The Delancey UK Chess Challenge is a multi-stage event with a mixture of over the board competitions and online qualification events.

Terafinal 2023

14th and 15h October – Blenheim Palace

Challengers

9th and 10th September – Park Inn by Radisson Northampton

Before the Terafinal is the Challengers held on the 9th and 10th of September at the luxurious Park Inn by Radisson Northampton. Around 200 players will take part in this two day, 9 round event. This event is on par with Terafinals from previous years with live boards and a strong competitive field.

Players qualify for the Challengers by reaching the qualifying score at one of the Gigafinals. Even those qualifying directly to the Terafinal are encouraged to play in the Challengers – one of the strongest junior events in the chess calendar.

The top two players in each age section will qualify for the Terafinal.

Gigafinals

Over the Board (24/25 June, 1/2 & 22/23 July) and Online Options (2/3 September) 

Megafinals

Over the Board and Online Options – Last Event 3rd July

But firstly players must qualify from a Megafinal – either from one of the many over the board events or from one of the Online Megafinals (3/4 June and 17/18 June).

For many players a Megafinal is their first experience of competitive chess outside of their school. Megafinals take place across the whole of the UK and players are encouraged to play as many as they can to gain useful experience and rack up those graded games.

Every player scoring at least 3.5 points (from 6 rounds) will qualify for the Gigafinals. There are additional age related qualifiers and the top three boys and girls from each section will automatically qualify.

Megafinals

Megafinals are open to all UK juniors born after 31/08/2004. We are hosting a mix of over-the-board and online Megafinals as follows:

Over the Board – Confirmed

Sunday 12th March – West Scotland (U11-18)
Saturday 25th March – West Scotland (U8s and U10s)
Sunday 26th March – East Scotland
Friday 14th April – Harrow Megafinal (by Chess & Bridge)
Sunday 23rd April – Uxbridge
Saturday 29th April – Surrey (U9s)
Sunday 30th April – Surrey (U10-18s)
Sunday 30th April – Middlesex
Sunday 30th April – Teesside
Sunday 7th May – Birmingham
Saturday 13th May – Northumbria
Saturday 13th May – Nottingham
Sunday 14th May – Buckinghamshire
Sunday 14th May – North London 1
Sunday 14th May – Herefordshire
Sunday 21st May – Essex
Saturday 27th May – Manchester (U8s and U10s)
Sunday 28th May – Manchester (U11-18s)
Saturday 3rd June – Oxford
Sunday 4th June – North London 2
Saturday 10th June – Shropshire
Saturday 10th June – London
Sunday 11th June – York
Saturday 17th June – Bristol
Saturday 17th June – Scotland Last Chance Saloon
Sunday 18th June – Play Professors Cambridge Megafinal
Sunday 18th June – East Kent
Saturday 24th June – North London Last Chance Saloon
Sunday 25th June – Hampshire
Sunday 25h June – Kent

Online:

Saturday 3rd June – U8s and U10s Online Megafinal 1  – U8s at 10am and U10s at 2pm
Sunday 4th June – U12s, U14s and U18s Online Megafinal 1 – U12s at 10am, U14s and U18s at 2pm

Saturday 17th June – U12s, U14s and U18s Online Megafinal 2 – U14s and U18s at 10am, U12s at 2pm
Sunday 18th June – U8s and U10s Online Megafinal 2 – U10s at 10am and U8s at 2pm

Gigafinals

This year we are hosting four Gigafinals; three in-person and one online. To compete in a Gigafinal a player must first qualify via a Megafinal. Players may play in as many Gigafinals as they like, regardless of whether they have already qualified for the next stages.

Scottish Gigafinal

For the first time ever we are hosting a Gigafinal in Scotland – this is in recognition of the huge success enjoyed by Scottish juniors in recent years including Freddy Gordon, Supratit Banerjee and Rithvik Deepak Ambattu.

One boy and one girl will qualify from each section.

Saturday 24th June – Scottish Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Broughton High School, Edinburgh)
Sunday 25th June – Scottish Gigafinal U12s, U14s and U18s (Broughton High School, Edinburgh)

Northern Gigafinal

We are once again holding the Northern Gigafinal at one of favourite and most popular venues, Wright Robinson College in Manchester.

Two boys and one girl will qualify from each section.

Saturday 1st July – Northern Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Wright Robinson College, Manchester)
Sunday 2nd July – Northern Gigafinal U12s, U14s and U18s (Wright Robinson College, Manchester)

Southern Gigafinal

We are really excited to be returning to Sandown Racecourse (scene of the 2019 Southern Gigafinal) for what promises to be a spectacular chess event. Due to the extra numbers expected to be attending this event there is an extra qualifying space granted for each section.

Two boys and one girl will qualify from each section.

Saturday 22nd July – Southern Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Sandown Racecourse, Esher)
Sunday 23rd July – Southern Gigafinal U12s, U14s and U18s (Sandown Racecourse, Esher)

Online Gigafinal

One boy and one girl will qualify from each section.

The Online Gigafinal takes part in two stages: Stage 1 is Saturday 2nd September at 10am with the top 12 players in each of the 5 age sections then qualifying for Stage 2 on Sunday 3rd September.

Challengers

Players qualify for the Challengers via the Gigafinals. Players qualifying directly to the Terafinal are also invited to play in the Challengers – one of the strongest junior competitions of the year. This is the last chance to qualify for the Terafinal.

The top two players in each section (regardless of gender) will qualify for the Terafinal.

9th and 10th September. Park Inn by Radisson Northampton.

9 round Swiss tournament, 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move.

Please note this is a two day event and unlike the Gigafinals players must play on both days.

Terafinal

Players qualify to the Terafinal via one of two routes

i) Directly from a Gigafinal.
ii) From the Challengers.

Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th October – Blenheim Palace

An 11 round “All-Play-All”. Each players plays on both days and plays every other player in their group.

There are five main age sections in the UK Chess Challenge; U8, U10, U12, U14 and U18. Ages are calculated as at 31/08/2022 – for example if you are aged 8 on the 31/08/2022 then you are an under 9 and would play in the U10 section.

Megafinal organisers have flexibility to run additional sections depending on their entries – but all Gigafinal, Challengers and Terafinal events will use the five main age categories.

Players must only play in one age section per weekend. So an U7 cannot play an U8 Gigafinal on the Saturday and an U12 Gigafinal on the Sunday.

Players can look up their correct section in the table below.

Blitz Championships (Online Season Ticket Holders Only)

The time control in each event is 3+2 (3 minutes + 2 seconds per move).

There are three mixed age categories:

1. Under 8s
2. Under 12s
3. Under 18s

The tournament is in two stages:

1. 5 x ‘Preliminary Events’
2. Final

Preliminary 

The tournaments in this stage are “Arena” tournaments with a duration of 60 minutes. ‘Streaks’ and ‘Berserk Mode’ will be dis-abled. See the lichess Arena page for more information on how Arena tournaments work.

Players may play in as many or as few preliminary events as they choose. Their top 3 Arena scores (the number of points they score in a tournament) will be totalled together to make their FINAL SCORE.

In each age group the top 4 boys and top 4 girls will qualify for the Final. The next 8 highest players regardless of gender will also qualify (so a total of 16 players qualify).

Final

The final is a 9 round “Swiss” tournament. There will be prizes for the top 3 players (plus a top boy or girl prize if there is no boy or girl finishing in the top 3).

Dates

Preliminary 1 – Monday 12th June (6pm)
Preliminary 2 – Monday 19th June (6pm)
Preliminary 3 – Monday 26th June (6pm)
Preliminary 4 – Monday 3rd July (6pm)
Preliminary 5 – Monday 10th July (6pm)
Final – Monday 17th July (6pm)

Variants Grand Prix (Online Season Ticket holders only)

A chess ‘variant’ is a form of chess with different rules. Some are very similar to chess whereas some feel very different! The Variants Grand Prix covers all eight of the variants available on lichess. There is one open section for each event – but prizes are given for best Under 8, Under 12 and Under 18.

The time control in every event is 5+2 (5 minutes + 2 seconds per move). Each tournament is a 60 minute Arena tournament with ‘Streaks’ and ‘Berserk Mode’ enabled. See the lichess Arena page for more information on how Arena tournaments work.

Players are responsible for ensuring they know the rules of the variant in advance of the competition and it is recommended that players get some practise in the variant before entering the event. The official lichess variant guide is a useful starting point.

Grand Prix Leader Board

There are 8 Variant Grand Prix Events. Players may play in as many or as few events as they choose. Their top 5 performances will count towards their Grand Prix Leader Board total. Grand Prix points are allocated based on tournament finishing positions as follows: 1st = 100 points, 2nd = 72, 3rd = 60, 4th = 48, 5th = 40, 6th = 32, 7th = 24, 8th = 16, 9th = 8, 10th to 20th = 5, 21st – 50th = 2.

Prizes will be given to the top 3 players (plus a top boy or girl prize if there is no boy or girl finishing in the top 3) in each of the following sections; Under 8, Under 12 and Under 18.

Dates

“Chess 960” – Friday 9th June (6pm)
“3 Checks” – Friday 16th June (6pm)
“King of the Hill” – Friday 23rd June (6pm)
“Anti chess” – Friday 30th June (6pm)
“Crazyhouse” – Friday 7th July (6pm)
“Atomic” – Friday 14th July (6pm)
“Horde” – Saturday 15th July (6pm)
“Racing Kings” – Sunday 16th July (6pm)