Around the College

Chess - State Finals

On Wednesday we had a team of 7 players from Mary MacKillop compete in the State Finals in an online tournament.

The team consisted of Harrisen Herbert, Zephyr Anderson, Will Davies, Jeffrin Mathew, Andrew Martin, Robert Ornsby and Lachlan Aulich. Mary MacKillop Chess Teams have been very successful and have made the State Finals 3 years in a row.

This tournament consisted of 20 schools from all around the State which consisted of 129 players. Some outlines for the day were that we played 9 games, 7 minutes each person, for the game with a 3 second add on for each move.

Round 1 Jeffrin started with a great win to start the tournament against an opponent with just over 1000 rating – Well Done!

Round 2  Andrew with thoughtful moves and steady play to take a win and Harrisen had a draw. It is clear that at this point the MacKillop Team is competing in a tournament against players with strong chess games under their belt.

Round 3 had a show of strength from the team with Lachlan, Harrisen and Will having a win and Jeffrin had a draw. Will made a mistake in the placement of a piece, but recovered to have a win. At the end of the round our Team results had us sitting at 11th in the State. When we started the tournament we were coming in at 18th place which was such a lovely surprise. Jeffrin also started with a rating of 84 but has moved to 64 in the State – Well Done!

Round 4 - Well done to Robert to get his first draw for the day. Andrew had a strong win against a player with a rating of 1000. Lachlan also had a win against a higher rated player.

Round 5 - Great to see Robert take a strong win, by taking his opponents Queen early in the game. Zephyr has grabbed three wins so far – doing really well.

Round 6 - Jeffrin and Harry took nice wins with Robert gaining a draw which still added points to the team.

Round 7 – SNAP – Andrew and Will took quick wins with the 3 move check mate – great effort. Harrisen had a great win against a player with an 1100 rating.

Round 8 - Funny – during Lachlan’s game he offered a draw 8 times but turned the game around and won with 2 Queens.

Round 9 everyone was keen to do well – the Round starts and the room went quiet, it was such a great vibe. The results have the MacKillop Chess Team with a 9th place position in a State Competition.

With this result the top 5 players should qualify for Nationals on the 30th November and 1st December.

Colleen Herbert