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 2008

COUNTY LEAGUE TABLE 04/03/2008

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

dif. 08 07 UKCC 2008: Percentage of players participating by County population % increase

Traditional 2001 Census 2008 2008 2008 2007 or decrease

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

3 1 4 RUTLAND 34,560 4 150 0.43 75 100

-1 2 1 HEREFORDSHIRE 174,844 13 480 0.27 630 -24

-1 3 2 SURREY 2,757,906 191 6895 0.25 6843 1

1 4 5 OXFORDSHIRE 489,860 37 1140 0.23 1065 7

1 5 6 SOMERSET 855,694 55 1980 0.23 1830 8

1 6 7 HUNTINGDONSHIRE 156,950 10 345 0.22 315 10

4 7 11 CAMBRIDGE 395,705 27 840 0.21 685 23

4 8 12 WILTSHIRE 613,034 40 1260 0.21 1050 20

-6 9 3 CUMBERLAND 263,543 17 510 0.19 615 -17

-1 10 9 BERKSHIRE 915,740 54 1680 0.18 1740 -3

-3 11 8 SUSSEX 1,493,756 83 2680 0.18 3015 -11

5 12 17 MIDDLESEX 3,407,010 161 5810 0.17 5400 8

3 13 16 HERTFORDSHIRE 1,033,977 49 1725 0.17 1800 -4

-4 14 10 NORFOLK 796,733 36 1260 0.16 1455 -13

-1 15 14 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 1,190,818 59 1830 0.15 1995 -8

2 16 18 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 686,091 33 1050 0.15 1215 -14

4 17 21 LEICESTERSHIRE 889,502 34 1290 0.15 1200 8

-3 18 15 LINCOLNSHIRE 957,468 37 1380 0.14 1620 -15

3 19 22 KENT 2,556,456 103 3600 0.14 3330 8

-1 20 19 DEVONSHIRE 1,074,919 46 1460 0.14 1545 -6

-8 21 13 WORCESTERSHIRE 847,271 33 1065 0.13 1440 -26

3 22 25 HAMPSHIRE / IOW 1,985,243 72 2415 0.12 2317 4

10 23 33 NORTHANTS 785,736 26 945 0.12 705 34

-4 24 20 SUFFOLK 668,548 24 765 0.11 930 -18

15 25 40 WESTMORLAND 117,983 4 135 0.11 75 80

-2 26 24 CORNWALL 499,114 19 570 0.11 600 -5

9 27 36 NORTHUMBERLAND 768,968 20 870 0.11 645 35

-5 28 23 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 1,015,498 32 1140 0.11 1305 -13

0 29 29 BEDFORDSHIRE 565,619 19 615 0.11 585 5

2 30 32 SHROPSHIRE 441,525 15 465 0.11 405 15

-3 31 28 CHANNEL ISLES 142765 4 150 0.11 150 0

-6 32 26 DERBYSHIRE 956,297 31 990 0.10 1065 -7

-6 33 27 ESSEX 2,703,054 88 2790 0.10 2865 -3

-4 34 30 CHESHIRE 1,598,960 52 1635 0.10 1695 -4

2 35 37 YORKSHIRE 4,928,004 147 4770 0.10 4035 18

-2 36 34 WARWICKSHIRE 1,983,341 57 1910 0.10 1770 8

-6 37 31 LANCASHIRE 4,959,449 147 4665 0.09 4875 -4

-3 38 35 WALES 2,903,085 67 2295 0.08 2640 -13

0 39 39 SCOTLAND 5,062,011 118 3645 0.07 3915 -7

1 40 41 STAFFORDSHIRE 1,820,356 34 1110 0.06 1020 9

1 41 42 DURHAM 1,483,069 29 885 0.06 885 0

-4 42 38 DORSET 484,416 8 240 0.05 408 -41

0 43 43 N.IRELAND 1,685,267 17 510 0.03 540 -6

0 44 44 ISLE OF MAN 72300 0.00 0

Eire 3,582,000 0.00 0

Malaysia 1 30 30

Grand total 62,804,445 2153 71975 0.11 72323

Headings in italics = Principalities