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QE’s Chess Team took second place in the Millfield International Schools’ Chess Team Championship with its best-ever performance in the competition.

The team, captained by Upper Sixth-Former Akshaya Ahuja, comfortably came through the two qualifying rounds to reach the Championship section, which is contested by the six leading schools in the event. Having last year been runners-up, the team then came even closer to ousting the overall winners, St Olave’s Grammar School, Kent, who retained their title. QE ultimately missed out on overall victory by two points after five closely contested rounds.

QE’s teacher in charge of chess, Geoff Roberts, said: “We had a highly enjoyable two days of chess and the team played superbly, with excellent captaincy once again from Akshaya Ahuja. The weekend ended with the School’s best-ever finish in over a decade of attending this prestigious tournament. The fact that we missed out on top place by only two points shows that we will be one of the favourites for the title in 2010.

“There were some outstanding individual performances, with two boys, Ravi Popat, Year 13, and Joseph Levene, Year 8, winning prizes for the leading performance on their board. Also especially pleasing was that two of the awards for the best performance in their age group were captured by boys from Queen Elizabeth’s School; Joseph Levene (best U14) and, another of our rising stars, Jake Breindel, of Year 7 (best U12).”

Other members of the QE team were: Anup Desai, Year 12; Amit Desai, Year 12; Jon Hoong, Year 13; Gabriel Gendler, Year 9; Madhi Elango, Year 9; Kushal Shah, Year 11; Kieran Chan, Year 8, and Rahul Rajakulasingam, Year 12.

Held at Millfield School in Somerset, the tournament dates back to 1984. In addition to the successes of the A team, Queen Elizabeth’s B team competed and gained valuable tournament experience in the Challengers’ Competition.

“Several of these younger boys are sure to feature strongly in our top team in the years to come, with Damian Jeyananthan, Year 11, and Parus Shah, Year 8, both to be commended for winning board prizes,” added Mr Roberts.

• Queen Elizabeth’s School’s Years Eight to Eleven Swiss Chess Tournament was won by Joseph Levene. (In Swiss-system tournaments, players with similar scores are paired against each other.) Joseph thus finished as the School Chess Champion, winning 5.5 out of a possible 6 points. Hugo Bassa, Year 9, finished as runner-up, scoring 5 out of a possible 6 points and Kieran Chan, Year 8, Ben Collins, Year 9, and Kushal Shah, Year 11, finished in joint third position, each with 4.5 points. Kushal and Reyvanth Varathan, Year 10, won the prizes for the best performance in Years 11 and 10 respectively.

Geographers at Queen Elizabeth’s School achieved outstanding results in a special A level paper sat by the country’s most able students.

The Welsh Joint Examination Committee examinations board has just announced that last year’s School Captain, Matthew Rose (pictured at the School’s Senior Awards’ ceremony), achieved the top mark in the country for the Geography Advanced Extension Award (AEA) – the second consecutive year in which a QE boy has achieved this feat.

Four of Matthew’s classmates in the 2008-09 Upper Sixth also achieved AEA success: Barclay Ballard, Eren Kilich and Aaron Levitt gained distinctions, while Theepan Saravanapavan was awarded a merit.

“Matthew is an outstanding geographer. He worked hard in the Sixth Form and has always shown a wider interest in geographical issues beyond the curriculum and in the news. He fully deserves this success,” said Anne Flook, Head of Geography.

“The AEA is a challenging paper which requires students to engage with complex contemporary issues and think synoptically across the discipline,” Miss Flook added.

Matthew has now taken up a place at Clare College, Cambridge, to read Geography.

Queen Elizabeth’s School’s Bollywood Orchestra and four dancers from QE Girls’ School performed at the Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in front of more than 5,000 people.

The event was the second major performance by the Bollywood Orchestra in 2009: in July, it played at the Music for Youth National Festival at the Adrian Boult Hall, part of the Birmingham Conservatoire.

QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe, congratulated the pupils on their latest public appearance: “The performance was fantastic and moving and held the audience rapt throughout. The playing by the boys was both controlled and enthusiastic, creating created a sound which filled the immense hall. The girls’ dancing was stylistic and beautifully choreographed by the girls themselves. The boys and girls enjoyed their performance and did not show even a hint of nerves throughout.”

Queen Elizabeth’s School has recorded a third consecutive victory against Highgate School to reach the knockout stages of the Hans Woyda Mathematics Competition.

Last year, QE reached the quarter-finals of this prestigious tournament, which involves 64 top state and independent schools from across the South East.

QE followed its opening two victories with a resounding 47 points to 27 win against Highgate. The QE team will be competing against the other 15 group winners in the knockout rounds.

This year’s team is: Ariel Weiss, of Year 13; Hone Cheung, Year 12; Jaymin Thakrar Year 11, and Gabriel Gendler, Year 9.

Year 9 pupil Gabriel Gendler won the award for the ‘best contribution from the floor’ during the Great Urban Challenges Debate.

QE was one of eight schools selected to take part in the debate, organised jointly by the English Speaking Union (ESU) and London Transport Museum, which hosted the event. Gabriel spoke in the debate on ‘This House would make public transport 100% free for all’.

Also in the QE group were Gabriel’s fellow Year 9 pupils Kiran Modi, Ethan Axelrod and Surya Bowyer.

A QE team took second place in the London regional final of a Business Studies competition.

The team, all from Year 11, presented their product, Tri-Zone, to a judging panel in the Make Your Mark Challenge, which was part of national Enterprise Week. They were competing against ten other groups in their age category and were commended by the co-ordinator, Carys Hughes, on a “fantastic” presentation after the event at the Rocket complex, Holloway Road.

Their teacher, Rakhee Bavishi, said: “Our boys gave a phenomenal presentation, demonstrating both their understanding of Business Studies concepts and their talent for presenting. All three judges were very impressed with the product idea and presentation. The only thing the boys lacked was all of them making an equal contribution in the presentation.”

The competition aims to help students develop their business skills and apply them to real-life situations. Each team had to complete three tasks: filling in ‘ideas’ and ‘money matters’ sheets, and carrying out a competitor analysis.

Tri-Zone is an educational game designed to provide children with tips and ideas for reducing the carbon footprints of both themselves and their families. The team’s business plan predicted first-year turnover of £526,400 arising from sales of the game and a Government grant, with an after-tax profit of £66,016.

The QE team comprised Akash Gandhi, Kapish Dave, Jaymin Thakrar, Obiora Igwese and Anton Ruddock.