Chess team win Regional Finals!

Highcliffe School Chess team bring home the trophy in Bournemouth and District Inter-School Chess Finals.

Highcliffe School have won the final of the Bournemouth and District Inter-School Chess Competition held at Elstead Hotel.

The silver trophy for the competition has now been engraved with our school’s name for the first time. After a tough fight against a strong team Bournemouth School team who have held the cup for the last two years.

James, one of our sixth formers, won all three of his games and his experience as a South African Junior player was invaluable.

Adam, on board two, faced difficult battles but came through victorious, coming from behind on pieces to win in two games. In one of these he forced his opponent to run out of time, and in the other found counter-play by repeatedly checking and then pinning the opposing queen against her king with his rook.

Thomas won his first game on board three but was under a lot of stress after losing his second, concentrating so hard that his breathing was audible in an otherwise silent room. However he recovered his third game from being an exchange down, by a pin and then a fork, leading to the win which secured Highcliffe’s overall victory – and an enormous sigh of relief from Thomas.

Annelie and Micky, each Under-14 Dorset champions, were unfortunately defeated by strong opposition. Theo managed to secure his first win for Highcliffe, as well as Barnaby winning his game too.

Killian, from Year 12, was victorious on board five but was defeated on board four.

Harvey and Andrea played in the earlier rounds but not in the final, though they did provide plenty of humour on the day and lifted the team’s spirit in the waiting room and between matches.