On Monday the 15th of May we headed off in the school van to the Chess Power chess tournament. It was a dull and rainy day but the Avonhead school hall was filled with excitement and anticipation for the day ahead. There were over 100 excited children. Our Heaton team consisted of two teams of four. One team of Year 8 boys and one team of Year 8 girls. We played seven games in the intermediate grade. We put our opening strategies to good use and we won some games. But also learned a lot when we lost some games. Some of us had draws called stalemate games but we had lots of fun.

Mrs Boyle challenged us to meet some new chess players and also brought along chocolate Monopoly and chocolate Scrabble to fill in the time when we weren’t playing, it was delicious. Some of us earned badges for different challenges throughout the day. At prize giving we placed second school and received a certificate and had our photo taken.

We thanked our hosts Avonhead School and the arbiter Bruce from Chess Power. We look forward to our next tournament and will practice at the chess club on Thursdays at lunchtime in Room 1. All welcome.

Report from Maisie and Annelyse