Shropshire Junior Chess

Shropshire Junior Chess We are a place where children can both learn and play chess, have fun and make new friends!

We provide coaching for kids delivered by some of the strongest chess players in Shropshire.

Success for Shropshire Juniors at the Merseyside Megafinal. 3 of our players were looking for a route through to the gig...
07/06/2026

Success for Shropshire Juniors at the Merseyside Megafinal. 3 of our players were looking for a route through to the gigafinals, whilst Muhammad was there for the funzies (sic).

And they all did it!

Adam Robinson scored 3.5pts in the U12s and qualified 🎉.

Hriday put in a phenomenal performance, scoring 4 pts in the very tough joint U14/18 section to finish as 2nd U14 and claim a🥈silver medal.

Krish drew with the section winner and accepted a draw from Muhammad, finishing undefeated 2nd🥈on 5/6.

Muhammad played dreadfully, dropping his queen to a 1 move threat in one of his games 🙈 🤪.

And.....
he still won the U14 trophy 🏆🤷‍♂️ .

4 players, 4 qualifiers. Great performance everyone! 🥳

https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1431580.aspx?lan=1&SNode=S0

Good luck to all Shropshire Qualifiers in the Gigafinals!

“Offering a draw is admitting that you couldn’t win whereas taking a draw is showing that you defended the position well” - Krishna earlier in the day

3rd place at the Wrexham Junior Rapidplay for🥉 Arthur Wright in the U11's and🥉Rudi Bedford in the U18's
06/06/2026

3rd place at the Wrexham Junior Rapidplay for🥉 Arthur Wright in the U11's and🥉Rudi Bedford in the U18's

Never seen one of these before! Arthur playing vs a Robot.
06/06/2026

Never seen one of these before! Arthur playing vs a Robot.

A slight hiccup with the rating database last month means we're a little late reporting some fantastic news: Krish has b...
01/06/2026

A slight hiccup with the rating database last month means we're a little late reporting some fantastic news: Krish has become the first junior to break the 2000 rating barrier! A remarkable run of seven consecutive wins, including a stunning victory over Shropshire's highest-rated player, saw him gain another 100 rating points and move into the top five players in Shropshire overall.

Our other juniors are making impressive progress too, with both Malcolm and Rudi reaching the 1800 mark.

On the rapidplay list, Muhammad finished the season in style, ending with a rating of 2016. Waylon enjoyed a meteoric rise, gaining 200 rating points in just two months. Meanwhile, Ellis Sharp breaks into the top 10 for the first time with a rating of 1471—and he's still climbing fast.

In the blitz rankings, Malcolm remains at the top, but the chasing pack of juniors is closing the gap. Our prediction? By the end of the summer, at least one junior will join the 2000 blitz club.

The race to 2100 is now on!

Follow your ECF rating here:
🔗 https://rating.englishchess.org.uk/v2/new/list_players.php

All Junior Players are invited to a series of summer blitz tournaments taking place at Newport Chess Club. These events ...
31/05/2026

All Junior Players are invited to a series of summer blitz tournaments taking place at Newport Chess Club. These events are a great way to sharpen your chess skills!

Tuesday 30th June
Tuesday 28th July
Tuesday 8th September

✅ Rated Events
✅ Cash Prizes
✅ Fast-Paced Blitz Chess
✅ No pre-registration - just turn up and play

http://www.newportchessclub.com/newport-events/blitz-tournament-rules/

Muhammad picked up his 2nd tournament win🥇of the 2026 online grand prix series, finishing a clear 1.5pts ahead of the fi...
30/05/2026

Muhammad picked up his 2nd tournament win🥇of the 2026 online grand prix series, finishing a clear 1.5pts ahead of the field. In the 7 round swiss with 10min + 2sec increment on the clock Muhammad only dropped 1/2 a point vs Waylon to finish on 6.5pts/7 🔥🔥🔥🔥🇹🇷 . He picks up another 50 tour points and is starting to open up a small lead in defence of his title.

Krish started strong but walked into a discovered tactic vs Muhammad before playing the very dubious f3(?) against Chris to ruin his tournament hopes. Krish still finished 2nd overall and claims another silver medal🥈.

David Edwards put in a strong showing to finish in 3rd place, level on points with Krish.

Ryan Acton was the next best performing junior, putting in a very credible performance to finish 3rd and pick up the bronze medal 🥉, his first in a grand prix.

Well done everyone and see you at the next one in the summer 😀

Full tournament results:
https://lichess.org/swiss/13V7hWTv

Grand Prix standing:
https://www.shropshirechess.org/2026-online-shropshire-junior-grand-prix/

3 new school events have just been announced to round off the academic year!All of these events are designed to reach th...
25/05/2026

3 new school events have just been announced to round off the academic year!

All of these events are designed to reach those players who have had less opportunities to represent their school in chess this year and to be a first step in tackling the chronic lack of female chess players in Shropshire.

Blink and you missed it but 8-year A***n was top of the ladder before Harvey reclaimed his spot. We predict it's only a ...
23/05/2026

Blink and you missed it but 8-year A***n was top of the ladder before Harvey reclaimed his spot. We predict it's only a matter of time before A***n is securely in the top spot!

It was a dominant performance by one school at the Shropshire Primary School Chess♟ Championships Finals on Monday.4 Sch...
23/05/2026

It was a dominant performance by one school at the Shropshire Primary School Chess♟ Championships Finals on Monday.
4 Schools qualified through the zonals held earlier in the year - St Laurence C of E Primary School (Ludlow), Captain Webb (Dawley) St Mary's A (Shawbury) and St Mary's B (Shawbury). 6 rounds of 10min+5 sec games were played at Captain Webb Primary School across 4 boards and all the matches (minus some technical hiccups) were broadcast live.
St Mary's B were the first ever B team to reach a finals and after showing much fighting spirit finished 4th, all members of the team picking up some points on the day.
2-time defending championships St Laurence couldn't replicate their previous sucess finishing in 3rd place🥉🥉🥉🥉. Their top performer was Oscar on board 2 who scored 4/6 🔥🔥🔥🔥points. Half the team will have another chance to strike back next year.
Captain Webb Primary were new to our school chess competitions this year but didn't let this hold them back as they finished a very credible 2nd with 6 match points overall 🥈🥈🥈🥈. Their top performer was Lukas on the most difficult board 1 but he still managed to score 4/6 🔥🔥🔥🔥 pts.
St Mary's A put in yet another high quality performance with the team winning every match to finish as worthy champions🥇🥇🥇🥇on 12 match points, double their nearest rivals. The🏆 Alan Shaw Trophy🏆 was duly awarded to this talented team.
Alan Shaw was a massive figure for Shropshire Junior Chess in the past and you can find out more about him here: https://www.shropshirechess.org/about/obituaries/

The St Mary's school team is in fact undefeated in Shropshire Chess this year with an impressive total of 20/20 match wins. In no small part is this year's sucess down to the efforts of their coach Glyn Pugh (Maddocks Chess Club). Glyn has been working as a CSC (Chess in Schools) coach at St Mary's for the last year and has clearly excelled at the job. Schools can find out more about Chess in Schools here (https://www.chessinschools.co.uk/). The St Mary's team can now look forward to their toughest challenge yet when they will face other top schools in the national ECF Primary Team Chess Challenge Finals in Nottingham.
I'm always pleased to report the sportsmanship at the event was excellent with high focus and good behaviour on the day. Thank you to Phil who ran the live boards, and Izzy who did most of the arbiting. Thanks also to Captain Webb for hosting us, all the teachers for supporting us, and all the children who are the ones who make these events truly special. Very well done to all 👏👏👏😃
And we're not done yet! We are looking to squeeze two more competitions in before the summer holidays - the ♟U9's Shropshire School Championships and the ♟U11 Girls Shropshire School Championships - likely Monday 13th July at Broseley!
A link to the full results and the live board games can be found here:

https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1298811.aspx?lan=1&SNode=S0

https://lichess.org/broadcast/2026-shropshire-primary-school-championships-final/round-1/AbE53wIM

Loads more to report on as always starting with the U11 counties friendly matches between Shropshire, Staffordshire and ...
23/05/2026

Loads more to report on as always starting with the U11 counties friendly matches between Shropshire, Staffordshire and Wales. After the 4th county dropped out the teams were split into two to make 6 similar strength teams of 6. Ran in conjunction with Jonathan Blackburn the tournament was a chance for newer players to experience county chess for the first time and also to promote girls chess.

Whilst our performances on the day weren't quite what we were hoping for we still had a good time, played some competitive chess and gained yet more valuable experience. Congratulations to Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿who ran away with the event.

Individual Medals were awarded for the highest scoring boards 1-6. Congratulations to 🥇Jai Are, 🥇Constantine Popov & Sai Pranav Kollur,🥇Raga Sreya Mandadapu, Clara Deng, 🥇Joseph Lake and🥇Daniel Yan.

Shropshire's other heavy hitter on the day was A***n Punj who on board 5 scored 4/5 🔥🔥🔥🔥 despite only being 8 years old! One to watch for sure.

Waylon ran a challenge board and was incredibly popular attracting a huge crowd all day. He did have to give away 2 medals. Huge congratulations to Jai and also to Jonathan's sister WFM Suzie Blackburn who ambushed Waylon later in the day!

Thanks also to Aditya who assisted with the arbiting and as always thanks to Phil who grappled with some very non compliant live boards.

Full results:
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1399180.aspx?lan=1&art=1&flag=30&SNode=S0https://lichess.org/broadcast/shropshire-vs-staffordshire-vs-wales-u11s/round-1/brgNIHvt

Full games:
https://lichess.org/broadcast/shropshire-vs-staffordshire-vs-wales-u11s/round-1/brgNIHvt

Address

Meole Brace Peace Memorial Hall
Shrewsbury
SY39JP

Opening Hours

11am - 1pm

Telephone

+441630801860

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