Nikol Borg and John Refalo win SCC Juniors September 2025

The monthly Swieqi Chess Club Junior Rapids for September took place on Saturday 13th September, with the usual Under 12s and Under 18s tournaments. Thirty seven players enjoyed the event, with the Under 18 tournament getting stronger and being FIDE rated allows our players to improve their skills, whilst the Under 12s allows our younger players to shine with the event also rated using the Chess Buddies rating system.

The Under 12s, consisted of 16 players, four of which where of category under 8. The winner ended up being one of the Under 8s, Nikol Borg who won the event on full points, whilst on joint 2nd place, but 2nd with better tie-break was Nathan Farrugia and 3rd was taken by Brenton Schembri. From the Under 12, a nice gesture by young player Gianluigi Zammit who celebrated his birthday with the other players bringing a cupcake for each participant!

Full results for Under 12s can be found at https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1246394.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=5&group=U8&SNode=S0

The Under 18s event was once again very strong event, with 19 players playing. The event was won by John Refalo, who still falls in the Under 12 category but plays in the elder category! Second place, was taken by Isaac Grima Bongailas and third place went to Gabriel Grech who on tie-break got the better of Zachary Briffa and Gabriel Gauci.

Full results for Under 18s can be found at https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1246392.aspx?lan=1&art=1&group=U8&SNode=S0