Primary Chess Interschool

Round One of the Gold Coast South Primary Chess Interschools Tournament, held at Hillcrest Christian College on Wednesday 7 March, resulted in another dominating victory for Somerset. There were 80 keen Somerset Chess students who competed among a field of 187 in total.

The top Somerset team won Gold in A Division, ahead of rivals King’s Christian College (silver), while the second Somerset team won bronze (equal second with King’s).

The winning team in A Division had three of its players win all seven games: Raff Atia, Eason Wang and Kenny Ming, and Anson Qu finished equal fourth on 5/7. So as a team they scored an incredible 26 points from 28 games. Congratulations also to Melody Yang and Sophia Ahern on a very good result (5 points each).

In B Division, Somerset teams won all three podium finish places. Advait Naik was the star performer with 7/7, winning individual gold and leading his team to bronze. Sasha Hanford scored individual silver with 6/7 (only losing to Advait), and Ken Yang won individual bronze with 5.5/6. Congratulations to these merit winners: Edward Zhang (5/7), Ken Wu (5/7), Harry Mackintosh (4.5/7) and James Young (4.5/7).

Somerset also won a team bronze in C Division. Merrit winners for C Division: Nate van den Brink (5/7), Noa Chester-Haviv (5/7), Calen Tang (5/7), Angus Fraser (4.5/7), Adriana Smith (4.5/7) and Oscar Goetz (4.5/7).

Simul by Grandmaster Kayden Troff

Some of Somerset’s best young Chess stars had the opportunity to play against a Grandmaster last weekend. Kayden Troff, from the United States, was the World Under 14 Champion. He became a Grandmaster (the highest possible title in Chess) at just 16 years old. Now 19, he’s temporarily in Australia, serving as a missionary for the Mormon Church.

Some of the best young players in South East Queensland had a rare opportunity to watch a presentation by Grandmaster Troff, where he analysed his win from the World Championship. Following that, there were two “simuls” (simultaneous displays), where Grandmaster Troff played against the group of 20 kids at the same time, and then against a group of 22 kids/ adults.

Of the 42 games in total, GM Troff only lost two games and drew one. One of the losses was against Year 7 Somerset student Oliver Yang, while Byron Morris, from Year 8, held the Grandmaster to a draw. Byron and Oliver are currently the Board 2 and 3 for Somerset’s first Senior team.

Upcoming events:

• Junior Masters - Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 March

• One Day Challenge - Sunday 25 March

• Doeberl Cup (29 March to 2 April, an international event in Canberra; some top Somerset students will participate)