Chess

On Tuesday, 5 August, twenty-one students from the SMC Knights Chess Squad represented St Monica's College at a Chess Victoria Zonal Tournament at Marcellin College.

St Monica's brought the largest contingent of players, split into four teams.

Congratulations to the team of Ekin Dang (C), Peter Kakoliris, Eric Tun, Angella Dcunha, Adam Halabe and Joseph Cahayon who finished 3rd out of the 12 competing teams, behind only Haileybury and Trinity Grammar. This is an improvement on the 5th placing at the corresponding tournament in 2024.

For St Monica's College to have all four teams place comfortably above the second teams from Haileybury and Marcellin is a significant achievement and highlights the depth of talent in the squad.

Individually, Adam Halabe, Peter Kakoliris and Eric Tun performed brilliantly to record 5 wins each from their 7 games, with Ekin Dang half a point behind with 4 wins and a draw.

These results should hopefully ensure that a number of players will qualify for the Chess Victoria State Finals later in the year.