Chess players from ra
nging in age from 7 to 17 from Rydal Penrhos & Rydal Penrhos Prep School took part in their most successful outing to the Cheshire and North Wales Chess Championships yet.
As a result of the newly merged Senior and Prep Chess Clubs, a total of eighteen players entered the tournament held at King’s School, Chester.
The tournament, which is split according to age, requires each entrant to play six games. Each age group is then awarded three prizes; Overall Champion, Best County Player and Best School Player.
The team’s youngest player, Amrit Bolina, 7 from Abergele, was crowned Overall Under 7 Champion, while Jonathan Osbourne impressively finished in second place, despite only having learned to play four weeks before the tournament.
Strong Rydal Penrhos players in the Under 9 tournament saw Ali Al-Rawi secure the Best County Player award while classmate James Smith earned the title of Best School Player.
Players from the Senior School were equally as successful with chess veteran Imogen Camp securing the Overall Under 14 Championship – this despite only being eleven years old.
Robert Warrington, 16, who has played chess in the school since he was seven years old won the Under 16 County event and only just missed out on the overall Under 21 first prize after losing a Blitz-style play-off after finishing joint first. Ho-Wing Ma secured second place in the Under 16 County event.
The team’s oldest player, Volodymyr Krasovskyy, 17, toasted his arrival in the School’s Chess Club by winning the Under 18 Best School Player prize and by finishing in fourth place in the Under 21 tournament.
Chess has always been a popular game at both Rydal Penrhos and Rydal Penrhos Prep School. The newly merged club is now run by teacher, Mr Camp, who himself is a keen chess player, who was Head of the Welsh Delegation at the European Youth Chess Championships held in Prague during August. The Chess Club meet once a week to discuss and try out new strategies and where younger pupils are able to learn from their older contemporaries.