London and Russian teams, each captained by a Chess Grandmaster, will compete on two large-scale 64 square metre chess boards in each capital city using giant chess pieces made from ice. Famous British chess champion, Grandmaster Nigel Short, will captain the London team comprising of Peter Ackroyd and Darius Parvizi-Wayne (under 7 chess UK chess champion), while former World Champion, Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, will captain the Russian team in Moscow, which includes Alina Kabaeva and Konstantin Savenkov (under 7 Russian chess champion).

Nigel and Anatoly will advise their teams on each move and attempt to guide their players to victory, whilst spectators in London and Moscow watch the players' every move thanks to a live satellite link up on large screens. The chess pieces will be carved especially for the event, with selected pieces sculpted in the shape of famous London and Moscow landmarks. These spectacular chess figures will be created by award winning Russian ice sculptors who are frequent winners of the annual World Ice Art Championships in Alaska.

Grandmaster Daniel King will act as compere for the game.

The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, with 3,500 staff and over 20,000 students between the ages of 3 and 18.

The 3rd Inter-Trust Chess Championships will be held at Oxford High School on the 20th January 2007 and is open to all GDST pupils. We hope to see pupils from all of the GDST schools at this important event.

Click here for an online entry form.

All the top girls ended up with something though, as age group prizes were also awarded to those who finished outside the top 3. Amanda took the Under 16, Rachel Cass and Rachel Ball from Lancashire took the Under 12 and under 11 prizes with 4/6, with Claudia Smalley from Leeds taking the Under 10’s. Natalie Cass took the Under 9 trophy and Lois Coleman from Leeds took the Under 8’s.

The competition also included a West Yorkshire Championship. Kiruthika was crowned U16 West Yorkshire champion, Yasmin Niksaz took the Under 12 crown with 4/6, Bronagh Sheridan from Hebden Bridge took the Under 10 title and Lois coleman the Under 8.

The prizes were presented by Susan McFarland from the British Women’s Chess Association, who was delighted to see so many girls playing and commented on the recent progress Yorkshire Girls’ chess.

Photos

The new All England season is now underway. 3 great tournaments have taken place. Click on the tournaments for full details:

After another successful year of All England Girls' Championship events, it is time for the start of a new season. Online entry forms are now available for the below tournaments:

Players who enter both the northern and eastern tournaments will receive an entry fee discount of £4 (i.e. £12 per event, or £20 for both tournaments).

The British Championships 2006 have now finished, click here for the full results.

Jonathan Rowson again won the main Championship, closely followed by Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, who came 2nd, with 8/11, just half a point behind Jonathan (the best ever performance by a woman in the British Championship).

The British Girls' Championships have been awarded as below:

Please do not hesitate to contact me if there are any errors in the table above or I have missed any results.

The 4NCL Guildford ADC team have a place for a female player to play in their division 2 and 3 team, 2100 strength or an improving player who would like a challenge. Please contact Nigel Povah on either of the email addresses below, if you would like to be involved with the team:

WOW!! Another amazing day!

The All England Gold Finals took place on Saturday 24th June, with girls from across the country competing for national titles.

All England Title Winners:

WOW!! What an amazing day!

The National Girls' Team Championships took place on the 10th June. Click here for a championship report.

Remember that any girl who scored 50% or more on the 10th June automatically qualifies for the All England Girls' Gold Finals on the 24th June - entry form.

Time is running out to enter the National Girls' Team Championships on the 10th June.

Click here for an online entry form

or contact Claire Summerscale for further details.

The Championships have once again returned to the splendid setting of Claremont Fan Court School in Esher, Surrey.

Last year's Championships were the largest ever girls' team event in England, attracting teams from schools, clubs, counties and bands of friends from around Britain.

Matthew Pierce, Managing Director of local estate agents Matthew Pierce & Co and primary sponsor for the event said; "The National Team Chess Championships are a real showcase for girls' chess in the UK. We are proud to support such an event. The massive entry from around the UK just shows how popular this event has become."

The Pride and Prejudice Four Nations Chess Team have won division four of the Four Nations' Chess League. This ground-breaking team reverses the normal 4NCL format, as it is made up of women with one male board! The team aims to represent the triumph of female pride over male prejudice!

Currently, only 4% of the chess playing population are female. We want to challenge and change this statistic and make sure that in generations to come, 50% of chess players are female, so that women can be adequately represented in the most beautiful of games.

Thank you for your support of this important new team. In future seasons, we aim to provide coaching for female players at the 4NCL. Do not hesitate to contact me if you require further details about the Pride and Prejudice team.

Click here for more photographs of members of the team.

The All England Girls' Gold Final entry forms are now available for pre-qualified players.

Click here for an entry form and list of qualified players.

National Girls' Team Championship entry forms are now available online here.

This fabulous event will take place on the 10th June, in the historic grounds of Claremont Fan Court School, Surrey and will be a great day out for all the family.

The 3rd All England Western Regional tournament will take place on the 20th May 2006 at The Royal High School, Bath.

Click here for an online entry form, which can also be printed and posted.

Well done to all the girls who played in the All England southern regional tournament on Saturday 14th January.

I would like to extend my thanks to the Kent Junior Chess Association for allowing us to use such a great venue.

Please click here for the full results.

The 2nd GDST championships will take place on the 28th January 2006. These championships are open to any Under 18 girl who attends a Girls Day School Trust School.

Click here for an online entry form.