Chess Rapidplay Tournament at Eton College

Last Sunday, the Chess Rapidplay competition held at Eton College was a great success, with SPS securing a spot in the top 15 out of a total of 56 secondary schools.

We promptly defeated Sir William Borlase in our opening round, sweeping them 6 to 0. The next two rounds against Reading School and Westminster Under School were tough and gruelling but thanks to Liam (Fifth Form) and Zach (Lower Eighth), we managed to score 3-3 in both rounds. The toughest round we faced was against Highgate School, when we suffered a devastating loss after three rounds, 4-2. Ryan (Lower Eighth), who was playing for SPS for the first time and in his first team event, won his match, while Liam and Richard (Fifth Form) were able to draw theirs. In the last round, we knew it wouldn’t be an easy match because our opponent was Brentwood School, whose coach was IM Richard Pert (Ryan also got him to autograph his book that he wrote!). Liam was able to draw his game against Max Pert, one of the strongest players in the tournament, and we ultimately won with a score of 4.5 to 1.5.

The highlight of the day was Zach’s victory over Westminster Under, who used a clever tactic to achieve checkmate by sacrificing his knight and rook. Throughout the tournament, the captain Vedaant (Lower Eighth) also showed his outstanding leadership.

Overall, the SPS chess team had an excellent performance, and we will certainly be even better the following time.