Tuesday, 30th November saw a fun and vibrant grass-roots chess tournament combining Prospect (21) and Summerdale (14) students. For good measure, we also had two young visitors from Norwood Primary. Facilitator and Tasmanian schools chess coach, James Briant, gave students a taste of what an interschool tournament experience is like. Over five hard-fought rounds, the students were matched according to the Swiss draw used in interschool tournaments, which our budding Prospect team is building towards participating in next year. In this system, organised by the software program Tornelo, student games get tougher after a win and easier (in theory) after a loss.

The buzz of student engagement around the room was real as students participated with good spirit and willingness to improve their mind muscles. This process was strongly helped by James’ motivational coaching between each round, where he focused on smart end-game strategies, and even a few mind-bending puzzles (including the recreation of a famous ending based on one of the Harry Potter movies!). Timers were also used in each game and students enjoyed the experience. The tournament has been a step in the rebuilding of our chess team at Prospect, where enthusiasm is building and the future passion for the game looks bright (especially given the Summerdale contingent!). Many students excelled on the day, but leading the awards was John Park of Year 7, who emerged as tournament leader after five rounds, notching up an unbeatable 4 wins and 1 draw. Well done, John!

Thanks to all students for their involvement, including some Year 9s and 10s who returned to the Chess fold for the day. Thanks also goes to James himself, as well as Narelle Williams for official photography, and Mario for all the support.

Tom Leydon