Pupils from Barnby Road Academy, Sutton on Trent Primary School and John Blow Primary School and Holy Trinity Catholic Academy take part in annual chess competition

m.tavares@newarkadvertiser.co.uk

Published: 12:42, 28 May 2024

There was a close finish to the final round of an inter-schools chess competition

Holy Trinity Catholic Academy, Newark, hosted the latest round of Newark Primary School’s chess competition which involved 36 children from four schools across the district.

At back Regan King in blue on left (Barnby Road) playing Holy trinity girl in red and at the front Holy Trinity girl in red playing Lewis Redfern in blue (Barnby Road)

The nine teams of four players included pupils from Barnby Road Academy, Newark; Sutton-on-Trent Primary School and John Blow Primary School and Holy Trinity Catholic Academy.

Sutton on Trent B team were the winners of the final round with 24 points after edging ahead of Holy Trinity A team and Sutton-on-Trent A team.

It was the first time since the competition started in 2008, that a team has won first place with only 24 points, as before the lowest score was 26 an often winning teams scored over 30 points.

The winning Sutton-on-Trent B team were Reuben Ashman, Austin Hadley, Myron Tymofielev, Max Stephenson, – all aged ten.

Runners-up were Sutton-on-Trent A Max Moody, Sam Nickless, Regan Brown and Dylan Portess, all 11.

Each pupil played three games against the different teams. and eight were presented with medals for winning all three, one medal for Holy Trinity, one for Barnby Road and six for Sutton on Trent.

Regan Brown in red (Sutton on Trent) playing Albert Hughes in blue (Barnby Road)

Henry Opie in blue playing (Barnby Road) playing Josh Parkinson in red (John Blow)

Sam Nickless in green (Sutton on Trent ) playing Ed Fleming in red (John Blow) . Marcel Taylor the arbiter in the back ground. Holy Trinity boy playing Myron Tymofielev (Sutton on Trent)

Two previous rounds had been held in November and March and the scores from these two events were added to the final round to produce the winner.

Alistair Millar from Tallents Solicitors — the competition sponsors — presented the trophies to the three leading teams and medals to the children who won all three games.

Event organiser Graham Ladds said: “It is good to see that the standard of chess improves significantly from the first round.

“The children develop their strategy much better and concentrate hard to find the best moves.

“I am sure chess improves logical thinking and problem solving and I think it is of educational benefit to children I just wish more local schools would take part.”

Before the final games, Sutton-on-Trent A and Holy Trinity A were both with 20.5 points and Sutton on Trent B had 20 points.

Players that won all 3 games and were presented with medals

Max Moody (Sutton on Trent) playing Ed Fleming (John Blow)

Children at back on left – not clearOn right Regan Brown in red (Sutton on Trent) playing Albert Hughes in blue (Barnby Road), at front Holy Trinity in red playing Zac Boswell in red (Sutton on Trent)

Sutton-on-Trent A scored 3.5 points in the last round and Sutton on Trent B won all four games.

With the teams having the same score, the organisers and judges had to find a way to choose a winner.

“The rule we use is that the team that scores more points in the last round is the winner, so Sutton B pipped Sutton A., Holy Trinity who I thought would be the overall winner sadly dropped away and only 1.5 points to finish third,” added Graham.

Sutton-on-Trent C scored the majority of the points in the final round, with 11 points out of 12.

Education Human Interest Newark Marta Tavares