Chess finals 

On Wed 20 October, Koonung’s chess team entered the State Chess Finals online. We had six members in our team, and everyone did an amazing job throughout the day. 

Every participant played nine games, and gained a score based on how they performed, getting one point for a win, half a point for a draw and no points for a loss. Koonung finished 5th out of 20 schools that qualified for States. 

Our six players from four year levels all played extremely well. Henry Jackson and Ashton Lonnen, both finished on 6/9, James Lonnen and Tehmi Harding scored 5/9, Dhruv Mehta scored 4½/9 and I scored 7/9.

It was an incredibly strong field, with 155 players all from schools that did well in their respective regional events throughout the year to qualify. Amazingly, the overall winner, who won all nine of his games, was only seven years old!

It was an amazing day for all involved, and once we’re all back at school don’t be afraid to come down to chess club on  Friday at lunchtime in room 29.  

Ben Harding 

Year 10