On Monday 10^th February twelve pupils went to Bristol Grammar School to compete in the English Chess Federation's Team Chess Challenge.

The West of England Regional Heat included schools from Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire and Bristol, all seasoned competitors, some of them with an ECF grading (a national ranking system).

It was a long evening. We left Bruton at 2.45pm, started playing chess at 4.15pm, completed our games by 6.30pm and returned to Bruton at 8.30pm. I was really proud of the King’s pupils who took part, especially our U6^th Form team members who made a commitment to play despite there being so many other demands on their time.

For reasons that will become apparent I will refer to the teams as:

Team Hodgson:

Tyler, Gabriel, Theo and Caspar 

Team Stockton:

Sam, Rachel, Freda and Rian 

Team Phillips:

Sandy, Felix, Tom and Hector 

When we arrived at the Great Hall in Bristol Grammar School, our first impression was how small (in stature) some of the other teams were: there were a lot of Year 7 pupils taking part. We soon discovered that size and age are no advantage in playing chess. We enjoyed a quick drink and doughnut, then Round 1 began.

Round 1

There were 18 teams in total, representing nine schools from the region. In Round 1 the allocation was random, so Team Hodgson ended up playing against a team who would eventually come second. Not surprisingly, they lost all four of their games. Team Phillips managed one win and three losses. Team Stockton fared better, winning two and losing two.

Round 2

Round 2 was another struggle. Team Hodgson won one game and Team Phillips achieved one draw. Team Stockton lost all their games. After two games played only four of our players had managed to score any points.

Round 3

This cloud had a silver lining; in Round 3 we were placed against other teams in the bottom half of the table, giving us an opportunity to do better. Team Hodgson won all four of their games, Team Stockton won three and Team Phillips won two. We were still in the bottom half of the table, but we were not in the bottom quarter.

Round 4

Round 4 was another good round for us. Team Phillips won three games and Team Hodgson won two. Some of us gathered around to watch a nail-biting finish between Sam and his opponent from Denmark Road High School. Both players were down to just their kings and a handful of pawns. Sam carefully defended his pawns and one was able to make a break for it. Finally, Sam had a queen. His opponent only had her king. We watched as Sam tried to capitalise on his advantage, but this was one situation where our lack of experience let us down and the game ended in a draw. All the same, Team Stockton had done well in that round, achieving two wins and two draws.

With four rounds played, we were able to assess our overall performance. Given that it was our first time at such an event, I feel that we were very successful. Team Stockton came 8^th out of 18 teams. Team Hodgson came 12^th and Team Phillips came 13^th.

The three best performing players were:

Tyler: three wins.

Sam: two wins and a draw.

 Sandy: two wins and a draw.

All players had a very good evening. We played some good chess and know that we all need to work on our endgames if we are to be more successful in the future. In the time-honoured fashion of King’s, we stopped at McDonald’s for nourishment along the way and drove back through some wintry showers over the hills, glad when we finally got back to Bruton.

Thomas Owens - Teacher of Mathematics