ECF National Schools Chess Final

On the 29-30 June, St Paul’s – along with 25 other schools – participated in the ECF National Schools Final.

The team started well with a 6-0 victory over RGS Newcastle. They then drew their second and third matches 3-3 against Haberdashers’ and City of London, leaving them in joint fourth place after the first day. An unfortunate 4-2 defeat to Exeter in the penultimate round followed by a 3.5-2.5 final-round win over Eton College left them in equal seventh place at the end of the competition.

A special mention must go to Liam Clery-Luta in the Fourth Form and the youngest member of the team, who won four of his five games playing on Board 6 and drew the other one, finishing with a 90% score.

Although the team did not win the final, they improved on last year’s result and hope to build on their success in future years.