Team success makes memorable swan song for chess captain

Year 13’s Madhi Elango has crowned his chess career at QE by leading the School’s team to second place in the National Schools’ Chess Competition.

The team beat Enfield Grammar School, Dame Alice Owen’s School and Woodbridge School to progress to the quarter-final stage. There they beat renowned chess school Eltham College to progress to the finals at Uppingham School.

Along with captain Madhi, the boys chosen for the final were: Rushil Sajip, also of Year 13; Joseph Levene, of Year 12;  Jake Breindel, of Year 11; Ananth Balaji, of Year 10 and George Ivanov, of Year 7. They beat Newcastle-Under-Lyme School 6-0 in the semi-final only to lose narrowly to Wilson’s School 4-2 in the final. Ananth Balaji was the stand-out individual player, winning both of his games on Board 1.

“Second place in a national tournament is an excellent achievement, although we were slightly disappointed not to win,” said Geoff Roberts, teacher in charge of chess. “I would like to celebrate Madhi’s contribution to chess over the last seven years, as he leaves us to pursue the next stage of his career at university. He has created a strong team environment, which has underpinned our success.”

Madhi and fellow-leavers Kiran Modi and Rushil Sajip have all played significant roles in organising internal chess tournaments as well as preparing teams for external events, passing on their expertise and experiences to younger boys.

The other boys who participated in earlier rounds and helped the team to the finals were: Ashwin Ravichandran, of Year 11; Rishul Karia, of Year 9, and Federico Rocco of Year 7.