The Warwickshire Delancey Megafinal - 2017
The Megafinals and all the excitement that goes with it had finally arrived. 40,000 children had originally entered the challenge and 20%, or 8,000 of them, qualified for the Megafinals which are held by various counties throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The kids, sectioned off by age and sex, duke it out in their various counties to qualify for the Gigafinals - of which a mere 2% (800-1000) of the original 40,000 will make it. As far as I know (given I am very new to all this myself), there are two Gigafinals, a Northern and a Southern section. Once at the Gigafinals, only the kids that finish first and second will get the chance to play at the Terafinals, where the very best of the best will fight it out to see who is the strongest player from their respective age group in the country. There's also quite a bit of prize money on offer for the winner.
We were first to arrive so moved into one of the rooms where Finlay and Silas played a warm-up game. The first official game was due to start at 10am and there isn't anything worse than going straight into a game of chess before having warmed up - what athlete doesn't? Always nice to throw some pieces around beforehand. Not literally, of course, although it may help some relieve tension. Their blitz game actually turned out to be pretty interesting. Silas sac'ed his queen for two minor pieces and a juicy attacking possibility against the enemy king. I couldn't help myself and just had to get involved in the game on Silas' side... after all he is the youngest and Finlay has a very slight edge over me now, so it was quite fair. Plus Silas' position was truly a thing of beauty. With my involvement, Silas was able to convert the friendly game into a win and proved the queen sac. I'm going to ask them if they can replay it... may be a tall order after playing 6 rounds of chess afterwards and a full school day in between, but it's worth a shot.
Silas was in the under 9 section and seeded 4th out of 41 entries. All of his friends were there, Manvith, Weiquan, Ethan, Ritik, etc, etc. One thing was for sure, it was going to be a hard fought battle. The top 4 boards, as always with the Swiss System used, had it easy for the first couple of games, playing ungraded kids that had been strong enough to qualify from the school stages. Being a regular chess player, Silas didn't need to qualify the same way, which is lucky as his school didn't take part anyway. He's also the current (joint - alongside Manvith) holder of the Warwickshire u9 title and trophy. Manvith's six months is up and Silas will get to show off the trophy at school in assembly this coming Friday, which he is very excited about.
All went as it should for the first couple of games but then disaster struck in the 3rd round and Silas actually lost. The details are vague but it was an attack that went wrong, a miscalculation, an in-between move that was simply missed. We've all been there. That moment when almost certain victory crumbles before us and our entire position falls into enemy hands. The disappointment was massive. We'd gone there for the supremo title, anything less was failure. I took Silas aside, as I always do after a loss, and pulled the positives out of the situation. There was still hope for top spot. So long as he won every game from there on out, he might, MIGHT, get a chance at the top table, where he would need to win. Unfortunately, despite winning his remaining games, the two top contenders also did likewise, with Manvith eventually coming out outright winner and under 9 Supremo with a score of 5.5 out of 6! Well deserved as I know Manvith works very hard at the game. Silas' efforts in the final games were rewarded as he finished joint second with 5 out of 6, but the progressive scoring system meant that he instead ended up in 3rd and a bronze medal. Still better than his seed, and he had a tournament performance rating of 84 (current grade 70). All in all, an excellent day and he's very pleased with himself. He has also vowed to train harder for the Gigafinals. Up until now it had been hard getting him motivated to practise. The call of the Xbox is often too great! I feel it best not to force him into anything, he must love chess on his own if he is ever to become great at the game.
Finlay was in the u12 section and because there were only 12 or so entries the u12 girls, u13 boys and u13 girls were merged to make a group total of 26 players. The merge didn't affect the standings for Finlay as he was still seeded 2nd, slightly behind on grade to Robert Grozea who was obviously 1st seed. For Finlay, the first 3 games sailed by without a problem, but then in his 4th game he faced a tough female opponent in Imogen Dicen. I'd seen her around at various tournaments and indeed, her younger sister, Denele, won the u7 girl's section. I had a feeling Finlay would take her too lightly. My fears were recognised when Finlay emerged and declared he lost with his usual nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. It's amazing how mentally strong he is. He knew what he needed to do. Meanwhile, Robert continued having an excellent tournament and got to 5 out of 5, having beat Imogen in round 5. Finlay won his 5th game too which meant he got to play Robert in the final.
For us at the time, this meant that surely Finlay had a chance to win if he defeated Robert? Yet Finlay had lost to Imogen and Robert had beat Imogen. It was going to be tough to call if Finlay won. Luckily for Finlay, he got the white pieces and defeated Robert. It was only at the award ceremony that we found out the final result and Finlay lost out on first place and the Supremo title due to a progressive scoring system that I'd only just heard about. I went and had a quiet word with IA Matthew Carr, who wasn't a part of the award giving, where he kindly explained the progressive scoring system to me. The crux of it is this, because Finlay lost in an earlier round he is deemed to have lost to the weaker player. Despite Finlay actually defeating Robert in the final game, Robert did lose to the stronger player, so is deemed to have had the better tournament. Inarguable logic. Finlay's taken it all in his stride, outwardly at least, inside I know he's eager to set things straight at the Gigafinals.
A huge thanks must go to the people that help make these things happen. Delancey for putting up the sponsorship, Sarah Hegarty and Alex Holowczak for handling the brunt of the organisation of these events. Without Alex, I doubt there'd be a Warwickshire junior team. Also thanks to the volunteers like, Paul Lam, David Thomas, Matthew Carr and Jeremy Fallowfield. Several more that I don't know by name. Thank you.
Special mentions to Jude Shearsby who won the u7 section with 6 out of 6 - an almost certain Terafinalist contender and GM of the future. Manvith for winning and keeping the u9 Supremo title in Warwickshire and not handing it to the Oxfordshire county player that came 2nd. Robert Grozea for winning the u12 section and the commiserative handshake at the end for Finlay. Chess should be an honourable game and this was a demonstration of that. Finally, David Philips, the under 14 Supremo, well done, mate. Ah, almost forgot Iolanda, for winning the u12 Suprema.
Onward to the Delancey Gigafinals!
