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Birmingham and District Junior Chess League – Event 2

Our young team of Year 4 and 5 entered the U13 chess league against older players; facing hurdles, but proving success.

Published

27 November 2023

School

#Prep

Birmingham and District Junior Chess League – Event 2

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It’s a little bit cheeky for us to enter an U13 chess league when the vast majority of our top players are U11. What made this event even more scary was that it took place during the week in which all of our top Yr6 players were away on a trip and therefore unavailable for selection. So it was that we pitted a team of Yr4 and Yr5 players in a competition against 15 other school teams comprising entirely of Yr7 and Yr8 players. The schools in attendance included King Edwards School, King Edward High School for Girls, King Edward VI Camp Hill, King Edward VI Five Ways, Bishop Vessey, Solihull School, Queen Mary’s Grammar School, King Edward VI Aston. We prepared our young players: Krish, Aarav, Handuo and Arnav for a tough event, attempting to keep expectations realistic.

Round 1

Our players did not realise that they were underdogs and beat Queen Mary’s A team 4/0, a fantastic start to the event.

Round 2

This was a much sterner test against one of the favourites, King Edward High School for Girls captained by our former player, and chess superstar, Diah. This proved a step too far as the confidence gained from round one perhaps turned into overconfidence and we suffered a 4/0 defeat.

Round 3 & Round 4

Following a robust pep talk the players responded magnificently to win the next 2 rounds against Solihull B team and Bishop Vesey A team putting them in third place going into the final round.

Round 5

Unfortunately the team found itself up against the favourites, King Edwards School A team. Three of the KES team were former Hallfield players and two of them were former Hallfield A team board 1 players (Preesh and Farhaan)! Despite this our team fought hard and long and only lost narrowly by 2.5/1.5 with Krish winning a brilliant game against their talented board 1 player.

When all of the final round games had finished and the dust had settled, we were delighted to discover that we had finished third (of 16 teams) just behind King Edwards School in second place and a delighted King Edward High School for Girls in first place. Well done to our young team: Krish, Aarav, Handuo and Arnav on a truly fantastic result.