CHESS

In spite of the pandemic, chess at Sherborne Qatar is going from strength to strength. Although pupils haven’t been able to enjoy the enrichment club or compete against other schools as in previous years, the online tournaments have come into their own. The three tournaments this academic year have attracted record numbers of players from the whole school community. Pupils, teachers, support staff and parents have battled it out amongst each other as the standard of chess has steadily improved.

September saw the start of the first tournament with 40 players. Mr Kinlan and Mustapha Ghaly (Year 7) soon made their mark, with the wonderful Flo from support staff keeping her spirits high (as always!) in spite of some early setbacks. Less noteworthy was Mr Arts who, after some particularly poor play even by his standards, fell by the wayside early on. The closest match from the group stage was between Saaim

Umer (Year 9) and Mr Ranglall with the latter finally managing to come out on top and qualifying for the final. Tournament regulars Mr Tracey and Niranjan Muthaswamy (Year 11) played some particularly good chess and deservedly made it through as well, along with Mr Roberts who was playing in his first final. Mr McKendry was eventually crowned winner, with Shek Chong (Year 9) a very close second and Mr Carbin (father of Jorja in Year 8) in third. The competition continued in Term 2 with tournament newcomers Mr Oldridge and Jay from support staff coming up against some very stiff opposition early on. Isabela Ventorim and Ella McMahon (both Year 10) played some great chess in the group stage and were unfortunate not to make it through to the final. The standard of chess in the early rounds was particularly high (with the exception of Mr Roberts), causing some big upsets and seeing pre-tournament favourites Mr Ranglall and Mr Hamlin crash out before the final. Ali Elbih (Year 9) and Youssef Ibrahim (Year 8) stood out in the latter stages, upping their game considerably. Hamza El Sayed (Year 8) also had an excellent tournament, not only making it through to the final for the first time but for finishing a very impressive 4th place. In the final throws of the competition, Shek Chong got his revenge over Mr McKendry for the first tournament and was a very worthy winner. The third tournament began in March and, due to large numbers, had five groups in the first stage and a ‘busy’ 10 player final. Brothers Ibrahim and Ilyas Ahmed (Years 11 and 9 respectively) played some excellent chess in their first Sherborne tournament, as did Mohammed Abdelrahman (Year 9). Omar Al Masri and Oliver Mills formed part of a very strong 8E contingent and would have made it through to the final had it not been for the excellent standard of their group. This was a similar story for the ever popular Mr Tiongson who, nonetheless, was as gracious as ever in defeat. The final was the toughest, and most exciting to date, with the top three undecided until the last moves of the tournament. In the end however, the podium went to the 2020-2021 overall winners: Mr Carbin (top parent), Mr McKendry (top teacher) and Shek Chong (overall champion).