Twenty-four teams from across York and North Yorkshire competed on Monday in the largest York Schools’ chess competition yet.
Held at Fishergate School, St Peter’s 8-13 won the primary title with a team of Bertie, Max, Zac and Arthur. They narrowly held off St Peter’s B team, and a team of ‘all-stars’ from a variety of York schools to win the Simon Benedictus shield, named for a strong supporter of junior chess whose legacy has helped fund the competition.
Meanwhile. St Peter’s came third in the secondary school division, closely behind Scarborough College in second place whilst Fulford Secondary School retained their title for the third year running. Congratulations to our team members Lewis, Tristan, Roman and Fred. A special mention must go to Lewis and Tristan who received special awards for their strategy and skill.
Prizes were awarded by International Chess Master and editor of Chess Magazine, Richard Palliser. Organiser, Ben Rich, said:
“Schools chess in York is going from strength to strength. From just 12 teams competing three years ago, we have now doubled that and we could have had more had we had the space.
The Netflix show, The Queen’s Gambit, and covid gave chess an initial boost, but we have been able to ride the wave with weekly drop-in junior clubs at Guppy’s Enterprise Club (Wednesdays 5.30pm) and York Explore Library (Sundays 2pm) attracting ever increasing numbers.”
For more information about junior chess in York, call Ben on 07469159134.
The junior chess club at St Peter’s 8-13 is well attended with 55 pupils signed up and is held every Tuesday lunchtime. We have three under 11 teams and four under 9 teams and aim to have at least three girls in each age group.
