CRS London Academy, UK Chess News
Chess Rising Stars

Chess Rising Stars are hosting our first ever OTB tournament, the EJCOA Zonal Wimbledon, on Saturday 21st February 2026 at the Everyday Church, Wimbledon, SW19 8LR.

We have been preparing throughout 2025: in the Spring three of our coaches completed their ECF Arbiter qualifications. During the Summer, coach Chris achieved his first FIDE International Arbiter norm. Then in the Autumn Term, we introduced ECF rated games at our Chelsea and Wimbledon Clubs and secured our venue for the Zonal next February.

We are looking forward to welcoming children who are keen to qualify for the English Junior Coaches and Organisers Association (EJCOA) National Youth Championships Finals at Nottingham High School in July which is a rare opportunity for UK juniors to compete in a high-level FIDE rated standardplay tournament.

CRS student, Noah, with his U12 Boys trophy at the 2024 EJCOA Finals

EJCOA Champions

Chess Rising Stars students have already achieved EJCOA success on the national stage with Noah winning the U12 Boys category in 2024 and Silk becoming the U10 Girls champion in 2025. We are excited to see what 2026 will bring!

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Our website has further information about the EJCOA Zonal Wimbledon, plus the Entry Form, or you can fire us a quick email to london@chessacademy.uk and we would be happy to help.

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UK Chess News
Jul 08, 2024

Gold at the EJCOA National Youth Finals 2024

Nottingham High School hosted the English Junior Coaches and Organisers Association (EJCOA) National Youth Finals 2024. This FIDE rated 3-day standardplay event required children to qualify, either by rating or through Zonal tournaments.

Chess Rising Stars London Academy was well-represented in the Finals. We had students competing in the U8, U10 and U12 categories.

Noah with his EJCOA U12 Boys trophy

Our outstanding result came from Noah, who achieved 4.5/5 to share 1st place in the U12s with WCM Ruqayyah Rida. His only draw was against a fellow Chess Rising Stars student, Callum, in round 3.

Noah won the U12 Boys category and continued his outstanding 2024 season in style. This national title is particularly impressive given that he has only been competing in chess tournaments since January 2023.

 

We are excited to follow Noah’s progress and will be looking out for all of our students in their Summer Holiday chess tournaments.

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CRS London Academy
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.

 

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CRS London Academy, UK Chess News
Jan 30, 2024

Chess Rising Stars Online Grand Prix

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

You can find our free Grand Prix tournaments on our lichess team page this term. Chess Rising Stars students, parents and friends are all welcome to take part.

Each tournament will have 5 rounds of 10+5 and points will be tallied across the 6 Grand Prix events. 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 at a later date. 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 Spring Term 2024:

28th Jan = Warm-Up

4th Feb = Grand Prix 1

11th Feb = GP 2

25th Feb = GP 3

3rd Mar = GP 4

10th Mar = GP 5

17th Mar = GP 6

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

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

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