Blog

Teacher Guidance – 2024

About the UK Chess Challenge Established in 1996 the Delancey UK Chess Challenge is the UK’s largest chess competition. It is for UK based juniors aged 5-18 of all abilities, whether just starting out in the game or seasoned junior internationals. It is...

Terafinal 2023

The 2023 Delancey UK Chess Challenge concluded with the Terafinal held at Blenheim Palace 14th and 15th October. 60 players took part across 5 “all-play-all” age group sections (U8/10/12/14/18). All players had done remarkably well to make it to this stage...

RIP Mike Basman

Michael John Basman (1946 - 2022) sadly passed away on 26 October 2022. Mike was the founder of the UK Chess Challenge, and his efforts encouraged me and millions of other kids to enjoy the wonderful benefits of this game. I won the girls edition in the...

Terafinal 2022

The 2022 Delancey UK Chess Challenge concluded with the Terafinal held at Blenheim Palace 16th and 17th October. 60 players took part across 5 "all-play-all" age group sections (U8/10/12/14/18). All players had done remarkably well to make it to this stage...

UK Junior Chess Organisations and Tournaments

Junior chess in England is loosely structured with many competing organisations offering competitions and training. This document aims to make some sense of this and give parents some guidance as to which junior tournaments are worthwhile. Organisations...

UK Junior Chess Academy

From September the 'ECF Academy' will now be known as the UK Junior Chess Academy. This is simply a name change and doesn't impact on any of our services, coaches or students. The reasons for the change are two-fold We feel it better reflects our current student base...

Your First Tournament – Survival Guide

So you are taking your youngster to their first chess tournament - very exciting but perhaps you are feeling a little bit nervous about what to expect? Here are our top tips on how to get the most out of the experience. 1) Come prepared A bottle of water is handy. If...

The Rising Tide of AI – Chess and Computers

A history of chess computing and a look into the future Deep Blue was intelligent the way your programmable alarm clock is intelligent. Not that losing to a $10 million alarm clock made me feel any better Chess has been an important hurdle in the...

Chess Learning Personas – Which one is your child?

Everyone learns in a different way and the last thing we would try and do is foist our own preferences onto another individual. Chess is no different and what worked for one player doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for another. In this spirit we have...