On Tuesday, 16th December, we took six brave Year 9 students to compete in the inaugural inter-school chess tournament at Sotogrande International School.
The first round started well for EIC, with four of our players securing wins and only two suffering tough losses against older opposition. The second round was a resounding success, with our players winning on all six boards against strong opponents.
After the heats (the first five rounds), the EIC team were leading with 21 points, which put us straight through to the final! It should be mentioned that the other teams included Sixth Formers, meaning our students were up against players three to four years older than them. This makes their achievement even more remarkable, as beating older, more experienced opponents is a significant challenge in any game. Despite some initial nerves at facing such opposition, our team coped admirably with the pressure and showed great resilience.
In the final, EIC won comfortably, securing victories on most boards. This meant that EIC became the inaugural champions of the inter-school chess championship! Such was their dominance that our six players scored more total points than the other two teams (12 players) combined!
In addition to the overall team prize, some of our players earned individual awards. Neoh won the certificate for "Most Improved Player", having most outperformed his initial rating.
Danny deserves a special mention for winning the most games overall, with an unbeaten 5/5 record in the heats, followed by victory in his final game.
Overall, the team surpassed everyone's expectations and were an absolute credit to themselves and the school. Congratulations!
We look forward to a possible rematch later in the year.
