Somerset won the Primary Inter-School Queensland Chess Final, in a gripping finale that was decided in the very last game. Over the weekend of 19 and 20 October at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, 17 Somerset students competed in a field of 273 total students (169 primary and 106 secondary) representing 63 total teams (40 primary and 23 secondary).
A huge congratulations to the other winning schools: Anglican Church Grammar School (“Churchie”) in the Secondary, King’s Christian College in the Secondary Girls and Sunnybank Hills SS in the Primary Girls. Somerset finished an excellent second in the Secondary Open, third in the Secondary Girls and sixth in the Primary Girls.
The Primary Final is usually a very tight contest, and this year was no exception. After two rounds, Somerset and defending champion MacGregor emerged as the two leaders with 8/8 points. Their third-round clash was a 2 all tie, to set up a close race for Sunday. The Spartans notched up solid victories over eventual third and fourth place-getters, Nundah SS (3 to 1) and Fernvale SS (3 to 1). MacGregor kept pace, and once again we were tied going into the final round.
In the last round, Kings’ held MacGregor to a 2 all tie, and Somerset was losing the match 1 to 2 to Churchie. Now all eyes were on Melody Yang’s match, who was up two pawns and trying to win a difficult endgame. The entire Somerset team, including parents and coaches, were closely following the electronic broadcast of the moves on the projected screen. And when Melody finally won, the whole team erupted and Melody was hailed a hero!
The winning team, Eason Wang (4.5/6 on Board 1), Anson Qu (3/6 on Board 2), Melody Yang (5.5/6 on Board 3 and individual gold) and Sophia Ahern (5/6 on Board 4), deserve high praise for their outstanding performance in an extremely tense competition. Their mutual support for one another during the weekend was outstanding.
In the end, pre-tournament favourites Churchie won by a two-point margin. But Somerset’s second place was also outstanding, with notable victories over Brisbane Grammar, King’s and TSS. The 1 to 3 loss to Churchie was the difference, and the games in that match could have gone either way. I’m sure that our Secondary team next year will have a good chance to claim the title. Well done to: Byron Morris (2.5/6), Kevin Song (3.5/6), Oliver Yang (6/6 and individual gold on Board 3) and Kenny Ming (5/6).
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