BASINGSTOKE Chess Club junior club members enjoyed great success in the Giga Finals held recently at Richmond, writes DAVID GRAHAM.

No fewer than five members were in action in their respective sections.

Daniel Yu (under 11) was defending his Giga Final title from 2017 and came very close to retaining it. He finished unbeaten and pipped by just half a point with a score of five points out of six.

Edison Brown in the under 7 age group started as a rank outsider in a huge entry group and scored well finishing with 4/6.

This enabled Edison to achieve a rank of 13 in the competition’s age group.

Ted Mayne (under 9) produced his best chess to date and scored a remarkable 4 ½ out of 6. This enabled him to finish with a ranking of 6 in the age group and he now has an ECF grading of 80 which looks certain to rise.

Bryan Vaz (under 11) started the competition slowly and was well down the field. However he finished very strongly and got a very good score of 3 ½ out of 6.

Yasmin Phillips (under12) competed in an ultra tough competition against some of the best boy and girl players in the country.

The final score of 3 out of 6 was a good achievement.

It could have been better as Phillips had a narrow loss against one of the favourites when a win or a draw looked on the cards for the most part in the game.