QE chess player named best in tournament

Year 11 pupil Joseph Levene has won the trophy for best U16 player at the Millfield International Schools’ Chess Team Championship. Joseph was competing as lead player for QE on board 1 and finished his matches undefeated, securing 6.5 points from a possible 7. “This was an outstanding achievement in a high-calibre field,” said Geoff Roberts, teacher in charge of chess.

Three other boys won prizes for the best performances on their boards in the competition held at Millfield School in Somerset. They were Kieran Chan on board 5, Sivashayndhan Sivanathan on board 11 and Caleb Sheng, who was undefeated on board 12.

“Overall the QE A team acquitted itself well amongst 13 of the élite chess-playing schools from across the UK and Ireland,” added Mr Roberts. “I was very pleased to see the strong performance of so many of the B team players who won board prizes; this shows the strength in depth of chess at the School and reflects the sterling work of Tony Corfe and his team in developing players at the Improvers’ Chess Club.”

In the tournament as a whole, Queen Elizabeth’s was placed in seventh position after the first two qualifying rounds, narrowly missing out on qualification for the championship as one of the top six teams by just half a point.  After five further rounds of intense competition, Queen Elizabeth’s finished two points behind the winning school in the Major Section.

The B team recorded their best performance to date in the tournament, with many boys winning games against other schools’ A teams.