Chess Champs

Our Logan Park A Chess team were the top Dunedin school and came 2nd in the Otago Southland Secondary Champs in 2021. Our school hosted the competition which attracted record numbers (18 teams) of entries. 

The team have qualified for Nationals at the end of Term 3 as the Top Otago school.  Last year our team was 5th in New Zealand.

Congratulations to everyone involved and especially to these students who will go on to nationals:

A Team (top Dunedin school)

Alexander Sun

Zishen Fu

Paxton Hall

Xing Zhang

Zack Hibbert (filled in for last game)

B Team (6th)

Tyne Grant

Fen McIntosh

Naoki Kozakai

Nathan Mutch

C Team (14th)

Charlie Bauchop

Aidan Dixon

Micah Duckles

Aubrey Alsop-Mackie

Geordie Stephenson also filled in for a Kings team.

See the Otago Daily Times 21 June article below:

Record Entry for Secondary Schools Chess Tournament

The resurgence of chess has led to record numbers of participants in an Otago and Southland event and the players are loving it.

High school pupils from around Otago and Southland gathered at Logan Park High School on Saturday for the Otago-Southland interschool teams chess championship.

Tournament director Quentin Johnson said the event had a record number of 18 four-player teams.

Logan Park High School pupil Alexander Sun makes a move.The increase could be because of the popular new Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit and the number of people who picked up chess during the Covid-19 lockdown last year, he said.

Chess was a great sport for secondary school pupils, as it encouraged players to study and practise hard, which directly transferred to their ability to study outside chess, he said.

The winning team from each region, Logan Park High School in Otago and Southland Boys’ High School in Southland, would continue on to the national tournament in October.

Southland Boys’ High School was the overall winner. Logan Park High School was second and James Hargest College was third.

The tournament might have looked serious and intimidating to begin with, but once the pupils settled in it became a fun, social event for all, Mr Johnson said.

Logan Park pupil Alexander Sun (15) said he enjoyed the chance to socialise with fellow chess players.

Alexander, who won the 2019 Otago-Southland under-20 chess championship, said competing in this environment was his favourite.

At higher levels, chess could be too mathematical and serious, but he loved getting excited with his team-mates and meeting new people between games.

And there was a lot of excitement to be had, with one match ending in a checkmate just as the clock hit zero.

Mutual respect between players and the atmosphere made the game fun, regardless of whether you won or lost, he said.