This year’s prestigious London Junior Chess Championships (LJCC) Finals were a successful one for Chess Rising Stars. Our students, Sachin and Ashwin, shared 3rd in the U10 Major with an admirable 5.5/7.

The first weekend of the 2023 LJCC Finals were held at the University of Westminster, Marylebone Hall. Hundreds of chess players of all ages took part, making for an inspiring atmosphere for our young students.

L to R: Chris, Arnav, Sachin and Maria

Sachin and Ashwin are both active members of our Elite Chess Club. We work together on areas of strategy, tactics and mindset to build the confidence and skills necessary to compete beyond Chess Rising Stars.

We are proud to add to our series of individual tournament accomplishments this year, building on the successes the Elite Club students achieved at the UK Chess Challenge Terafinal earlier in the year.

We had 12 current Chess Rising Stars students who met the high standard necessary to qualify for the LJCC Finals. This illustrious tournament has been running for nearly 100 years and provides a first-rate competitive experience for junior chess players.

On Saturday our coaches, Maria and Chris, paid a visit to offer their support and guidance plus drop off some prizes to take home as souvenirs! Tom also set a fine example, competing in the Open tournament and scoring 3.5/4.


The Chess Rising Stars team are looking forward to the upcoming U8 and U12 LJCC Finals later this month. The achievements of Sachin and Ashwin are a shining example of what can be accomplished with the knowledge and support of our experienced coaches.

Jan 03, 2025

Double LJCC Champion

After what felt like an hour of refreshing our phones, the round 9 pairings were finally published and confirmed our expectations. Aden will have the black pieces against Advait on top board and only a win will be sufficient to share the U12 Major title.

The pair had played to an exciting repetition before Christmas with the same colours, after Aden had sacrificed a Rook to open up Advait’s king. So what will we get this time?

The fearless Rxh3+!!

How Did We Get Here?

We can all agree that any five-year-old who can play chess is undoubtedly impressive! In October 2021, we shared a profile with Aden’s chess journey since joining Chess Rising Stars while he was still in Year 1. Aden has grown up a lot and his chess certainly hasn’t stopped improving.

In the centenary edition of the London Junior Chess Championships (LJCC), the Finals were split over two weekends. Over twenty Chess Rising Stars students attended the U10/U14 weekend in Marylebone. It was a pleasure to visit them all on Saturday and soak up some of the atmosphere.

Aden was playing up 3 age categories in the U14 Major and stormed to 5.5/6 beating four higher rated opponents along the way, for his first national title. A remarkable achievement for the 22nd seed in the tournament.

U14 Major Champion

Round 9

After Christmas it was the U8/U12 weekend in Harrow, which brings us back to Advait v Aden. If Aden felt nervous, he didn’t show it – that was left to the parents and coaches! The opening followed their previous game but mass-exchanges led quickly into an endgame.

A long positional battle ensued but this time Aden came out on top after 88 moves. A well-deserved victory for the new double LJCC champion.

U12 Major Champion

Aden will return to the Elite Club in the Spring Term to resume his training. We are very much looking forward to continuing to work on chess with him!

Mar 26, 2024

Chess Rising Stars Summer Grand Prix

To help prepare our students to compete beyond Chess Rising Stars, we are delighted to announce the return of our Online Grand Prix.

This term, our free Grand Prix tournaments are on our chess team page. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part.

Each tournament will have five rounds of 10+5. We have chosen this time control to mimic the playing conditions in the Junior Four Nations Chess League Online (J4NCLO).

Prizes will be awarded based on the number of entries and will be confirmed later. Your top 5 scores from the 6 Grand Prix events will count towards this.

The online chess tournaments will take place on the following Sundays at 4 pm (GMT) in the Summer Term 2024:

To ensure the integrity of the Chess Rising Stars Online Grand Prix tournaments, we will use the lichess cheat detection system alongside the observation and judgment of our experienced coaching team.

The Chess Rising Stars London Academy team hopes to see many of you there.

May 27, 2024

Chess Rising Stars Online Shop

Chess Rising Stars Online Shop

We are delighted to announce that the Chess Rising Stars online shop is now open! You can find a superb selection of 21 new and unique designs on t-shirts, hoodies and hats available in both children’s and adults’ sizes.

Our shop is the latest addition to the Chess Rising Stars London Academy website, following the full update in March. We have worked hard to create a range of merchandise that reflects the fun and vibrant side of our chess community.

Since we started the Chelsea Chess Club back in 2019, our coaches have sported Chess Rising Stars shirts and now it’s finally time to extend this opportunity to our students as well.

Noah is our first happy customer, proudly showing off his new ‘Eat. Sleep. Chess. Repeat.’ t-shirt alongside his well-deserved trophy from the EPSCA U11 Team Finals.

Do have a browse and see what catches your eye.