6th Chess Rising Stars 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 to be held on our lichess team page. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part.
We have altered the format so there will now be a warm-up in September, followed by weekly Grand Prix events held on Sundays. The tournaments will be 1-hour Arenas at the 5+3 time control.
Callum representing the National Chess Junior Squad at the Glorney CupSchedule
The online chess tournaments will take place on Sundays at 4 pm (GMT) in the Autumn Term 2025:
- 28th September = Warm-up
- October, November and December = Weekly Grand Prix Arenas
Fair Play
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.
Register Now
Drop us a message on the Chess Rising Stars lichess team page or an email to london@chessacademy.uk to get involved.
Rising Stars Online Chess Club
We are creating a new ‘Rising Stars’ club to upgrade our online chess club provision for the new academic year. This group will be part of our Sunday Online Club programme and act as a feeder for the ever-popular Elite Club. It is designed for juniors who are already competing in local and regional tournaments, to support their preparation and help them to take their next steps.
The Sunday Online Club is already our busiest with three weekly teaching groups. The new Rising Stars Online Club will ensure that children who are looking to one day take part in national or even international-level tournaments receive the knowledge and training that they will need.
EJCOA U12 Boys ChampionWhy Choose Chess Rising Stars?
Since 2020, Chess Rising Stars has taught hundreds of children in our online chess clubs. Our global community of chess learners has grown to over 500 members on lichess.
Our expert coaches will offer real-time feedback during our private tournaments and follow this with game analysis. We will support each student in gaining an understanding of their current strengths and weaknesses and how best to train in-between lessons.
Through our strong links with experienced local tournament organisers in the London-area, plus in national championship events, we encourage our students to take part in suitable competitions. We communicate regularly with parents to share these opportunities.
We also offer our students an opportunity to represent the Chess Rising Stars teams in both the J4NCLO and main 4NCLO. You can find out more about this later in the article.
Individual Achievements
Our Elite Club members have succeeded at both the national and international level:
• Double 1st place at the LJCC Finals in the U12 and U14 Major sections.
• 1st place in the U12 Boys category of the EJCOA National Youth Finals.
• Two members were selected for the EPSCA South West England team, plus one for the South East England team, to face Wales.
• Elite Club members reached the Terafinal of the UK Chess Challenge and returned as 3rd and 7th place finishers.
LJCC U14 Major WinnerElite Club
As the Elite Club moves into its fifth season, we are delighted to announce a new Lead Coach, GM Martin Petrov. Martin has been a popular guest coach since Summer 2024 and we are excited to extend his role. Martin’s lectures have included demonstrating his recent win against GM Alexei Shirov from the Bundesliga and explaining when to apply AlphaZero-inspired plans to push our a- and h-pawns.
This club has a limited number of spaces and these are available by invitation only. From September 2025, students at our new Rising Stars Online Club will be assessed for promotion to the Elite Club at the end of each term.
You can follow our progress through our News, Achievements and Top Students pages.
We always welcome parents contacting us, if you would like your child to be considered for a place in this prestigious group.
Team Achievements
Our strongest juniors represent Chess Rising Stars in two major online team competitions:
• Since registering our first team back in 2022, we have achieved many successes in the J4NCLO and are 7-time Divisional champions and 3-time runners up.
• Back-to-back promotions in the main 4NCLO in 2025: Division 5 runners-up in our first season, followed by winning Division 4.
Chess Rising Stars Representing the National Chess Junior Squad in Frydek-MistekPlease do consider joining one of Chess Rising Stars’ upgraded Online Chess Clubs when we restart in September 2025!
We look forward to hearing from you and would be happy to help answer any questions you may have.
Bend It Like Philidor
I envy football fans who still look forward to a new season. As a Norwich City fan, the off-season is infinitely preferable.
Take last August, we opened with a 2–0 loss to newly promoted Oxford. Then there was a moment during the first round of the EFL Cup that stays with me:
Two minutes after taking the lead, a Stevenage freekick floated gently over our defenders, reached an unmarked player on the edge of our 6-yard box and nestled into the bottom corner from the header for 1-1.
The camera cut to Johannes Hoff Thorup, our newly hired (now fired) manager, shaking his head with glazed eyes.
I suspect he was thinking about Philidor.
Goode left completely unmarkedSet Pieces
Which brings us to endgame training. When done well, it’s the chess equivalent of having practised thousands of hypothetical freekicks. You can become grim, repetitive and reliable, unlike Norwich’s defenders, fully prepared for both common and uncommon scenarios.
Queen vs Rook is a perfect example, full of neat bits of geometry and calculation exercises that will improve your general chess understanding. Let’s first see what might go wrong.
What Not To Do
When the black King is on the edge of the board, there are two main defensive tries to be aware of:
Black to play1. … Rb6+!
1/2 – 1/2
White is unable to capture the Rook because of stalemate but neither can we move away because of the skewer.
Black to play1. … Ra7+!
Again, the Rook is immune because of stalemate. This time White will either get caught in a perpetual on the a- b- and c-files or, if we try running away, there’s a pin on the d-file:
2. Kb6 Rb7+
3. Kc5 Rc7+
(3. Kc6 transposes to the stalemate defence)
4. Kd5 Rd7!
1/2 – 1/2
Good Chess Culture
Here’s where François-André Danican Philidor can step up and show us how it’s done:
Black to playThis instructive zugzwang was supposedly found by the man himself. Black is forced to separate the King and Rook because keeping them connected immediately loses:
1. … Rg8
2. Qh5#
1-0
1. … Kh6
2. Qf8! picks up the Rook
1-0
Once Black separates the Rook, we have a nice pattern of checks leading to a fork or mate:
White to play1. Qe4+ Kh8
(1. … Kf8 2. Qh4#)
2. Qa8+ Kh7
(2. … Rg7 3. Qh1# is pretty)
3. Qa7+!
1-0
White to playWith White to move, we need to Bend it Like Philidor™
1. Qe4+ Kg8
2. Qa8+ Kh7
3. Qe8
Et voilà, the triangulation brings us back to the zugzwang.
Of course, there are plenty of other winning methods to explore in just this one endgame but hopefully you have acquired a taste of what it takes to effectively manage a football team handle this endgame.
One must imagine Philidor happy.
Additional content:
Interactive ‘Bend it Like Philidor’ lichess study
(22/07/25)
ECF Rated at the Chelsea Chess Club
Starting in September 2025, the Chelsea Chess Club will introduce weekly ECF rated rapid games as part of our regular sessions.
This opportunity will be available for students in the top group of the club. We will help our advanced students take a step forward by giving them the chance to gain official ratings and prepare for competitive play beyond Chess Rising Stars.
To participate in ECF rated games, students must be registered with the English Chess Federation. For parents new to ECF membership, we’re here to guide you through the registration process. Read our article on how to get started.
Games will be overseen by our highly qualified coaching team – five of whom are now certified ECF Arbiters. Their expertise will ensure each rated game meets official standards of play and sportsmanship, all within a supportive learning environment.
Our Chelsea Chess Club is already recognised at Level 2 within the English Chess Federation’s Junior Development Pathway scheme. This new initiative is another way Chess Rising Stars is helping our young players grow in skill and confidence.
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.
5th Chess Rising Stars 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 to be held on our lichess team page. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part.
The tournaments will alternate between four rounds of 10+5 and three rounds of 5+3.
Prizes
Trophies to be awarded in various categories (e.g. Top Girl, Rating prizes and Overall Champion). Your top 6 scores from the 7 Grand Prix events will count towards this.
Noah representing the National Chess Junior Squad in CzechiaSchedule
The online chess tournaments will take place on Sundays at 4 pm (GMT) in the Summer Term 2025:
- 18th May = Grand Prix 2
- 25th May = Grand Prix 3
- 8th June = Grand Prix 4
- 15th June = Grand Prix 5
- 22nd June = Grand Prix 6
- 29th June = Grand Prix 7
Fair Play
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.
Register Now
Drop us a message on the Chess Rising Stars lichess team page or an email to london@chessacademy.uk to get involved.
ECF Rating Milestones
We’re careful when it comes to chess ratings. It’s easy to lose sight of improvement, focus on the number and forget what’s important: study, study, study (and have fun)!
With that said, we felt that two students crossing the 2000 rating barrier in the same month is worth celebrating. It’s a first for Chess Rising Stars and it happened twice in one month.
Entering the 2000s
Noah and James both achieved personal best standard ratings in the English Chess Federation’s April Rating List. Their new 2000+ ratings put them both comfortably into the top thousand ECF ranked players, including adults.
It was a great month across the board for Chess Rising Stars, as we now have five students ranked in the Top 20 in their age category on the ECF Rating Database.
Noah at the ‘Chess Talents Tournament’ in Frydek-MistekNear Misses
The alcohol-free champagne is on ice for Ashwin and Aden! They’ve both been making excellent progress and, with ratings in the 1900s, will surely join the 2000 club soon.
We’re proud of what our students have achieved and look forward to seeing what the May list brings.
Learn More
Track Chess Rising Stars progress on our ratings page
Check our comprehensive chess ratings guide for parents
Noah and James are both members of our Elite Online Chess Club
Junior 4NCL Online – Season 11
Our first ever Chess Rising Stars team didn’t exactly get off to a flying start in 2022. We missed the registration deadline for the J4NCLO and defaulted in Round 1. But the squad bounced back in style, winning six straight matches and the Division!
Over the next six seasons, the CRS squad has expanded from 8 to 26 players, claimed four Divisional titles and built on that momentum by entering five teams in January.
Clean-sweep
Season 11 turned out to be our most successful yet, featuring tight tie-break victories and dominant finals:
Our two Division 3 teams won 11 out of 14 matches between them and CRS4 were champions by just two game points on tie-break over Ojays E.
In Division 2, both CRS2 and CRS3 qualified for the Semi-Finals. CRS3 were able to avenge the loss of CRS2 to win 7-1 against Hilsmark Juniors 1 in the Final.
Clinching the Division 1 title was an especially pleasing result for CRS1, as we recovered from finishing as runners-up behind Rogue Rooks in Season 10!
In other team news, our new 4NCL Online squad (a mix of CRS juniors, parents and coaches) has reached the Division 4 Semi-Finals. This league uses a classical time control and promotion to Division 3 in September promises an even more competitive experience.
If you’re interested in joining a Chess Rising Stars team, do reach out to find out more.
Easter Chess Camp
We’ve had a very welcome week of sunshine in London – a sure sign that Spring is on the way. Naturally, you will be thinking about what your kids can do during the Easter holidays next month and Chess Rising Stars are here to help!
Our Easter Online Chess Camp will be held between 7th and 9th April. It’s our 30th camp since 2020 and, once again, will be taught by our experienced online coach Savvas Manelidis.
Lessons will have a mixture of tuition, friendly games and an internal tournament with trophies posted to the winners! Our Online Chess Camp acts as an ideal companion course to our small-group Online Chess Clubs. We also welcome students who are current members of our in-person school chess lessons, the Chelsea Chess Club and Wimbledon Chess Rising Stars for some extra chess in their Holidays.
Details for Parents
Time: 9:00-11:30 am
Age: 6 to 14
Number of children: 4-10 per group
Dates
7th, 8th & 9th April 2025
Early Bird Discount
£25 per individual day
For bookings dated on or before 31st March 2025
Cost
£25 per day only when the whole camp is booked in advance
£35 per individual day from 1st April
Junior Chess Tournaments: A Guide for Parents
English junior chess is something of a patchwork with a wide variety of organisations hosting their own tournaments. At first it can seem disorganised and, for parents, navigating these events can feel a bit overwhelming but our guide will help you get started.
Junior tournaments provide a platform for young players to showcase their chess skills and develop as players. This article will introduce you to the big four national-level competitions. It is designed to help parents identify the junior tournaments that are most beneficial for their children.
Please note that the English Chess Federation Events Calendar provides a full list of tournaments and can be filtered to suit your needs.
Autumn Term
London Junior Chess Championships (LJCC)
– LJCC Qualification Tournaments are suitable for all chess levels.
– The LJCC celebrated its centenary last year, originating in 1924 as the London Boys Championship.
– Titles are awarded for seven age groups, Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and Under 21.
– To play in the Under 8, Under 10 or Under 12 Finals you must first qualify, either via a qualifying tournament or by rating.
– Qualification is not required for the older age groups.
Spring Term
EJCOA National Youth Championships
– EJCOA Qualification Tournaments are suitable for all chess levels.
– The English Junior Coaches and Organisers Association (EJCOA) National Youth Championships was founded in 2021.
– There are age group categories as follows: Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20.
– Finals qualification is obtained either by winning your age section in a Zonal of the EJCOA National Youth Championships or by rating.
– The Final takes place in Nottingham and is ECF graded as well as FIDE rated.
Summer Term
UK Chess Challenge (UKCC)
– UKCC Megafinals are suitable for all chess levels.
– The UKCC is an annual four-stage chess competition for school-age children from the United Kingdom.
– It was created in 1996 and over 40,000 children play in the competition at the school stage, making it one of the largest chess tournaments in the world.
– There is a schools/clubs round (no longer a necessary route to qualify for the Megafinals) followed by Megafinals, Gigafinals and the Terafinal.
– The Terafinal is held at Blenheim Palace with only 60 players qualifying across 5 age categories.
Summer Holidays
British Chess Championships
– More suitable for advanced chess players.
– The first British was held in 1904 and since 1923 there have been sections for juniors.
– The championship venue usually changes every year and has been held in different locations in England, Scotland, Wales and once on the Isle of Man.
– There are age group categories as follows: Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16.
– The junior age category events are split into standardplay, rapidplay and blitz.
Chess Rising Stars Achievements
Our students have enjoyed many successes in these big four competitions and we have collated some recent articles below:
Double LJCC Champion – 2024
Gold at the EJCOA National Youth Finals – 2024
Bronze Medals at the LJCC Finals – 2023
Chess Rising Stars at the Terafinal – 2023
Further Information
This is the third in our series of informational articles for parents.
ECF Membership: A Guide for Parents
Chess Ratings: A Guide For Parents
We encourage all of our students to participate in chess tournaments suitable for their level. Please drop us an email if we can support you further: london@chessacademy.uk
Maria Manelidou Achieves Level 4 Coaching Tier
We are delighted to announce that our founder, WFM Maria Manelidou, has achieved the maximum tier in the ECF Registered Coaches Scheme.
The English Chess Federation updated its approach to coaching in 2021 and the Coaching Pathway was created to provide reliable information to those seeking chess lessons.
Congratulations to Maria, who joins a select pool of just twenty coaches in England to meet the requirements necessary for Level 4.
Maria’s proven track record of coaching national junior champions, at school team level and among individuals, plus Chess Rising Stars’ contribution to developing chess among young people were noted by IM Andrew Martin, the ECF Manager of Coaches.
As part of the registration process, the ECF reviews the coaches’ applications, including chess knowledge, skill level and previous experience. Coaches are then allocated to one of four tiers. Chess Rising Stars coaches Tom, Chris, Michael, Eric and Vinay are also registered coaches with the ECF.
Contact us to discover how you can benefit from our international-level coaching.
4th Chess Rising Stars 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 to be held on our lichess team page. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part.
The tournaments will alternate between five rounds of 10+5 and seven rounds of 5+3.
Prizes
Trophies to be awarded in various categories (e.g. Top Girl, Rating prizes and Overall Champion). Your top 5 scores from the 6 Grand Prix events will count towards this.
A selection from the Chess Rising Stars librarySchedule
The online chess tournaments will take place on Sundays at 4 pm (GMT) in the Spring Term 2025:
- 26th January = Warm-Up
- 2nd February = Grand Prix 1
- 9th February = Grand Prix 2
- 16th February = Grand Prix 3
- 2nd March = Grand Prix 4
- 9th March = Grand Prix 5
- 16th March = Grand Prix 6
Fair Play
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.
Register Now
Drop us a message on the Chess Rising Stars lichess team page or an email to london@chessacademy.uk to get involved.
