It was an early Sunday morning start as six Wallasey juniors (and three dads!) made the trek over to the beautiful Cheadle Hulme School for the Cheshire Junior Chess Championships on 4 January. Into the blinding winter sun we drove, under a perfect cloudless sky, although reports from back home were of snow.

 

The tournament itself was split into three sections – the under-9s, the under-11s and the under-18s – with between 20 and 40 players in each section. Time controls were 15+10. Joe Ledgerton, Terrence Jiang, Sam Bakhshian and Seth Marks made up nearly 22% of the entrants in the under-18s, in which Joe, Terrence and well-known local rival Samidh Saxena were the favourites. Leo Rogers, still only 9, went in the under-11s and Josh Baker, a year younger, in the under-9s.

 

In the first round, almost all Wallasey players came away with wins, most of them with ease, although Seth lost. In Round 2, all six Wallasey players won, giving us an impressive score of 11 wins from 12 games. Leo’s victory over very strong player Annabel Foakes (her only loss of the day) left her in tears, while Terrence was the last to finish in defeating Mikail Khan.

 

The snow finally caught up with us before Round 3, which proved to be a bit tougher. Josh and Sam both lost for the first time, the latter to Samidh. We went into the lunch break with 14 wins from 18 games.

 

In Round 4, Seth and Sam won quickly, but Leo lost for the first time in a long battle. But the longest and most controversial of battles was between Joe and Samidh on Board 1 of the under-18s. This lasted long after all the other games had finished, and was estimated to be over 100 moves each in length. In a dead-drawn position with only knights and kings mobile, and with an arbiter in close attendance, a draw could not be agreed or declared, although one may well have occurred through either threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule, or both. Eventually, with both players playing virtually on the 10-second increment, Joe blundered and the game was lost.

 

This highlights the perils of grassroots chess. Joe had felt that, having been playing at blitz speed, claimed a draw and already having an arbiter watching at close quarters, he deserved a better response than something along the lines of “I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching.” The Chief Arbiter responded afterwards that, if the ratio of arbiters to boards is greater than 1:3, it’s the players’ responsibility to record their moves to prove a draw claim. That, of course, is never likely in a rapid or blitz game which is typically unrecorded by the players. Conversely, arbiters are only human and cannot be expected to count or record moves on every board under their auspices. As such, the level of proof required to claim a draw is difficult at this level of chess and Joe was plunged straight into Round 5 while still angry and frustrated.

 

In some form of consolation, he made short work of Sam in an all-Wallasey pairing, while Josh and Leo also returned to winning ways. Seth found a brilliant rook sacrifice for his first win with the black pieces, while it was Terrence’s turn to face Samidh in the battle of the two remaining players with 100% records. Yet again, it went down to the wire and they were the last board playing in the section, with the result a draw.

 

When the final round pairings were published, the Wallasey players practically melted down: Terrence and Joe were to face off on Board 2, while Seth and Sam were to play on board 4! Seth’s new favourite opening became an instant topic of conversation, with Joe advising Sam how to play against it and Seth producing his notes to refute the line Sam was desperately trying to memorise! A short, excited pursuit around the green room followed, before calm was restored!

 

When play got underway, Leo returned first with yet another win, to finish on an excellent 5/6, which placed him joint second in the under-11s (but fourth on tie-break). Josh also won, finishing joint fourth in the under-9s with 4/6. In the under-18s, Sam survived Seth’s opening onslaught to emerge victorious, while Terrence and Joe drew. Samidh won his final game to win the section with 5½ points, with Terrence second on 5 points and Joe third on 4½. Sam finished joint fourth with 4 points, clear fourth on tie-break. Seth ended the day with 3 points.

 

The presentation ceremony provided an amusingly eccentric conclusion to the day. As Samidh and Terrence are both under 15, but Joe is older, Samidh, as winner of the under-18 section, walked away with the nominal under-15 trophy, which wasn’t separately contested. Terrence took home the smaller under-15 runner’s up trophy and Joe was awarded the under-18 winner’s trophy, despite finishing third in the section bearing that name!!

 

One interesting point made afterwards was that, if Joe’s game against Samidh had ended in a draw, as was claimed, they and Terrence would have all finished on 5 points.

 

However, overall, the Wallasey contingent conducted themselves well as always, both on and off the board, and finished with a very respectable trophy haul. A great way to start 2026!