VENUE AND DATE

Sunday, 30th May 2021

Corpus Christi College – Sadler Centre 50, Murdoch Drive

Bateman, WA 6150

REPORT

On Sunday, 30^th May the third 2021 Schools Chess League tournament (the Southern Zonal) was held at Corpus Christi College. There was another excellent turnout with 92 players (74 Primary students and 18 Secondary students), The 7-round allegro style tournament continues to be very popular.

Primary Student Division

The 74 players were from 12 different schools. Once again it a very closely contested tournament from both a school and individual player perspective. 27 schools were represented with 10 schools fielding four or more players. Oberthur Primary School was sixth and newcomers Caladenia Primary School were fifth, a very creditable performance. They were unfortunate to just miss out on the placings to Rosalie Primary School (4^th) on countback. The top three teams tied with the same points. Using a countback system, Nedlands Primary School was third, St. Paul’s Primary was second and Carmel Primary School was first. As in the case of the Central Zonal all three teams will be awarded 10 points each.

The individual contest was equally close. Going into the last round the leaders were Eric Deng on 6 points, Angus Chen, Jordan Finian, Eamon Harris and Issa Majidi on 5 points, Yonal De Vas, Eu Jin Khaw and Anthony Nguyen on 4.5 points. Yonal beat Jordan, Eamon drew with Eric, Anthony beat Oliver Tran, Issa beat Angus. The net result of this was Anthony Nguyen was third on 5.5 (on countback), Issa Majidi was second on 6 points and Eric Deng was first on 6.5 points. Yonal De Vas , Eamon Harris and Eu Jin Khaw all finished on 5.5 points and were awarded merit trophies. Nithuli Liyanage with 5 points was the Best Girl competitor, (a very good performance and a repeat of the Central Zonal result).

List of School Prize Winners:

1^st : Carmel Primary School (Daniel Levin, Mia Cohen, Marcus Van Den Berg, Oz Caro, Yonatan Kitay and Joshua Kur: the first four players as the best school performers received trophies).

2^nd : St. Paul’s Primary School (Finian Jordan, Darcy Finian, Maxwell Castalanelli, Nathan Adshead and Harriet Castalanelli; the first four players as the best school performers received trophies).

3^rd : Nedlands Primary School: (Issa Majidi, Nithuli Liyanage, Nizam Majidi, Dior Chai and Kaviru Perera: the first four players as the best school performers received trophies).

Owing to the large number of entries it was decided to award trophies to the fourth place school and players.

4^th : Rosalie Primary School: (Jeremiah Ng, Oliver Tran, Benjamin Tran and Kobe Wu)

List of Individual Prize Winners:

1^st: : Eric Deng 6.5/7

2^nd : Issa Majidi 6/7

3^rd : Anthony Nguyen 5.5/7 (on countback)

Merit trophies to Yonal De Vas, Eamon Harris and Eu Jin Khaw 5.5/7

Best Girl: Nithuli Liyanage 5/7

Secondary Student Division

The 18 players were from 11 different schools with Fountain College the only team to field three players. All the other teams had two players or less.

Fountain College won closely followed by Balcatta Senior High School. There was a tie for third place between Corpus Christi College and Kingsway Christian College. Corpus Christi College were third on countback.

The individual contest developed into a two-horse race between Dayroush Rafiei Darani and Celine Ong. Celine came first on count back (and also won the Best Girl trophy). Dayroush was second and newcomer Lucas Agostino was third.

List of School Prize Winners:

1^st : Fountain College : (Sherab Dorji, Chihab Chamkhi, Mustafa Ihsan Sakariya).

2^nd: Balcatta Senior High School , (Lucas Agostino, Jerome Thomas).

3^rd: Corpus Christi College: Naveen Ramnat Umasankar, Christopher Ng).

List of Individual Prize Winners:

1^st: : Celine Ong 6/7 (and Best Girl)

2^nd : Dayroush Rafiei Darani 6/7

3^rd : Lucas Agostino 5/7

Special thanks to the following people; Dennis Holland, Chief Arbiter; Paul Harris, Vega and a very colourful round by round display which greatly assisted seating plus an app for parents to follow the progress of their child; Georgina Harris database entry; Faith Tee, registration; Shai Levin photographs and the Corpus Christi College for providing such an excellent venue and in particular their representative Suzy Lazarov who was very helpful prior to and during the tournament.

Alan Wolstencroft