Today the Chess in Schools competition was run a little differently with a record 58 children competing (47 in the year 2 to 6 competition). It was run on a team basis with 11 teams of 4 with the total scores for each team member totalled to find a winner. The information below is provided by David Hardy the organiser.
St James and St Thomas contributed 6 players in total. There were some remarkable performances and I have to say I am really chuffed at the outcome.
The team that won the whole competition included 3 of our players:
Alyssa Varlow scored an amazing 6 wins out of 6 (the only player to do so!),
Jack Ellidge scored 4 out of 6 and
Kian Winkler 3 out of 6 (I have a feeling this score should be higher but I have no way of checking). Each player won a gold medal and voucher.
The team that came 2nd included
Aaron Varlow who scored an excellent 4 out of 6, very impressive for a year 3.
This team also included Josh Tindall (one of chess kids from a previous school).
Jacob Hunt who seemed to have been given a difficult team but he couldn't do much more than win 5 games out of 6 (his best competition score to date).
I am really pleased to say we also had a newcomer today in class champion Lucy Inglis and although she only scored 1 out 6 this will have given her valuable experience of competitive chess.