ChessKid Rising Stars Match

The ChessKid Rising Stars Match between teams from Club CSC UK and ChessKid USA took place on Sunday 28th June 2020. Ten children from each country lined up, each playing two games against the same opponent, one with each colour. Players had 15 minutes for all the moves, with 5 seconds added for each move played. Television coverage of the match was live on Chess.com, with over 4,600 viewers joining to watch commentary from Fun Master Mike, Coach Jay, and Coach Stephen.

The teams had been selected through a series of qualifying tournaments held on ChessKid earlier in June. The Club CSC UK team featured players from across the country, from Scotland to the South West of England. The children had either won a gold medal during our qualifying week, two lower places medals, or gained a wildcard pick due to achievements in Club CSC UK over the previous two months.

The match was a tense and closely fought affair. The UK team had the white pieces on every board in the first round and raced into an early lead. Team USA fought back well and the scores were level at 5-5 at the halfway point. It was a similar story in the second round, with the UK team establishing a 2-point lead only to be pegged back by some resilient play from their USA counterparts. In the end, nothing could separate the teams and the final score was 10 points apiece.

Attention turned to the rulebook. In the event of a tied match the victors would be decided by the result of the exhibition match between Shreyas Royal (UK) and Tani Adewumi (USA), two of the rising stars of world chess. This was another tough contest but ended in victory for Tani and Team USA.

This was CSC’s first international match and something of an experiment. Is a rematch on the cards? Of course it is!