Friday 23 August 2024
On Tuesday 6 August, three hopeful King’s College Chess teams took part in the South Auckland Secondary Inter-school Chess Championship.
Representing King’s College at the event, were:
| King’s College A | King’s College B | King’s College C |
| Winston Weng (Year 13, Parnell) | Hamish Patel-Smith (Year 11, Marsden) | Marcus Yu (Year 9, Marsden) |
| Charlotte Ray (Year 11, Taylor) | Daiming Yu (Year 11, Marsden) | Brandon Wu (Year 9, Marsden) |
| George Zhu (Year 12, Marsden) | Enoch Cham (Year 10, Greenbank) | Edward Zhang-Sun (Year 11, Marsden) |
| Enay Bengali (Year 11, Marsden) | Eden Forster (Year 13, Major) | Jack Chen (Year 9, Greenbank) |
King’s A opened their account with three comfortable team wins to lead the standings table at the end of Round 3 before a pairing with the winners of last year’s South Auckland qualifier, One Tree Hill A in the fourth. With losses on Boards 1 to 3 in this round, Enay Bengali was the only player able to secure a victory for Board 4!
A reverse of fortunes after lunch in the pairing with Papatoetoe A saw King’s A achieve wins on the first three boards, leapfrogging them into 2nd place going into the final round. With only a single team point separating the top three teams throughout the day, a solid four wins for the team in Round 6 confirmed King’s A as the silver medalists at the end of the competition.
King’s B started their day well with a 3-1 result, securing them their first two team points in Round 1 but after the team was defeated by Pukekohe A in the following round, they progressed through the rest of the day with mixed results. At the end of Round 3, they were one point behind King’s C who’d secured two strong team wins in Rounds 2 and 3. A 2-2 draw between King’s B and King’s C in the fourth round then saw the two teams’ level on 5 team points. Both teams ended the day’s competition with seven team points each.
Players from King’s B and C that deserve honourable mention for their performances against top seed’s One Tree Hill A in the afternoon, include: Daiming Yu (Board 2) and Enoch Cham (Board 3) for the draws that they both secured over their respective opponents in Round 5, and Edward Zhang-Sun (Board 3) for his win achieved in Round 6. Well done!
After a closely contested competition amongst the top teams, the final standings at the end of the day, were:
| 1st | One Tree Hill College A | Team Score: 11 points, Board Score: 19.0 points |
| 2nd | King's College A | Team Score: 10 points, Board Score: 20.0 points |
| 3rd | Papatoetoe High School | Team Score: 9 points, Board Score: 16.5 points |
| 4th | King’s College C | Team Score: 7 points, Board Score: 13.5 points |
| 6th | King’s College B | Team Score: 7 points, Board Score: 12.5 points |
With changes to the scheduling of the South Auckland competition this year and lower tournament attendance as a result (16 teams participating compared to over 20 last year) there was only one qualifying spot for the 2024 National Secondary Interschool Chess Final up for grabs on the day - this went to One Tree Hill College. However, on the strength of King’s A’s final Board Score, our school has been invited to take up a wildcard place at the Nationals being held in Wellington (28-29 September).
Congrats to our three teams that represented King’s College at the qualifier and to King’s A for their 2nd place in the South Auckland Championship. Congrats also to two players from King’s College who were recognised at the end of the competition for the highest board scores on their boards:
Charlotte Ray, King’s College A (Taylor) – Best Player on Board 2, 5/6 wins, and
George Zhu, King’s College A (Marsden) – Best Player on Board 3, 5/6 wins.
Our thanks to Chess Captain, Winston Weng (Parnell) for organizing the teams for this event and to Matt Buckley, TIC Chess for his support on the day.