SW England v Wales – 26th May 2024

Back in December, at our Captains Meeting, Chess Rising Stars decided to make a change from our usual online team competitions. We took a break from the J4NCLO for Season 13 and focused instead on our main 4NCLO campaign after our recent promotion to Division 3. So, was it the right decision?

The season was a competitive one from start to finish. We finished 2nd in Pool B, securing our place in the knockout stages on the final day after five match wins and two losses. The semi-final against Dundee City D was also rather dramatic, ending 2-2 before we edged through on a board-count tiebreak.

That result set up a final against Bromley, who had beaten us earlier in the pools. We very much saved our best for last and a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory won us revenge and the Division 3 title!

A huge thank you goes to all of our players who represented the team throughout the season: James, Yuk Hei, Savvas, Alex, Ishaan, and Angelos. Every player contributed important points and supported the team along the way. This success would not have been possible without their efforts.

Division 2 beckons in September!

For most children, the summer holidays are a chance to relax and take it easy. Aden chose a rather more demanding agenda: 30 competitive games of chess in just 9 days!

Aden has returned from the 2026 British Chess Championships as a double British Champion, taking first place in both the Under 12 Standard and Under 12 Rapid tournaments at the University of Warwick.

Aden began by scoring 6.5/7 in the rapidplay section, taking a final round draw to secure the victory outright. He then produced an even more remarkable 7/7 in the standardplay, winning every game to claim a second British title in the same week.

There was plenty more chess to enjoy as Aden also scored 5.5/9 in the Major Open, competing against a much wider and stronger field, and finished 4th in the Under 12 Blitz with 5.5/7. Across his four events, that gave him a mightily impressive 24.5 points from 30 games.

Perhaps fittingly for such an extraordinary week, Aden’s dad told us that it hasn’t quite sunk in for either of them yet. An understandable reaction after finally achieving a goal Aden’s been working towards for years.

The British Chess Championships are one of the highlights of the summer chess calendar, bringing together players of all ages and abilities. This year’s event proved particularly memorable for the Chess Rising Stars community, with Aden becoming the first Chess Rising Stars student to become a British Champion and doing so twice in the same week.

There was also success for one of Aden’s Elite Club coaches, CM Tom Villiers, who finished second in the Major Open with 7.5/9. His tournament included plenty of fine attacking wins alongside some resilient defensive performances. Tom narrowly missed repeating his 2018 Major Open victory, but his performance added another impressive result to an already memorable week.

Aden’s season is not over yet. His next major target is the Terafinal in October, following his victory at the Northern Gigafinal, where he produced another perfect 7/7 score.

For now, though, there is the small matter of taking in what has just happened: two British titles, four tournaments, 24.5/30 overall and a summer holiday that will be difficult to forget. Once it finally sinks in, that is!