Chess Champion at King’s

The Worcestershire County Chess Championships was a four-round tournament held over two days at King’s Worcester, in which over 20 entrants competed for the coveted title of Junior and Senior Chess Champion.

The juniors in the field were mixed in with the main draw, which was a great experience but meant that they had to work hard for every point.

Lower Sixth King’s pupil Josh C had an excellent draw against a top-ten county player in round one but lost his second game and needed to do very well to be in with a chance of winning the junior title. He won his third game against another junior, but still needed to do better than his main rival from Malvern College in the final round. Both of their games looked like they might end in draws, but Josh showed excellent technique in the final stages. He explains, “I was able to exchange off into a good knight versus a bad bishop and then infiltrate with my king and win the resulting king and pawn endgame.” His score of 2.5/4 gave him a half point advantage over the other juniors in the field to become the 2022 Worcestershire Junior Chess Champion.

We congratulate Josh on this excellent achievement; chess at King’s is going from strength to strength and we’re sure Josh’s victory will serve as an inspiration to all our players.

Ray Collett, President of the Worcestershire Chess Association said, “I’ve received countless emails from entrants saying how much they enjoyed the tournament experience. It’s been a long time since the last tournament in 2019 and it’s been wonderful to finally host a tournament in Worcester too and for local players to have the opportunity to play close to home. A huge well done to all who took part and we look forward to the next tournament very soon.”

Pupils who would like to join the Chess Club are encouraged to get in contact with Mrs McConalogue.