English Chess Federation Team Challenge National Finals

Brentwood Senior and Prep School chess teams took part in the National Finals of the English Chess Federation Team Challenges at Nottingham University on Monday 22nd June.

Our U19, U14 and U11 teams had all qualified for their National Finals, which had a lovely Whole School feel as seven of the 10 Senior School students taking part had come through the Prep School. Three of the five Prep School players also had older siblings playing for the Senior School.

Teams played five matches against other schools, with four students per team in each round. Every team had a squad of five, so they rotated each round.

It was a tough event for the Prep School, with Josh (Year 6) and Maansi (Year 3) top-scoring with two individual wins from their four games. The Prep drew two matches and lost three.

Our U14s were weakened by losing their top board to the U19s and were seeded 15th. They did very well to finish in 12th place with two match wins from their five matches.

Our U19s were also missing their top board with Max (Year 11) representing England in the World U16 Championships in Italy.

The U19s were seeded 18th, but Anushka (Year 11), Aryan (Year 10), Maadesh (Year 10), Shayan (Year 10) and George (Year 8) did brilliantly to finish in 6th place after beating Merchant Taylors in Round four and drawing with Dulwich College in the final round.

Mr Slade, Head of Chess, said:

“It was a brilliant day all round. Aside from the quite outstanding result from the U19s there was a real camaraderie among the students. They supported and encouraged each other all day and were a real credit to themselves and to Brentwood School. The performances from the Year 7 students in particular bodes well for the future of chess at Brentwood School. It was a really fun trip. Thank you to Mr Bowley, Mr Trowell and Miss White for all their help.”