Juniors shine at chess event supporting Suffolk wildlife

The 15th edition of the Martlesham Heath chess tournaments just took place last Sunday. This time round, 20 juniors competed, outnumbering the 15 adults who also took part.

Unlike most chess tournaments, the aim of the Martlesham Heath events is for profits to support local charities and organisations.

All proceeds for this event (£300) were donated to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to help with their “Mission 2030“. The wildlife charity also helped promote the event.

Despite the fundraising, there were still some fun prizes given out for the top three juniors and top three adults, including a bespoke guided walk of one of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s reserves, free chess coaching, and a voucher for the local 21 Young Hearts café.

Tournament organiser, IM Dagne Ciuksyte, wrote the following inspirational words in her post-tournament email to participants:

“Competing in chess tournaments and training to learn from one’s mistakes go hand in hand in order to become a better player. I don’t see losing games as a bad bad thing, surprisingly. It actually gives you information you need to understand what you have to learn to win next time. See it as your preparation for your golden hour playing someone really strong one day and winning! 👑”

Congratulations go to Suffolk Junior, Lenny Horn, who managed to finish in outright second place, and big well done to all twenty juniors who took part; for many, it was their first tournament.

Chess Results | Final standings

The results will be submitted to the English Chess Federation and will count towards blitz ratings to be published in the April ECF rating list.