Padraig Hughes from Athy Co Kildare competed in the U10 British Championships in Sheffield recently, and finished in 3rd place overall. This was a seven round tournament which took place from 1st to the 5th of August.

Padraig began the tournament as the 31st seed of the 34 competitors in the U10 section, but his final tally of 4 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss was enough to take a prize.

His week began with a very bright start, as he won his first two games, beating Ashwin Krishna (86 - note all ratings are ECF ratings) and Harry Grieve (96). In the Third round game Padraig played Elizabeth Ivanov (91) and after a very close encounter the game ended in a draw. This put Padraig near the top of the leaderboard and in the fourth round he was drawn to play the No 1 Seed Kai Pannwitz (146).

Kai had played on board No 2 for the Scottish u12 team which played in the four Nations tournament in Dublin recently and was one of the favourites for overall honours. Again after a very long tough game, it ended in a draw.

Round 5 was to be another tough contest as Padraig played the highly rated player and the No 2 seed Dion Huang (126). After a really close end game, Padraig lost out narrowly and suffered what was to be his 1st and only defeat.

That same afternoon Padraig bounced back with a great win in round 6 against Florian Garland Hoff (82) and this put him back amongst the leaders.

On the final day Padraig played the 5th seed Edward Stevenson (118) and with a convincing win he brought his final points tally to 5 / 7, which was enough to secure 3rd place in what was a great tournament and a great experiance overall.