Winter Holidays Chess

Over the mid-year break, many Somerset students took part in the various chess events. Namely, the Gold Coast Open weekend tournament, the Queensland Junior Championship and the Chess Holiday Program held at Somerset.

Gold Coast Open

A total of 183 players took part in the Gold Coast Open this year – an international tournament that is one of the biggest and strongest tournaments in Australia. The top division had many of the top Australian players and even several overseas players. There were five Grand Masters (the highest title in chess).

Notable performances from Somerset students included Eason Wang, Byron Morris and Ben Atia (4.5/7 in the Major division, = ninth). Jason Li, Kabilan Manuneedhi, Kenny Ming, Lyanna Chan, Mayuri Yamaguchi and Charlie Liu also participated in the Major. Raff Atia, Kei Naito and Kona Baldock played in the Minor section. All students managed to score points against very tough opposition, and gained invaluable experience.

Queensland Juniors

The 2018 Queensland Junior Championship was held 2 to 6 July at St Joseph’s Nudgee College. In the Under 12, Eason Wang finished = sixth with 5.5/8 and Sophia Ahern =14th with 4.5/8. Byron Morris had a great performance in the Under 18, finishing = eigth overall with 4.5/8. He held the top seed and eventual winner Hughston Parle to a draw.

Full results of the Gold Coast Open and the Queensland Juniors here.

Winter Holiday Programme

In the third week of the holidays, we had the Chess camp at Somerset. Kids from all over the Gold Coast came to learn and play. On Thursday 12 July, we finished with a tournament day, the Winter Cup.

A few notable achievements from Somerset students included: Sophia Ahern = first on Tuesday in the Advanced Group; Bobby Long first on Wednesday in Intermediate and first overall for Intermediate/Beginner for Monday-Wednesday combined; Kenny Ming first with 7/8 in the Winter Cup out of a field of 53.

Somerset Chess in Term Three

Key dates:

• APS Chess: Thursday 2 August in the Somerset Great Hall 
• Gold Coast Secondary Inter-School: Wednesday 8 August at St Stephen’s College 
• Gold Coast Primary Inter-School: Wednesday 5 September at Carrara Indoor Stadium

Lunchtime Chess club will be running as in Term Two:

• Year 1 to 2 at the Year 1 classrooms each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 
• Year 3 to 12 in Brown 2.5 each lunchtime.

It’s not too late to sign up for Term Three co-curricular lessons! To register your child, log in to My Somerset Community and go to the 'Electives' tab.