Six players on full points

The Malta Chess Federation (MCF) is currently holding the 2003 Malta Junior Chess Championships daily at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Valletta.

The event is open to persons under 20 years but the average age of the 30 odd participants is under 16.

The Federation offers prizes for various age divisions starting from under 10. The Monday round was postponed for a day because of the unreliable weather conditions prevailing in most parts of Malta.

The tournament actually started on Tuesday and the organisers are trying to make up for lost time by playing the fifth of seven rounds on Saturday morning while the other six rounds are played from 3 p.m. onwards.

By the second round played last Wednesday, there were only six players with the full score of two points. They are Mark G. Cardona (rating 1967), Patrick Zerafa (1821), Oliver Said (1801), Matthew Saliba (1751), Braden Borg (1605), and Charles Sinn (1486).

These individuals have formed a group from which the probable winner will be chosen - the path for honour is fraught with difficulties but chess at the top is of course elitist and the best prepared player should win.

The standard of play at these age levels varies but one fourth of these players are rated. In fact, there are some who have a rating between 1800 and 2000 which is very close the top class of active Maltese chess players.

Some of these players have participated in the 2003 Categories and in the recent Candidates which is the step before the finals.

A host of other formerly unknown players are also trying out their hand and not without a good show.

Three girls started the event, one of whom has now been playing in organised competitions for the last two years. The MCF offers a special prize for the first-placed girl.

New names

This competition attracts quite a number of new names, most of whom are under 15.

Usually people start training for chess in their family circles when they are about 10 and then improve in the following years if they are exposed to other perhaps better-versed influences.

In a bid to enhance the appreciation of chess as an educational exercise, the Ministry of Education has exposed several hundreds of SkolaSajf students to the basics of chess.

This effort has had its expected success because large numbers of these students are now forming nuclei of chess-ardent players.

The MCF will expect more of these to enrol for the under 14 competition which will be due in January 2004 while even in this Junior Championship, the body of applicants has come from these nuclei.

They will return home with undiminished enthusiasm and vastly improved experience.