Aron just missed out from qualifying for the Terafinal when he scored 4/6 at the Northern Gigafinal back in June. However, his 4 points gave him one more chance to qualify by playing in one of the two Challenger events. His task was simply to finish 1st in his age group and grab one of the last tickets on offer for the Terafinal.
With 26 players in his section, in London, and being 26th seed it was a extremely tough ask. Losing his 1st round made it an even tougher task, maybe one qualifier too far ? However, Aron proceeded to win 3.5 points out of the next 4 and fought his way back into contention. To have a chance to still qualify, he had to win the last round and hope to tie for 1st place. In this sixth round Aron was drawn against a 150 grade, also on 3.5/points.
Aron was on a roll and his momentum took him through, and he played a great game to win ! With the two leaders splitting the point, They all finished on 4.5 points and Aron had tied for 1st place. What a tremendous and gusty achievement by Aron. Many congratulations for qualifying for his first Terafinal. Results here
Bilal also qualified for the Challengers and was competing in the U12 Boys section. It was a very tough section, with the top seeds around 160-170. Scary! Bilal managed 2 wins and a draw, which included a good win against a 134 rated opponent. Results here
So now we have 5; Oliver,Chirag, Aron, Toby and Matthew all through to the Terafinals. Watch out for our report on this soon.
- Report by John Stubbs
