BIRMINGHAMTHEBLUECOATSCHOOL1722

On Thursday 28 March, 12 BCS chess players travelled to Twickenham Prep School to compete in the prestigious IAPS National Chess Championships. Our U9 team featured Garrick, Yang, Peter and Yixi, while the U10 team consisted of Adam, William, Sahib and Aiden.  Finally, the U11 side included Emma, Arjun, Syan and Brandon.

Each age group competition played over 5 rounds against some of the best chess players in the country. BCS came out of the blocks hard and secured many victories in the first round. Round 2 and Round 3 brought some mixed results but all players continued to display great focus and concentration in the final rounds to ensure strong overall records across the tournament.

As the BCS squad waited for the prize giving ceremony to begin, excitement spread as many BCS players had strong chances of winning medals. That became reality when the following were announced: Garrick and Peter achieved bronze medals in the U9 competition, Adam and Aiden secured bronze medals in the U10 competition, Emma collected a bronze medal in the U11 competition, and Syan and Brandon brought home silver medals in the U11 competition. Then, to round it all off, Yang was crowned the U9 National Chess Champion – a wonderful achievement and fully deserved. He received a splendid trophy and gold medal.

A massive well done to all of our chess players for their incredible efforts at this competition; a special well done to those of you who won medals. BCS chess is on the move and certainly in the right direction!