1 May 2017
Today 14 Abingdon players travelled to The Downs School, Compton, for the county stage of the UK Chess Challenge. After six rounds of rapidplay, five Abingdon players had qualified for the Southern “Gigafinal” in July, either by winning their age category or by scoring more than 3 points. Fran Trotter (4/6) and Alfie Luo (3.5/6) qualified from the combined U12 to U13 section, Sebastian Watkins (3.5) qualified from the particularly tough U14 section, and in the combined U15 to U18 section, Abingdon players won two trophies. Jerry Yang (3/6) was the best U18 and Richard Oh (5/6) was the best U16, playing way above his current rapidplay rating. The other Abingdon contenders were Alister Jamieson (3/6), Jonathan C.H. Lee (3/6), John Ong (3/6), Will Riddell (2.5/6), Saxon Supple (2.5/6), Louis Brosnan (2/6), Matthew Fowler (2/6), Lawrence Putt (1.5/6) and Peter Wan (1.5/6). Given that some of Abingdon's best players were absent recovering from illness or preparing for public examinations, this was a particularly good showing. Congratulations to all involved.