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

Terafinal 2025

18th and 19th October – Blenheim Palace

Challengers

September – Venue to be confirmed

Before the Terafinal is the Challengers held in September. 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 (June and July) and Online Options (6/7 September) 

Megafinals

Over the Board and Online Options (March – June)

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 (14/15 June and 28/29 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 31/08/2006. We are hosting a mix of over-the-board and online Megafinals as follows:

Over the Board – Confirmed

>>> Saturday 29th March – East Scotland Megafinal
>>> Friday 11th April – Harrow Megafinal by Chess & Bridge
>>> Saturday 19th April – West Scotland (U12/14/18) Megafinal
>>> Sunday 20th April – North London Megafinal 1
>>> Saturday 26th April – West Scotland (U8/10) Megafinal
>>> Sunday 4th May – Teesside Megafinal
>>> Saturday 10th May – Belfast Megafinal
>>> Sunday 11th May – Herefordshire Megafinal
>>> Sunday 11th May – North London Megafinal 2
>>> Saturday 24th May – Nottingham Megafinal
>>> Saturday 24th May – Cheshire Megafinal (U8/10)
>>> Sunday 25th May – Cheshire Megafinal (U12/14/18)
>>> Saturday 7th June – Bristol Megafinal
>>> Saturday 7th June – West Scotland Last Chance Saloon Megafinal
>>> Sunday 8th June – Play Professor’s Cambridge Megafinal
>>> Sunday 8th June – York Megafinal
>>> Saturday 14th June – Northumbria Megafinal
>>> Saturday 21st June – Shropshire Megafinal
>>> Sunday 22nd June – Hampshire Megafinal

Over the board – coming soon

Aberdeen Megafinal
Birmingham Megafinal
Manchester Megafinal
Bucks Megafinal
Derbyshire Megafinal
East Kent Megafinal
Essex Megafinal
Kent Megafinal
London Megafinal
Oxford Megafinal
Somerset Megafinal
Surrey Megafinal
Sussex Megafinal
Wales Megafinal
Worcestershire Megafinal

Online:

Saturday 14th June – U8s and U10s Online Megafinal 1  – U8s at 10am and U10s at 2pm
Sunday 15th June – U12s, U14s and U18s Online Megafinal 1 – U12s at 10am, U14s and U18s at 2pm

Saturday 28th June – U12s, U14s and U18s Online Megafinal 2 – U14s and U18s at 10am, U12s at 2pm
Sunday 29th June – U8s and U10s Online Megafinal 2 – U10s at 10am and U8s at 2pm

Gigafinals

Once again 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

One boy and one girl will qualify from each section.

Saturday 21st June – Scottish Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Broughton High School, Edinburgh)
Sunday 22nd 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 12th July (TBC) – Northern Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Wright Robinson College, Manchester)
Sunday 13th July (TBC) – Northern Gigafinal U12s, U14s and U18s (Wright Robinson College, Manchester)

Southern Gigafinal

Taking place at Sandown Racecourse in Esher.

Two boys and one girl will qualify from each section.

Saturday 19th July – Southern Gigafinal U8s and U10s (Sandown Racecourse, Esher)
Sunday 20th 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 6th September at 10am with the top 12 players in each of the 5 age sections then qualifying for Stage 2 on Sunday 7th 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.

September 2025. Exact location and dates to be confirmed.

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 18th & Sunday 19th 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 31/08/2024 – for example if you are aged 8 on the 31/08/2024 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).

Prizes

Under 18s – 1st £150, 2nd £75, 3rd £40, Top Girl £75
Under 12s – 1st £100, 2nd £50, 3rd £25, Top Girl £50
Under 8s – 1st £50, 2nd £25, 3rd £10, Top Girl £25

Dates

Preliminary 1 – Monday 16th June, 6pm
Preliminary 2 – Monday 23rd June, 6pm
Preliminary 3 – Monday 30th June, 6pm
Preliminary 4 – Monday 7th July, 6pm
Preliminary 5 – Monday 14th July, 6pm
Final – Monday 21st 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

Under 18s – 1st £75, 2nd £40, 3rd £20, Top Girl £40
Under 12s – 1st £50, 2nd £25, 3rd £15, Top Girl £25
Under 8s – 1st £25, 2nd £15, 3rd £10, Top Girl £15

Dates

“Chess 960” – Friday 20th June, 6pm
“3 Checks” – Friday 27th June, 6pm
“King of the Hill” – Friday 4th July, 6pm
“Anti chess” – Saturday 5th July, 6pm
“Crazyhouse” – Sunday 6th July, 6pm
“Atomic” – Friday 11th July, 6pm
“Horde” – Wednesday 16th July, 6pm
“Racing Kings” – Friday 18th July, 6pm