Kaurilands' team took their first step towards a potential invitation to join the Australian School Chess finals at the end of the year.

Earlier this week Anya, Ethan, Immanuel, Jahmayn, Mike, Orlando and Yolanda competed with 41 students from Fruitvale, Laingholm and Titirangi Primary Schools.  Anya, Immanuel, Jahmayn, Mike and Yolanda won all their 7 games and shared the places 1 to 5.  Orlando came in 7th with 5 points out of 7 games and Ethan got 2.5 points in his first ever Chess Tournament. Well done all!

The next step towards Australia will be the Auckland Regionals on 25 June where the team hopes to qualify for the ChessPower Nationals in October in Auckland.

In the meantime, the team's next challenge is coming up at the NZ Chess Federation West Auckland Primary Schools Championships on 25 May in Henderson. Qualification for the New Zealand Championships in Mt Maunganui on the last weekend in September is at stake at this tournament.

Congratulations team and good luck in your upcoming challenges.

A huge thank you to Christoph for all his hard work and encouragement in teaching these students and to the parents who help out transporting everyone to and from competitions.