Wonderful Warwick University

Win 2023 20/20 Chess Championships!

The 20/20 Chess Championships resumed in a lovely new venue for 2023 at Warwick University, and the hosts won all of their six matches to reclaim their title that they previously held in 2020, just before the pandemic suspended over-the-board events.

The tournament was already success before a single match was played; £680 was raised for charity (Oxfam) through entry fees which will go towards supporting the victims of the recent tragic earthquake in Syria and Turkey, along with other crises in the world, of course including in Ukraine: 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/2020chess

16 teams participated from across the UK, comprising of schools, clubs, universities from across all demographics.

The deciding match took place in Round 4, Sons of Anarchy (Tiger Sharks, the reigning 4NCL Rapidplay champions) were drawn against Warwick University with both teams having convincingly won their opening three matches.

International Master Ameet Ghasi narrowly managed to prevail against Fide Master Sam Chow on board 1 for Sons of Anarchy, however Warwick's Oscar Pollock held on for a draw against Fide Master James Moreby, and Warwick were able to win on the bottom two boards to give them a thrilling 2.5-1.5 victory. 

The championship was in their hands, and they did not let up or slip up, convincingly winning both of their remaining matches with a 4-0 scoreline to become champions. 

As a result, Reading University leapfrogged Staffordshire Juniors, who themselves should be proud of a fine display, into 3rd place and a podium finish.

Many, many, thanks to all our sponsors who kindly provided prizes: 

Purling London: For donating the first place board/trophy

Chess.com: For donating Diamond memberships, awarded to players who scored 5/6 or more

SoulSanity: For providing online classes for all players part of the teams that finished in the top three places

Chess & Bridge: For providing the chess clocks, as well as providing vouchers which were used for various prizes, and for donating a CHESS magazine to each participant

We are also extremley grateful to Warwick University Chess Society, and their President James Parkinson and

Meghana Mohan,  for hosting the event and allowing us to use their newly acquired chess sets.

Special thanks must go to Hok Yin Stephen Chiu for booking the venue and working alongside James Connors who very kindly helped with the pairings and publishing the results which you can view in full here: 

Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - World Chess League 20/20 Chess Team Championships

tinyurl.com/wcl2023

Finally, we were delighted that the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Noel Butler, attended as our guest of honour to observe the final round and to award the prizes at the closing ceremony which you can watch below. 

We look forward to our next competition!

Peter Hornsby 

Founder and Tournament Director of 20/20 Chess