The UK Chess Challenge began in 1996 and was an immediate success, with 700 schools entering, involving approximately 23,000 children. By 2002 numbers competing had risen to 56,000. The structure of the tournament is simple, allowing the most inexperienced players to compete in the early stages, yet testing the mettle of the finest at the end. The tournament begins every Spring Term, and lasts an amazing 8 months. In the first stage children compete week by week in hundreds of schools all over the UK (currently the number of schools taking part is over 1,600). Every child is able to win prizes, whether badges, gold spots, mascots, trophies or even baseball caps; and every child has something to play for. After the last pawn has been pushed, the winner's cup and all prizes, certificates and rosettes awarded, players can look back on 8 months of chess and then look forward to next year and another UK Chess Challenge event.

THE BRITISH LAND UK CHESS CHALLENGE 2004

COUNTY LEAGUE TABLE21/03/2004

Rank Rank Below is the breakdown of players by county across the nation.

dif. 3 4 UKCC 2004: Percentage of players participating by County population % increase

Traditional 2001 Census 1991 Census 2004 2004 2004 (%) 2003 or decrease

County Population Schools enr'd Players Players/Pop. Players of players

1 2 1 HEREFORDSHIRE 174,844 167,000 13 495 0.3 505 -2

1 3 2 SURREY 2,757,906 2,623,256 200 7536 0.29 7154 5

-2 1 3 RUTLAND 34,560 34,600 3 90 0.26 120 -25

3 7 4 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 686,091 664,666 46 1590 0.24 1275 25

-1 4 5 CAMBRIDGE 395,705 350,675 24 735 0.21 770 -5

7 13 6 SOMERSET 855,694 805,413 43 1661 0.21 1248 33

-2 5 7 HERTFORDSHIRE 1,033,977 980,820 56 1935 0.2 1980 -2

3 11 8 BERKSHIRE 915,740 890,005 48 1665 0.19 1545 8

0 9 9 ISLE OF MAN 72,300 3 135 0.19 135 0

-2 8 10 CUMBERLAND 263,543 267,560 15 465 0.17 510 -9

-5 6 11 WILTSHIRE 613,034 570,739 31 980 0.17 1110 -12

-2 10 12 OXFORDSHIRE 489,860 462,359 24 780 0.17 855 -9

6 19 13 HUNTINGDONSHIRE 156,950 144,075 8 235 0.16 185 27

0 14 14 MIDDLESEX 3,407,010 3,219,652 142 5251 0.16 4912 7

1 16 15 LEICESTERSHIRE 889,502 836,032 32 1315 0.16 1200 10

7 23 16 SUSSEX 1,493,756 1,413,710 70 2217 0.16 1650 34

-5 12 17 DEVONSHIRE 1,074,919 1,022,377 48 1595 0.16 1755 -9

-3 15 18 CORNWALL 499,114 466,377 21 705 0.15 675 4

3 22 19 LINCOLNSHIRE 957,468 908,084 37 1320 0.15 1065 24

18 38 20 DORSET 484,416 460,149 22 665 0.14 330 102

-3 18 21 BEDFORDSHIRE 565,619 533,934 24 765 0.14 700 9

7 29 22 CHANNEL ISLES 142,765 6 195 0.14 150 30

7 30 23 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 1,015,498 1,014,350 42 1365 0.13 1065 28

0 24 24 SHROPSHIRE 441,525 421,222 17 540 0.13 485 11

-8 17 25 SUFFOLK 668,548 636,266 20 792 0.12 885 -11

6 32 26 NORTHANTS 785,736 740,757 29 915 0.12 735 24

-7 20 27 NORFOLK 796,733 746,151 29 915 0.12 900 2

0 28 28 CHESHIRE 1,598,960 1,602,731 56 1950 0.12 1820 7

-4 25 29 HAMPSHIRE / IOW 1,985,243 1,894,488 68 2290 0.12 2160 6

-3 27 30 ESSEX 2,703,054 2,613,870 96 3123 0.12 2974 5

0 31 31 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 1,190,818 1,169,648 41 1290 0.11 1170 10

-11 21 32 KENT 2,556,456 2,481,524 72 2555 0.1 2925 -13

-7 26 33 DERBYSHIRE 956,297 947,880 30 960 0.1 1080 -11

1 35 34 LANCASHIRE 4,959,449 5,027,942 158 5060 0.1 4440 14

-2 33 35 WARWICKSHIRE 1,983,341 1,943,348 58 1890 0.1 1786 6

-2 34 36 SCOTLAND 5,062,011 5,034,037 127 4215 0.08 4625 -9

-1 36 37 YORKSHIRE 4,928,004 4,874,964 116 3998 0.08 4121 -3

-1 37 38 NORTHUMBERLAND 758,968 17 615 0.08 585 5

0 39 39 DURHAM 1,483,069 1,615,244 35 1125 0.07 1065 6

1 41 40 WALES 2,903,085 2,908,239 55 1830 0.06 1680 9

1 42 41 STAFFORDSHIRE 1,820,356 1,832,189 33 1125 0.06 1030 9

-2 40 42 N.IRELAND 1,685,267 1,588,576 32 960 0.06 930 3

1 44 43 WORCESTERSHIRE 847,271 847,178 16 510 0.06 345 48

-1 43 44 WESTMORLAND 117,983 110,181 2 60 0.05 60 0

Malaysia

Grand total 58,238,412 57,846,301 2065 70413 0.12 66695 6

Headings in italics = Principalities