Recently the Gardiner Chess Rapid Championships were held at William Duncan State School with a large number of Somerset Students taking part. The event was broken into two sections: An Open Division and an Under 1000QJ Division.

In the Under 1000QJ Division, Elijah Hadikusumo and Oscar Credland-Ballantyne starred with 5.5/7 to finish = third. Nina Varcoe and Dylan Hu both scored 4/7 to finish in the top half of the field, whilst Harrison Qu and Paris Liu both also took part in the event, scoring 3/7.

The Open Division was a much tougher event with many seasoned adults taking part in the event, including Grandmaster Moulthun Ly who coached some of the Somerset students during the holidays, and International Master Alex Wohl. A number of students took part and despite being rated near the bottom of the field, all performed credibly and will have learnt a lot from the day! Those students who took part are Lyanna Chan, Jennifer Yeung, Melody Yang and Calen Tang.

During the week, Harrison Qu took on some challengers from his fellow year one students, taking on three players at once! In a remarkable performance, he even won all three games

This weekend sees the Gold Coast Blitz and Transfer Championships, with a number of Somerset students and coaches playing – even Mr. Gardiner may be playing in the Transfer event!

There will also be a holiday programme and tournament held during the school holidays at Somerset College. Please click here for full information!

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