Somerset Chess

As the 2017 school year ended, nine students headed to Sydney to compete in the Australian Schools Team Championships. Somerset had qualified a team in two divisions, Oliver Yang, Eason Wang, Raphael Atia, Anson Qu and Melody Yang in the Primary Open and Lyanna Chan, Talia Varcoe, Jennifer Yeung and Mayuri Yamaguchi in the Secondary Girls.

In the Primary Open event, Somerset finished equal second (second on count-back) after a solid performance of 13/20. Somerset pushed the winners (Waverly Christian College, VIC) and indeed could have won that head-to-head match up, however it wasn't to be. The team played well, with Oliver Yang starring, scoring 4/5 to pick up the prize for best scoring player on board one. Eason Wang also scored 4/5 on board 2 which was 2nd on his board.

In the Secondary Girls event, Presbyterian Ladies’ College from VIC were the dominant team and ran away with the event. The Somerset girls battled hard, in what was a very hard-fought event. All the girls put in some excellent performances, despite results not quite going their way. Mayuri Yamaguchi starred on board 4 with 4/5. In the end the girls finished in fourth place (9.5/20), taking points of all the top teams. The trip was a fantastic learning opportunity for all the players involved, and for those who are continuing this year, it will make them stronger. Many thanks to all the players, parents and coaches for all their hard work.

The Australian Junior Championships were held in Melbourne during January and many Somerset players competed. In the under 18 Open, both Byron Morris (equal seventh) and Oliver Yang (equal 17th) played well above their age bracket and competed solidly throughout the event; Byron performing well above his rating. In the Under 14 Open, Ben Atia finished equal 24th and Jason Li equal 43rd. In the Under 12 Open, Raphael Atia finished equal 12th, well above his seeding, with Eason Wang equal 22nd and Kenny Ming – 41st. This was a huge event with 106 players taking part!

In the Under 14 Girls, Lyanna Chan performed very well to finish third, while Jennifer Yeung finish 11th. In the Under 12 Girls, Melody Yang finished equal second in an outstanding performance.

In the other events, Oliver Yang finished third in the Under 12 Open section of the Problem Solving competition.

In 2018, there have been some changes to the Chess Programme at Somerset College. The Co-Curricular programme will be continuing in the Junior School as it has in the past, however we are very excited to inform students interested in Lunch Club Chess can now come straight to the chess room! Year 1 and 2 students will be collected by our Chess coaches and walked across as per usual.

Lunch Club days are as follows:

Senior School – WednesdayYears 3 to 6 – every dayYears 1 and 2 – Tuesday and Thursday

The Senior School Chess programme has now been moved to Thursday mornings from 7.15 – 8.15. The top Junior School students will be invited to participate in this programme to further progress.