Members of Radcliffe & Bingham Chess Club organised a unique event on Saturday 26 April 2025, when a visiting junior team from Lithuania competed with children from the South and East of Nottinghamshire over the chess board. The event took place at Carnarvon Primary School, Bingham, which generously provided accommodation for the European visitors as well as the tournament venue and administrative support and refreshments.
The format of the event an informal individual swiss system, but with scores for each team member cumulated and proportioned to find a winning team as well as best performers in each age group. The eight competing teams came from primary schools in the local area, from Radcliffe & Bingham Junior Chess Club and from a combined Newark ‘All Stars’ team.
The team winners were, predictably, the visiting team from Taurage, Lithuania, who were accompanied by their coach and some parents. The team from Pierrepont Gamston School came second, with Radcliffe Juniors in sixth place. Just as important, there were gold, silver and bronze medals for best boy and best girl in each school year group from Year 3 to year 6.
The event was the brainchild of R & B member Julius Vasiliauskas, who contacted his former school chess coach with the idea of bringing a team to Nottinghamshire to challenge our own local talent. Chess is highly regarded in Lithuania and features regularly on the school curriculum – hence the unsurprising results in the tournament. Our local chess enthusiasts greatly enjoyed the contest and the challenge of taking on the visitors in individual battles over the board, while the Lithuanian visitors also enjoyed exploring Bingham, the county and even a visit to Wollaton Hall.
Thanks are due to Julius and family for making this happen, and to the team and supporting adults from Taurages Saltinio Gimnasium, Lithuania. Thanks also to the staff of Carnarvon Primary School, Bingham and to Nick, Stuart, Chris and Marcel from RBCC along with the other team captains, children and parents who took part.
The event was also supported by:
Nottinghamshire Chess Foundation
Nottinghamshire Primary Schools Chess Association
Chess in Schools & Communities
Team Average Scores
| TAURAGE SALTINIO GIMNASIUM | 15.8 |
| PIERREPONT GAMSTON SCHOOL | 12.7 |
| NEWARK ‘ALL STARS’ | 11.8 |
| ASLOCKTON PRIMARY SCHOOL | 11.8 |
| CARNARVON PRIMARY SCHOOL 1 | 10.7 |
| RADCLIFFE & BINGHAM CHESS CLUB | 10.6 |
| PLUMTREE SCHOOL | 9.5 |
| CARNARVON PRIMARY SCHOOL 2 | 9.3 |