On Thursday of week 9, South Coast Baptist sent two teams to the Chess Kids State Finals, having won the regional tournament in both Primary and Secondary. All competitors played nine games with a time limit of 15 minutes per side. Our teams were:

Primary: Carson Richardson, Matthew Avery, Samuel Chansongo, Tristan Lewis and Johnathon Walker

Secondary: Sherjeel Ahmad, Jade Clayson, John Gao, Mitchell Pieri and Abraham Walsh

Our students battled well, displaying a potent mix of foresight, quick thinking, trickery, patience and reckless bravado. We saw sacrifices of pawns and queens, checkmates out of nowhere, and clocks run down to the last few seconds. Mr Lituri and Mr Dawes, along with some very generous parents, provided support for our students as they fought through over five hours of intense competition.

We were up against stiff opposition, with big names like All Saints and Rossmoyne in the mix. In the end our Primary team came sixth out of eight teams, and our Secondary team came seventh of nine. Our top Primary player was the infectiously enthusiastic Carson Richardson, with a score of 5; top in Secondary was the wise and wily Sherjeel Ahmad, scoring 5.5. Despite the high difficulty level, our boys and girl had a great deal of fun and represented the College admirably.