On Wednesday 20 April, the chess team of Jackson Wen, Jess Wen, Harry Houillon, Victor Poracchia, Oge Flagg-Igbo, Laurence Lam and Rayan Melwani competed in the Team Chess Challenge National Finals at Imperial College, London.
After an hour of non-competitive chess puzzles, we split into the chess problem team of Oge, Laurence and Rayan and the chess competition team (Jackson headed the team on board one, followed by Jess, Harry and Victor). There were many strong teams at the tournament and we were seeded second-last. Each round was only ten minutes plus two seconds increment after each move.
After five rounds of tough games, we scored 4.5 points. A special mention goes to Victor, who bravely battled through his first major tournament final for the school. Oge, Laurence and Rayan did extremely well in the chess problems, coming third in our first competitive chess problem competition.
All in all, it was a valuable day off and we all improved our problem-solving ability and quick thinking. The day would not have been so successful without Miss Yin’s efficient organisation, John Emms’ invaluable teaching and Dr Patterson’s commitment.
Jessica Wen
