My name is Maadesh and I love playing chess. On Saturday 26th August 2023, Brentwood School hosted the 2nd Brentwood Bank Holiday ECF Rapid Play in the Wessex Auditorium.
I joined the Minor Section (for players rated below 1200 ECF) along with some of my friends. In this tournament, you had to play 6 games against 6 different opponents, the age ranging from kids as small as 6 to full-grown.
You had 20 mins for all your moves and 5 secs were added for every move you made. If you won your game, you would get 1 point, if you lost your game, you wouldn’t get any points and if you drew your game, you would get ½ a point. Each round you played someone with the same score as you.
If you came 1st or 2nd in your section, you would get some money and a trophy. I played some very good games and ended up getting 5½ points, which put me in 1st place. I was super happy that I got some money and a trophy, but more importantly I had lots of fun.
Report by Maadesh
Today I went to my second ever chess tournament at Brentwood School. I arrived at 9.15am and I was directed to the hall in which the tournament was to be held. Everyone there was very kind and helpful and the facilities were very comfortable. My first game started at approximately 9.45am and fortunately I was able to win. Over the course of the day, I won 4 games, drew 1 and lost 1, which was a result that I was quite happy with.
In the game that I drew, I was up a bishop but I traded all of my pieces and I was not able to convert the game unfortunately, but in the game that I lost, I was offered a draw which I refused, but I unfortunately blundered after that point. Overall though, I thought it was a valuable learning experience for me and I think I was able to improve by taking in different concepts and learning from the mistakes that I made.
Report by Kai
I moved to UK from India just two weeks before, and this was my first tournament in UK. Brentwood School was nice; the arrangements were good. My tournament was nice. I enjoyed a lot and my experience was good. I played good chess games and I had a lot of fun there. I felt very happy when I got second prize. I got a trophy and a cash prize of £30. I played 6 rounds and I didn’t lose any games. Out of 6 rounds, I won 4 games and drew 2 games. But I was also sad that I missed the chance to get the first trophy, so I will work hard for that.
Report by Aarav