Year 8 pupil Devin Karia beat off stiff competition from boys up to four years older than himself to be crowned Chess Champion for 2015.
After seven rounds of QE’s annual Years 8-11 Chess Tournament, three boys were tied on 6 points apiece – Devin, Aneesh Chopada, of Year 11, and Federico Rocco, of Year 9. Devin, who won last year’s QE Year 7 Chess Tournament, emerged as the overall winner in an exciting three-way play-off.
Teacher in charge of chess, Geoff Roberts, said: “I’m delighted to see Devin Karia secure the title; it is particularly impressive for him to win when he is still only in Year 8.”
The competition, which is held over the course of a morning, attracted a field of 53 boys. After the play-offs, Federico and Aneesh were tied for second place and were also best in Years 9 and 11 respectively. Fourth place overall went jointly to Devin’s brother, Rishul Karia, of Year 11, who is the current U16 European Chess Champion, and George Ivanov, of Year 9. Robert Sarkar and Asad Shah were jointly best in Year 10.
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Sixth Form chess stalwarts Ananth Balaji, Jake Breindel and James Bunyan were on hand to help ensure the smooth running of the tournament, administering the pairings for each round and acting as arbiters when any queries occurred over the rules. They also dispensed hints and advice to the younger boys throughout the competition.
“All of the competitors undoubtedly enjoyed receiving coaching and advice from Sixth Form boys who have been highly successful over many years.
“As in the recent Year 7 tournament, we had another high-quality field and I am very pleased to see the number of highly able and enthusiastic chess players we have at Queen Elizabeth’s,” Mr Roberts added.