On Saturday 1st of February 2020 Scalby School in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, launched its first inter-school Chess Tournament and it was a resounding success. More than 40 youngsters from the Scarborough and York area joined for a day of learning, fun and competition. Neven Buric, a Maths and Graphics teacher at Scalby, has been running the schools chess club for a year and wanted to offer an opportunity for junior players to compete. He said, “Chess is so much more than just a board game. It offers students the chance to think analytically, evaluate options, plan strategically and solve problems. These are transferable skills that students should be developing to support their futures. Unfortunately, junior chess does not exist in Scarborough currently and I wanted to launch an annual event so students would have a chance to compete. I was delighted with the number of students taking part and enjoying the experience.”

The three members of Scarborough Chess Club, John Jarmany, Neil Pennock and Simon Dixon, who have shown an interest in junior chess, visited the tournament on Saturday and donated some chess books and magazines to Scalby School chess club and offered help and support with the next tournament.

The event was supported by Peter Clousdale, coach and a member of English Chess Federation, who coached youngsters between rounds. Peter was delighted to see so many youngsters enjoying the game and said, “Scalby School has put on an excellent event which I hope will continue in the future. It is imperative that the game supports junior players, so well done Scalby School for offering this experience.”

The winners of each category were as follows:

KS2 Categories
KS2 Supremo	Luka Buric	St Martin’s School
Year 3 and 4, boys’ category	Benja Buric	St. Martin’s School
Year 3 and 4, girls’ category	Olive Atthews	St. Martin’s School
Year 5 and 6, boys’ category	Joshua Lappao	St. Martin’s School
Year 5 and 6, girls’ category	Molly Bridel	St. Wilfrid’s School, York
KS3 Categories
KS3 Supremo	Vinoli Withanarachchi	Scalby School
Year 7 and 8, boys’ category	Gil Varley	Graham School
Year 7 and 8, girls’ category	Rose Darrington	Scalby School
KS4 Categories
KS4 Supremo	Harry Cammish	Scarborough College
Year 9 and 10, boys’ category	Jacob Wilson	Scalby School

Well done to all of the students who took part!

(Report kindly supplied by Neven Buric.)