The St Andrew’s School competitive chess season concluded towards the end of this term after the SA Junior Chess League Finals held on Friday 15 September at the Chess Centre. Congratulations to the B Grade Black team, whose participants distinguished themselves by coming third in the Finals and appear in the list below. Members of the C Grade Yellow and Orange teams also qualified for this event and included the following students.

B Grade Black

1 Emma Zuo 3W

2 Grace Fan 40

3 Anna Luo 4Z

4 Macy Du 2M

C Grade Yellow

1 Adam Fan 3OK

2 Yisen Zhao 3S

3 Ryan Chen 3OK

4 Ella Zuo 1T

C Grade Orange

1 Hanyu Liu 5P

2 Clara Liu 3OK

3 Ritchie Xu 2EH

4 Edward Coombe 1P

Congratulations to all students who competed in the seven minor rounds of the inter-school chess competition. The highest scorers in C Grade were Ella Zuo 1T with 6.5 points, Clara Liu 3OK with 6 points, Yisen Zhao 3S, Ryan Chen 3OK and Shubhan Vijayakumar 5H with 5.5 points each, Gabriella Yanni 4V and Jamie Yu 4O both with 5 points. In B Grade, high scorers were Ivan Leong 4O and Genevieve Lim 6P with 6 points each, and Houyi Jiang 4Z, Skye Aung 4Z and Emma Zuo 3W each with 5 points.

The School Championships took place during the afternoon of Monday 4 September in the School Hall with Mr Eric Staak adjudicating and running the event. The tournament was played under the Swiss System over 4-5 rounds with all participants playing in every round. The B and C Grade Champions for 2023 will be announced at Speech Night at the end of Term 4. Congratulations to all who participated. Outstanding players in B Grade were Emma Zuo 3W, Ivan Leong 4O, Genevieve Lim 6P and Macy Du 2M. In C Grade, the top players were Shubhan Vijayakumar 5H, Edward Coombe 1C, Jamie Yu 4O, Ella Zuo 1T and Harris Cheong 4O.

This chess season has been very enjoyable with weekly coaching on Tuesday lunchtimes in the spacious Mind Lab room, starting in Week 6, Term 1 with the last session in Week 6, Term 3. Our main coach from ChessLife, Mr David Koetsier, continues to inspire our students with his lively delivery, wide chess knowledge and incredible enthusiasm.

Congratulations to all students mentioned below who participated in the SA Junior Chess League tournament in 2023.

B Grade Black

1 Emma Zuo 3W

2 Grace Fan 4O

3 Anna Luo 4Z

4 Macy Du 2M

B Grade Indigo

1 Ivan Leong 4O

2 Austin Sammut 5H

3 Genevieve Lim 6P

4 Shantelle Vuong 4O

B Grade Violet

1 Ella Wu 6P

2 Rosie Zhang 4O

3 Olivia Aberle 4V

4 Skye Aung 4Z

B Grade Purple

1 Jade Sammut 6W

2 Houyi Jiang 4Z

3 Vrish Geddada 6W

4 Jet Ng 4V

C Grade Red 1 Gabriella Yanni 4V 2 Alexandra Tan 4O 3 Alice Li 3S 4 Ella Zuo 1T	C Grade Blue 1 Joshua Lim 4O 2 Jasper Tian 3W 3 Aarav Sivagaminathan 4V 4 Christopher Yanni 2M	C Grade Green 1 Jamie Yu 4O 2 Nicole Qie 4O 3 Harris Cheong 4O 4 Charles Huang 2EH
C Grade Yellow 1 Adam Fan 3OK 2 Yisen Zhao 3S 3 Ryan Chen 3OK 4 Edward Liu 3S 5 Alexander Ooi 2M	C Grade Orange 1 Hanyu Liu 5P 2 Clara Liu 3OK 3 Ritchie Xu 3EH 4 Edward Coombe 1C	C Grade Brown 1 Anthony Oliverio 6P 2 Shubhan Vijayakumar 5H 3 James Yan 3OK 4 Leon Huang 1SW

We would like to thank Mr Koetsier for coaching our students, Peter Sanders the arbiter for inter-school matches, and Mr Staak for organising and adjudicating the St Andrew’s School Championships this year. Finally, thank you to all the students who participated with a good sense of fair play and to parents for transporting students to off-site venues and for picking them up from school after matches.

Martin Seacome and Melissa Biglands

Chess Coordinators

We would like to thank Mr Koetsier for coaching our students, Peter Sanders the arbiter for inter-school matches, and Mr Staak for organising and adjudicating the St Andrew’s School Championships this year. Finally, thank you to all the students who participated with a good sense fair play and to parents for transporting students to off-site venues and for picking them up from school after matches.

Martin Seacome and Georgia Cook

Chess Coordinators