Coromandel Valley recently took part in the Southern Zone Interschool Chess Tournament.  9 students represented the school - Brandon S, Finn F, Jackson G, Jake H, Lily Z, Nicholas J, Piper G, Sahishnu M, Shravenn M.  With three year 2s and a year 1 in the team, they did a fantastic job against some very good schools with much older and experienced players..

The results announcement had St Martin de Porres School taking out first place, Southern Vales Christian College in 2nd, and Coromandel Valley in 3rd. The celebration was short lived however, when it was found the results were based on 6 rounds and not 7.  After results were amended, we were told we had finished equal 3rd with Prescott College, but that a countback would be necessary.  Unfortunately, we lost the countback and got relgated to 4th place and outside of the medals.   It was very disappointing, as we had lost 3rd place on a countback in the previous tournament in term 2.

The entire Coro team did exceptionally well, and I was extremely proud of both their efforts and their sportsmanship.   Special mention to

- Finn and Lily who finished in equal 8th place, with 5 wins from their 7 games. 

- Lily was also the 2nd ranked female player and recorded a new personal best tournament score

- Shravenn (Yr5), Brandon, Jake and Sahishnu (Yr2s), and Piper (Yr1), who were all competing in their first tournament

I hope you all enjoyed the competition and will be part of the Coro team in tournaments to come.

A huge thanks to Jeff Zweck and Shannon Rose for assisting in transporting the team.

The Chess Club continues to meet on Thursday lunchtimes in the Music Room and anyone is welcome to come along.

David Shaw