Ballakermeen High School’s first internal chess tournament proved successful with 64 students competing and more than 130 games played by students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10.

After a busy start with all players completing three games in the league stage, the top 32 students were invited back for the knockout rounds.

The semi-finals pitted four very strong chess players together, with Matthew Hooper and Riley Sutton narrowly beaten.

They played-off an incredibly fast back-and-forth game akin to a speed game, ending with Sutton taking third place.

The final saw Jade Sharples (Year 7), who had been strong in the knockout stages, defeating much older competitors, up against the impressive Stephen Jukes (Year 10) who had breezed through his earlier games.

Their high-level match saw no mistakes being made, to be eventually won by the stronger positional play of Jukes. He received a beautiful handmade 18-inch solid Acacia wood chess set and trophy.

This new chess tournament is the latest development in Ballakermeen’s ambition to encourage students to engage with what for many becomes a life-long obsession.

The engagement in both chess club and the tournament has been remarkable. Often 30 or more students attend the chess club, larger than most class sizes. It involves a mixture of new players keen to learn and seasoned players wanting to test their metal.

Plans to expand the tournament to include other year groups as part of the Enrichment Week offer during the summer of 2022 are in place, and eventually have an island-wide inter-school championship. The sky is the limit.

Jo Klimach