The National U19 Championship: Sponsored once again by Winchester College
Finals – Uppingham School July 2nd/3rd 2015
National School Chess Champions 2014-15 Haberdashers’ Aske’s – Ravi Haria, Roman Mitra, Lawrence Lee, Vincent Lee, David Xu and Tarun Malhotra with Jon Barnes (teacher in charge of chess)
The finals of the National School Chess Championships took place at Uppingham School on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd July 2015.
In the semi-finals champions Reading School overwhelmed Nottingham High School, who were missing two of their top players; whilst Haberdashers’ Aske’s (Habs) similarly triumphed against Hampton School. In both cases the final score was 5½ – ½. The final therefore pitted two exceedingly strong school teams, with an average grade in the match of over 175.
The match started disastrously for Habs, with their board 5 losing in just 12 moves. When this was followed by another win for Reading on board 6 and a draw on board 2 it looked as if the champions were likely to retain their title. However, Habs then fought back with a win on board 4. When a draw was agreed on board 1 that left Reading 3 – 2 up, but requiring a draw on board 3 to win the match. After almost 4 hours play the game was still in the balance with each player just having a few minutes left on their clock.
The Habs player, with the white pieces, managed to force through a central pawn and won on time (in a won position) with a few seconds left on his clock. Thus Haberdashers’ Aske’s won the National School Chess Championships for the first time, having previously been losing finalists on three occasions.
| Haberdashers’ Aske’s | Reading School | ||
| 1 | Ravi Haria 226 (W) | ½ – ½ | Matthew Wadsworth 218 |
| 2 | Tarun Malhotra 189 | ½ – ½ | Roy Zhang 204 |
| 3 | Roman Mitra 178 | 1 – 0 | Anthony Zhang 196 |
| 4 | Lawrence Lee 154 | 1 – 0 | Alex Vanlint 164 |
| 5 | Vincent Lee 151 | 0 – 1 | Ryan Wong 159 |
| 6 | David Xu 150 | 0 – 1 | Peter Isaksen 140 |
| 3 – 3 | |||
| Haberdashers’ win on board count | |||
For a much fuller report with games and additional photographs click here
ZONAL STAGE
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The Local Zones got under way in late October and finished in late February. The Zonal Stage page has details and results.
LAST CHANCE SALOONS
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Last Chance Saloons are one-day events, usually in February, designed to provide National qualifying places for teams that have missed out on qualifying from their Zones, or teams that did not enter at the Zonal stage. Typically up to 20 teams enter.
…..There were two Saloons this year: on Saturday 7th February at King’s School Grantham, and on Sunday 1st March at Eton College. See the Saloons page for results.
NATIONAL KNOCKOUT STAGE
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The Knockout has reached the semi-finals.
There are in fact two Knockouts, running in parallel: the Championship for Zone winners, and the Plate for Zone runners-up. Two rounds are played between late February and early May. There is then a break during the period of public examinations, followed by the semi-finals and Final (and play-off for third place) at Uppingham School on Thursday/Friday 2nd and 3rd July. This is a residential event, at an approximate cost of £41 per person (plus VAT) for bed and breakfast and two other meals.
GRADING
All matches will be graded from the Zone Finals on. Earlier matches will be graded if both sides request it.