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Story by Joseph and Stephen.

On Friday the 16^th of December, the Winter Chess tournament took place in the assembly hall.  The whole tournament lasted two and a half hours altogether and went on over four periods.

Twenty nine students entered, but only one left victorious after many intense struggles over the chess board. The other 28 went home with Harris Points and pride.

The 15 minute time limit created a challenge in the matches of the group stages. From eight groups, 16 students went through to the next round.  A few groups were so close that rock, paper, scissors had to be used to decide who would progress. From these 16, eight were then knocked out – the quarter-finalists remained.

In the quarter-finals the chess-clocks were introduced with timers of eight minutes and lots of people were caught out by the increase of stress when playing against the clock.

Then the semi-finals were of a high standard: Abdurahim took on Victor, and Alfie played against Baseer. Victor was ahead on pieces in a fantastic game but ran out of time, putting Abdurahim into the final. In the other semi-final, also of a high quality, Baseer won through.

So the final was between Abdurahim and Baseer. There was a six minute timer on the chess clock to add drama to this final matchup. They shook hands and then Baseer made his first move. Lots of Year 8s and Year 7s gathered around staring down at the four hands controlling the battle.

As each moment went on, the suspense kept on building. The older Abdurahim began to dominate the game against his younger challenger. Gradually the pressure told, and with all his pieces surrounding Baseer’s king in a final attack, Abdurahim stole the win and lifted the trophy.

The final photo sums up the amount of fun that we all had today. A great time was had by all and some excellent chess was played.