UK Chess Challenge 2021 - Terafinal Report

The Terafinal took place at the spectacular Blenheim Palace. Featuring 60 players split across five age groups (under 8, 10, 12, 14, 18) this was our strongest ever event and the strongest UK based junior event in years.

To even reach the Terafinal players had to come through three gruelling online stages hosted on lichess

1. Megafinals (6 round swiss 10+5)
2. Gigafinals (7 round swiss 10+5)
3. Terafinal preliminary (7 round swiss 10+5 under zoom arbiter conditions)

In addition there was a final qualification opportunity on 18th and 19th September over the board at the Challengers Event at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel.

Under 8s

The under 8s title was won by Advait Keerthi Kumar from Radlett Preparatory School. The tournament was extremely close and initially it looked as though the prodigious six year old Kushal Jakhria might run away with things storming to 5/5 on day 1 only to be pegged back on day 2. Advait finished on 8.5 / 11 - the same score as George Zhao but Advait took the title on direct encounter tiebreak. Full results.

Here is Advait's dramatic first round game versus Amelie Bryant which saw an early surprise in the Evans Gambit.

The girls title was won by Bodhana Sivanandan who has only just turned six and was playing in her second over the board tournament. This shows how much young players can achieve through hard work and online training.

Here is a great fighting game from round 2 versus the very capable George Chen

Under 10s

Finally we have our first female age group champion - Elis Denele from Coventry Chess Academy. Elis came close in 2020 and made her intentions clear already in 2021 by winning the UKCC blitz event. Elis scored an undefeated 8 / 11. Full results.

Elis's tournament got off to a "Rocky" (forgive the pun) start versus Rock Yu where she was on the verge of defeat but somehow lured her opponent into given stalemate

Here is her round 3 victory against 2020 under 8 champion Emils Steiners

Amazingly second place was also taken by a girl - this time Ruqayyah Rida. Ruqayyah pushed Elis very hard finishing only half a point behind on 7.5 / 11. She also had the dubious honour of taking part in the last game to finish in the entire UK Chess Challenge 2021 as she eventually ground out a victory versus Kai Hanache in round 11

Under 12s

The under 12s section was dominated by Scottish whizz Frederick Gordon of Edinburgh Chess Academy. Frederick had travelled straight from Hull where he was doing battle in the British Chess Championships playing several Grandmasters and titled players. Showing no signs of fatigue Frederick raced to 5.5 / 6 on day 1 and finished the tournament with an undefeated 9 / 11. Full results.

The technique and 'mini-traps' used in the following game versus Zain Patel caught the eye.

The top girl prize was won by Olga Latypova who, like Frederick, had also travelled from playing in the British Championships where she had scored a very impressive 2169 performance. Here is her round 8 draw versus the champion

Under 14s

Arjun Kolani scored 10 / 11 and yet incredibly this was enough only for 4th place with the winner, Rajat Makkar of Hampton School, also scoring 10 / 11 and winning the tournament on tiebreak due to defeating Arjun in their direct encounter. Full results.

Here is their ultimately decisive round 4 game.

The girls champion was Nina Pert scoring 5.5 / 11 in a strong section including a win against the highly rated Savin Dias. Here is a crushing victory against the Sicilian Dragon.

Under 18s

The under 18s was extremely strong this year with 2 FMs, a CM and several other 2200+ rated players taking part. In our view the player playing the best chess throughout appeared to be Tanmay Chopra and going into the final round he was leading by a clear point on 9 / 10 but playing his closest rival CM Aaravamudhan Balaji. If Aaravamudhan were to win he would catch Tanmay on 9 and win the event on direct encounter. But only needing a draw with the white pieces the in-form Tanmay would surely have enough? Here is what happened.

A shame for Tanmay but joy for Aaravamudhan who continues a successful year which started out with selection for the prestigious Chess Trust Accelerator Programme. Full results.

The girls' prize was won by Imogen Dicen (Elis's older sister) with 2 / 11. This was a very tough tournament for the girls who were heavily outgunned but all showed great fighting spirit continuing right to the end. Imogen defeated both of her female competitors in rounds 4 and 5 which was decisive in deciding the girls's title. Here is the victory against Abigail Weersing which culminating in an interesting endgame with knight versus bishop.