4 points qualified and U7s in the U8 Section, U9s in the U10 section and U11s in the U12 section who scored 3.5 points qualified, as did anyone attaining the same score as the 3rd place qualifier.

To the best of our knowledge Lothian Junior Chess have applied the qualification criteria correctly in compiling and announcing these results, but qualification is subject to confirmation by UK Chess Challenge.

Megafinal Details

We are looking forward to welcoming players from across Scotland to the Megafinal on Saturday. If you’ve entered, you should have received these details in an email.

Health

Do not attend if you feel unwell. It is very helpful if you let us know in advance if you cannot come. 

Hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities will be available.  Please encourage your child to use them before and after each game.

Venue

The Dining Hall, Edinburgh Academy Senior School, 42 Henderson Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5BL (Map)

The Academy is approximately a 25 minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley train station.

Lothian Buses service 36 stops outside the Academy. Services 23 and 27 serve Dundas Street and services 24, 29 and 42 serve Kerr Street/Raeburn Place.

Parking restrictions do not apply in the immediate area on a Saturday, but do closer to the City Centre.  You are advised to check local signs. Please get in touch if you are a Blue Badge holder.

To get to the Dining Hall, once in the campus, walk around the left side of the Main Building

The Main Building of Edinburgh Academy with the Dining Hall inset

Schedule

Please arrive for 9.30am and check your child’s details. If you find that your child is in the wrong section, please let a member of the LJC team know. The approximate timings for the day are:

Round 1 – 10:00

Round 2 – 11:00

Round 3 – 12:00

Round 4 – 13:30

Round 5 – 14:30

Round 6 – 15:30

Prizegiving should be around 16:30. Times are subject to change, but rounds will not start before the stated time.

If you decide to leave before your child has played in the final round it is important that you let a member of the LJC team know.

Supervision between games

Players are only supervised whilst in the playing hall, therefore parents and careers are responsible for their child between games.  As sitting-out space is limited, we would ask that the number of people accompanying a player is kept to a minimum and that you use the outdoor space when your child is not playing. 

Ball games are allowed on the tarmaced surface at the front of the school with soft balls only.  You may sit on grassy areas, but games are not allowed on the grass.  You may like to bring a picnic chair or mat.  Dogs, apart from Assistance Dogs, are not allowed on-site.

Tournament Rules

Your child will be involved in six games throughout the day – i.e. it is not a knockout. Clocks will be used in all sections, and players will have 25 minutes each to make all their moves.  There will be a demonstration of how to use the clocks before the first round for players not used to them. Scoring is 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. Pairings and Standings will be published on chess-results.com and posted around the venue.

Only players and officials are allowed in the playing hall. Mobile phones and other electronic communication devices, such as smart watches, should be switched off during play and preferably left outside the playing hall.

Players will be split into five mixed gender sections:

Under 8s

Under 10s

Under 12s

Under 14s

Under 18s

Depending on final numbers, the Under 8s may be merged with the Under 10s, and the Under 14s with the Under 18s, but prizes and qualification spots will be awarded for the 5 sections above.

Qualification rules

The top boy and top girl in each section will receive trophies with medals for second and third placed boys and girls. These players will qualify for the Gigafinals(*). Please note that ties for third place will all qualify but tiebreak rules will be used to determine trophies and medals.

(*) Note that where there are fewer than four eligible players in a section (for example only 2 girls in the under 8s) then only the top player will receive a qualification place. 

All players scoring a minimum of 4 points will qualify for the Gigafinal.

In addition; U-7s, U-9s and U-11s scoring a minimum of 3½ points will qualify for the Gigafinal.

Refreshments

Unfortunately we are not able to offer refreshments. There are cafes, takeaways and supermarkets within a few minutes walk.

Scottish Girls Championships

On behalf of Chess Scotland, LJC are hosting this year’s Scottish Girls Chess Championships at St George’s School, Edinburgh. Sarah Siddons Mair, who founded the school, was also a founder member of Edinburgh Ladies Chess Club and a strong advocate for women’s rights in all aspects of their lives.

See our Events page for further details of the tournament

The 2020 Scottish Girls Championships was one of the first events to be cancelled due to Covid. Details of the 2019 Championships can be found on the North East Junior Chess Association website.

Return of over the board chess - save the dates!

We’re very excited to announce two over the board tournaments coming up in May and June, and a new venue - Edinburgh Academy Senior School, Henderson Row, Edinburgh!

The ever-popular UK Chess Challenge Megafinal will take place on Saturday May 28th. Pre-covid, qualification was required for Under 12s to enter via a school or club tournament. This has been waived for 2022 as many schools and clubs were not back in time to run the tournament.

On Saturday June 25th we will have the Lothian Junior Championships. As this tournament crowns the local champions in each section, it is only open to players who live in our area: The City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and The Scottish Borders Council areas.

Further details and entry for both these events will be available soon.

Scottish Junior Tournament and Megafinals

Two of the most exciting junior tournaments that are taking place in June are the Delancey UK Chess Challenge (UKCC) Megafinals and the free to enter Edinburgh Chess Academy (ECA) Scottish Junior Tournament. If you’ve looked at the details, you may have noticed that some of the dates clash - eek! Helpfully UKCC have put on an extra Megafinal Weekend, so that everyone has an opportunity to do both, but with some of the UKCC entry options allowing players to take part in more than one Megafinal as long as they haven’t already qualified for the Gigafinal, we decided to put together the following chart so you can easily see where the clashes occur, and where they don’t. Remember, the categories for the UKCC are based on how old the player was on 31st August 2020. There is a handy chart on the UKCC website, but I find the easiest way to work out which age group someone is in is to think about how old they will be on 31st August THIS year, and they were under that age last August. This is meant as a guide. Please check the details on the tournament organisers website.

Exciting new Scottish tournament

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Edinburgh Chess Academy have recently announced a major new tournament for Scottish juniors, with sections based on current playing strength and big cash prizes - and it’s free to enter!

The Edinburgh Chess Academy Scottish Junior Tournament will begin with practice tournaments over the weekend of 5th and 6th of June followed by Qualifiers on 12th and 13th June. The Championship finals will take place on 26th and 27th June.

Andrew Green, founder of Edinburgh Chess Academy, said "I am delighted to announce our first sponsored online junior tournament. It is free to play in, for all levels and has a prize fund of £10,000 - generously sponsored by Gareth Williams (Co-founder of Skyscanner). To enter or to find out more information, please visit our website. This new event made it into the news, you can read about it in The Times and the Scottish Sun

The aim of the tournament is to get children playing chess. With prizes for all levels we hope this encourages children and parents to give chess a go! Please spread the word by telling your friends, liking and sharing etc. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for regular updates.  Finally, I would also ask that you enter your child right away - early entries will help generate interest and make it easier to organise."