The main Hall of St.Elias College, in St.Venera, will stage this year’s prestigious APS Junior Chess Championship to be held between the 19th and 23rd of September with games starting at 6pm.

Six official titles are at stake with the Malta Junior Champion 2005 (Under 20 years) being the most coveted title of all. The other titles are Malta Chess Champion U/18, U/16, U/14, U/12 and U/10. There will be three separate five-round Swiss tournaments held at the same time but with different time controls.

The defending Champions from last year are: U/10 Rubi Mercieca - St.Catherine's High School; U/12 Luke Saliba - St.Elias College; U/14 Omar Shamala - St.Elias College; U/16 Justin Farrugia - De La Salle College; U/18 Christian Pullicino - St.Elias College and Malta Junior Champion Mark Cardona - De La Salle.

The Junior Chess Championship is Open to all Chess Players who are Under 20 years (born in 1985 or later) and the closing date for applications is the 16th of September 2005.

Players are kindly urged to contact the Malta Chess Federation on -

[website: www.chessmalta.com], or Mr.Raymond Azzopardi / Mr.Stephen Farrugia.