On Saturday, 25 March, Wilson’s U13 chess team played in the national finals of Junior Team Chess Challenge at RGS Newcastle. There was some tough opposition, but as the defending champions we knew we were in with a chance of winning and retaining the trophy.

In round 1 we had an emphatic victory over Five Ways, a team from Birmingham, followed by defeating Sir Thomas Rich (Gloucestershire) in round 2. Round 3 saw our first tough match, against local rivals Hampton. We won this match thanks to great play on board 1 by Balahari (8G). We spent our lunch break reflecting on our three wins in the morning session, but knowing that the toughest fixtures were yet to come. In round 4 we drew with the favourites, King’s College School (Wimbledon) and in round 5 we blew away Nottingham High School. In the final round we had the battle for second place and unfortunately lost to Brentwood (Essex).

Still we were very proud to be placed third in the country. What is more, we can hope to do better next year with a virtually unchanged team, with one more year’s experience! Arnav (7C) was our top scorer with four wins and one draw, whilst Balahari (8G), Akshay (7D), Anthony (7S) and Adit (7G) also had some good wins.