School chess Championship

On the 8th of October 2011 Yarm preparatory school held the 17th Yarm Chess Championship.  There was an under 11 section and an under 9 section.  Darlington chess club were delighted to send a team to compete for the first time.  The Darlington youngsters were joined by over 100 children from around the North East.

The competition was a team event with each team been made up from children attending the same school or chess club.  The format was a five round swiss event.

As it was Darlington's first time we had no idea what the standard would be like, would we be completely blown away?
Round one and Darlington were playing one of the super strong Royal Grammar School (RGS) teams.

The Darlington kids were smashed 3.5 - 0.5 with only 5-year-old Dylan securing a draw.

After that round I congratulated the kids, much to their surprise.  I was pleased at how hard they had fought, two of our games were the last to finish.  I likened them to wild cats fighting every inch of the way.  Round two came and the wild cats had their tails up winning 3-1.  Round three was another victory 2.5 - 1.5.  The Darlington kids were now playing well.

 Dylan, Lea, Harry and Aidan.

Round four we played the second placed RGS team and were smashed 4-0.  Time for a break.

A feature of the competition, was a room for the kids to eat and a large astro turf area to let off steam.  A large game of no rules football erupted, with 20-30 a-side teams, great fun and just what the kids needed.  We made friend with some great kids during the chess and the football.

Round five was a draw 2-2.

My man of the match was Dylan, I may be biased as he is my son.  At 5 the tables were too big for him to reach all the way to the other side of the board.  Below he executed his walk round the table to finish his move technique.

Dylan finished on +2 =2 -1.

I was very proud and pleased with the whole team.

Well done to Sean Marsh for organising a brilliant event.  Next year we hope to have at least two teams enter.