The APS Bank Junior Chess Championship 2009 came to end last week.

Four parallel Swiss competitions were held, one for the U-20s, one for the U-14s, one for the U-12s and one for kids under ten years. Seven national titles were at stake.

Robert Zerafa, 20 of Marsaxlokk, confirmed his supremacy at the Junior level by winning the Junior Championship for the third consecutive time. Robert was in a class of his own and dropped only half a point in the last round when matters were already well settled. Christopher Farrugia came in second place while Leonard Farrugia took took the third spot.

The U-18 title was won by Luca Vassallo of Dingli with Vincent Zerafa, Robert’s brother, claiming the U-16 title.

In the U-14 competition the new under fourteen Champion title was won by the hard working Christian Schembri of Zurrieq. Christian played solidly throughout the competition conceding very little to his opposition.

He won the first three games beautifully, struggled in the middle game of the fourth and agreed to a draw in the last round to secure first place.

Another promising player, Jurgen Grima, was runner up while Julian Camilleri came third. Clarissa Cremona took home the Best Female award after scoring a respectable 40% score.

Adrian Cutajar, 11-year-old Gudjan lad, won the U-12 title with one day to spare thanks to his four straight wins and because of the fact that points were shared between the other contenders.

Adrian was Malta Champion U-10 last year and confirmed he is presently the player-to-beat. Gabriel Farrugia earned second place by doing just that, beat the champion in round five. He scored three and a half out of five points. Paolo Cassar Manghi deservedly clinched the third spot after a good performance.

In the U-10 and the U-8 competition, played as one tournament with seven rounds instead of five, the winners were Jamie Farrugia and her younger brother Michael. Jamie, who is now ten years old, won the U-10 competition for the first time in 2007 when she was barely eight, whereas for Michael, who is seven years old, this was the first big honour on a national level. Jamie and Michael hail from Birzebbuga.

In the U-10 competition, another star player, Timothy Portelli, took second placed with an inferior Bucholtz score to Jamie while surprise newcomer Rafel Grima placed third.

In the U-8 competiton the second and third place trophies were won by Matthew Bugeja and Isaac Portelli respectively.

At the end of the competition Raymond Azzopardi and Stephen Farrugia, from the Malta Chess Federation, distributed the trophies to the winners in the presence of the numerous parents and relatives that were at the College.

Farrugia thanked the College director and staff for the support given to host the competitions at the college for the second year in a row. He also thanked APS Bank for their commitment to the development of the Junior chess players and congratulated all the players for their good show.

Tournament director was Stephen Farrugia while the Chief Arbiter was Raymond Azzopardi.