Terafic Success for Billy!

And first place in the worst pun of the year competition for me!

Though as pointed out to me by my old friend John Saunders (which has necessitated this update!), my pun is very close to being plagiarism given this offering from the splendidly batty Mrs Doyle!

But its Billy whose performance needs to get star billing here as he recently won the U-12 Terafinal (that's the Grand Final to you and me!) of the mammoth UK Schools Chess Challenge - at the rather prestigious venue of Blenheim Palace, no less. After fighting through Megafinals and Gigafinals, it was just 60 juniors left by the time of the Terafinals, split into 5 age groups playing 12 player all play all tournaments to decide the champions.

The U-12 Terafinal Crosstable - Billy wins by a whole point!

In achieving this great triumph Billy is following in the footsteps of Jude who was a Terafinal winner himself a couple of years ago, and who finished a close up 4th in the U-14 tournament this time around.

The U-14 Terafinal Results

And while two KCC winners at the highest possible junior level is quite something, its even more a case of hats off to Paul, who has coached three Terafinal winners, with Birmingham's Elis Dicen also successful in a previous year.  Remarkable stuff which confirms what a Golden Age this is for junior chess in Warwickshire. (And the county's "old timers" aren't doing too badly either, as 30-something Ameet Ghasi just got his third GM norm and with the rating requirement already achieved will soon be confirmed as Warwickshire's third GM, after Tony Miles and Keith Arkell.)

Billy Receiving the Terafinal Trophy from WFM Sarah Longson, UKSCC Supremo. Thanks to our Social Media Correspondent Bernard Rogers for spotting this Instagram post

By the way, is it just me, or has anybody else noticed a passing resemblance between Billy and Uzbeki Olympiad winner, GM Javokhir Sindarov? Alright, its just me.

A triumph like this deserves a top quality piece of music. One of the greatest pop songs of all time seems appropriate. Apologies if I've used this before, but you really can never hear this brilliant song too often.