McKinnonNEWS

SCHOOL NEWS

MCK CHESS CLUB 

McK Chess Championship 2023

After almost seven weeks and more than 150 games of exciting chess, the 2023 McK Chess Championship was concluded on Friday 18 August when Steve Le 11H (McK rating 1513 and defending champion) took on Timothy Nicolaides 11K (McK rating 1459) in the Gold medal match. 

 

It was a very evenly matched final with both players winning one game each under the standard time control. With the match tied at 1-1, the contest came down to blitz tiebreaks, and it was more a test of nerves than over-the-board chess skills. In the end, Steve managed to edge out Timothy in one of the most memorable finals at the McKinnon Championship in recent years.

The supporting Bronze medal match, which was played on the same day as the final, featured 2022 runner-up, Aryan Jayanty 12F, and 2021 runner-up, Gregory Wen 12M. This was another exciting and close contest with the match also going all the way to blitz tiebreaks. Eventually, Gregory Wen came out victorious and took the bronze.

The McK Chess Club would like to thank all participants for their effort and commitment in this year’s championship, as well as all the spectators for creating such a wonderful atmosphere.

To see the full results, photos and game analyses, go to the official championship website.

 

McK Chess Player Titles

 

With the conclusion of the last event in the 2023 chess season, several students were awarded new Player Titles & Badges by the McK Chess Club for their overall achievements and ongoing contributions:

  • KING class title:  Steve Le 11H (1513), Tim Nicolaides 11K (1459)
  • QUEEN class title: Gregory Wen 12M (1410), Aryan Jayanty 12F (1400)
  • ROOK class title: Jonathan Kui 11H (1319), Peter Nguyen 12I (1317), Aaron Todes 9B (1257) Howie Nguyen 10L (1255)
  • BISHOP class title: Alex Do 9G (1185)
  • PAWN class title: Luka Dodos 8I (1111)

To see the complete record of all McK 

rated players, click here.

 

Sandy Law

McK Chess Club

TOURNAMENT OF MINDS

Tournament of Minds is a “Talented and Gifted Extension Program”.

 

The 2023 Tournament of Minds Challenge took place at Deakin University, Burwood Campus on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August.

 

All Australian, States and Territories will compete in Melbourne in the TOM International Final (TIF) in October. The TOM Challenge has expanded now to 9 other countries: Shanghai/China, India, Egypt, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and Thailand, Uganda and now the United Emirates.

 

The McKinnon Secondary College TOM (Tournament Of Minds) Challenge consisted of 5 TOM Teams (35 students in total) with 5 Facilitators this year for the Metro Region Challenge.

 

STEM: Team 1, Mr George Georgiadis 

 

Team 1: Ruby Gallo (8Q) Captain, Ashley Chan (8L), Sherry Chan (8J), Danbi Choi (8F), Harmehar Kohli (8F), Honorary Leung (8E) and Linh Nguyen (8F)

 

STEM: Team 2, Mr Kent Zhu 

 

Team 2: Olivia Yang (10Q) Captain, Wendy Bo (10B), Revarn Govender (10E), Angel Jiang (10G), Alex Kormas (10H), Jasmine Lee (10I) and Ashley Lu (10J). 

 

SOCIAL SCIENCE: Team 4, Mr Lee Laskaridis

 

Team 4: Charlie Robbie (8I) Captain, Alexandru-Florin Virbanescu (8I) Captain, Hamish Dixon (8H), Dona Gabadage (8K), Ava Mclaughlin (9K), Vishaka Venkat (9B) and Sophie Yu (9B).

 

SOCIAL SCIENCE: Team 5, Mrs Andrea Fowler 

 

Team 5: Obert Han (10F) Captain, Michael Erdstein (10D), Leonardo Hu (10G), Lucas Li (10I), Theo Pahl (10L), Leo Yang (10Q) and Victor Zhao (10Q).

 

The ARTS: Team 6, Mr Lynton Perry

 

Team 6: Lucy Green (9I) Captain, Kaylene Wong (9I) Captain, Agustin Bruhn Contreras (9F), Audrey Gelberg (9J), Mia Lee (8M), Lucas Radford (9I) and Aidan Tran (9B).

 

We call all Tournament of Minds, Team challenger’s (students) TOMers. In the photos below, our TOMers are practicing their selected challenge at school (Social Science Team 5), rehearsing on the day before their challenge time, Deakin University (STEM: Teams 1 and 2) and relaxing after their Long-Term Challenge presentation, (The ARTS: Team 5) at the Deakin University, Burwood Campus.

I would like to thank each of the TOM Team Captain/s, TOMers, Team Facilitators, parents, families and their friends who attended on their Teams Challenge Day, “well done”. Thanks again, all Team Captains for their enormous work and efforts to make this year’s Challenge a positive Team success,

 

Lynton Perry

McKinnon TOM Manager