Chess Rising Stars Summer Camp 2021 - Chess Rising Stars

Chess Rising StarsAugust 30, 2021July 22, 2025

Our 18th Chess Rising Stars Camp took place at Marlborough Primary School in Chelsea, London. We improved our chess skills together from Monday 23rd to Thursday 26th August 2021.
It was a delight to return to teaching chess camps in-person. Our children (and staff!) had all missed playing and learning chess together over the board.

Our camps are open to children from ages 6 to 14 and of all chess levels so beginners, intermediate and advanced children were all there with us. We split up into two classes for the activities. This helped us to match children with those of a similar level of chess experience and ensure they all made maximum progress.

Lessons had a mixture of chess tuition, mini-games and sportsmanship advice. We also made sure to find time for a break but some of our students just continued to play chess outside!
Each day we finished with several games under tournament conditions. We awarded trophies, medals, toys and certificates to our fantastic students. Particular congratulations go to Brain L., who scored 8 out of 9, and was the overall chess camp champion and Nicolas T., who scored 4.5 out of 9 and won the second group. Hector M. was our most improved player for his 5 consecutive wins to finish the tournament.

The camp was organised and delivered by WFM Maria Manelidou, CM Thomas Villiers and Chris Russell. We had a great time and our students did too.

Our next Chess Rising Stars Camp will be held in October for half-term and we hope to see you there! Please do contact us if you are interested in finding out more.

View more photos of the event

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Tags: Chess Camp

UK Chess News, World Chess News

Jun 20, 2025

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2025

It’s not every day that after shaking hands at the end of a blitz game, you stand up from the board and nearly faceplant into the two-time World Championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi!

Chess Rising Stars had a unique opportunity to compete in the World Team Championship this month, as it was held at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith.

This was the first time we had competed as ‘Chess Rising Stars’ in an OTB event, having previously only entered online competitions. Our captain, Maria, drew on her experience as a former World School Team Champion and coaches Andreea and Chris were also in the squad. A special thanks to Joel Bird for supporting us with the team entry.

Individual highlights included: Li Wu beating the two-time European Champion Matthias Blübaum (Germany’s #3) with black, FM Zisis Tsaknakis winning against a GM and two IMs in the blitz pool and Chess Rising Stars coach Tom becoming U2200 champion with his Hammersmith team!

Congratulations to the MGD1 team for winning the rapid (especially to Stavroula Tsolakidou, Greek Olympiad board one and former World Junior Champion and coached by CRS’s Savvas as a kid!) and to WR Chess who were the blitz champions.

As we wrapped up the tournament with a celebratory team dinner, we wondered – would we ever get to play in another World Championship? We felt that our best chance lies with our youngest team member, Aden, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to support him in that goal. Aden had an impressive event, even beating the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich in the rapid portion!

If you’re interested in helping your child take the next step in their chess journey, we’d love to welcome you to Chess Rising Stars. Whether your child is brand new to chess or already competing, our coaches are here to help them improve.

Jun 08, 2024

SW England v Wales – 26th May 2024

Match Report by Noah Bevis

I was really excited to be playing Board 1 for the SW England team in the fixture against Wales. It was my first fixture since being selected to join the England U11 team and it was brilliant to travel to Bristol with Aden, who is also a Chess Rising Star and my best chess friend.

Chris Strong, who is the team captain, met us when we arrived and showed us to our team waiting room where we were given our England t-shirts. I played a few friendly games against Aden and other members of the team to warm up. The atmosphere was quite exciting.

Each player played two standard-play games (60+10). I played Wales’s Boards 1 and 2, and Aden played their Boards 3 and 4 (as he was on Board 3) and our Board 2 played their Boards 1 and 2.

My first game, which was against their Board 1, was very rough as I made a losing mistake around move 20, but thankfully he could not punish my error. After that, it was very smooth for a while. Eventually, he got into time trouble in a complex position and ended up blundering a fork! He realised his mistake immediately and I smoothly converted the winning position that arose after that. Then there was a break between rounds for lunch and we took a whole team photo which was really fun!

I played some more friendlies before going in to Round 2. In this round, I played their Board 2. It was pretty even throughout because we both played very accurately. Like before, this opponent got into big time pressure in a key rook endgame. In the endgame he lacked technique and tried to rush to a draw. He made some poor choices in pivotal moments (admittedly, rook endgames are very hard!) which led to a resignation and that meant 2/2!

The final score overall was 10.5 England – 9.5 Wales in the U11s. Altogether, the day was a big success!

CRS London Academy, UK Chess News

Dec 19, 2023

Bronze Medals at the LJCC Finals

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.