REPORT

Western Zonal 2021 Schools Chess League Tournament

On Sunday, 27th June the fourth 2021 Schools Chess League tournament (the Western Zonal) was held at Nedlands Primary School. There was a record turnout with 98 players (66 Primary students and 32 Secondary students), The 7-round allegro style tournament continues to be very popular.

Primary Student Division

There were 66 players from 22 schools. It was a closely contested tournament from both a school and individual player perspective. South Bunbury PS came sixth, Caladenia PS came fifth, Mt Lawley PS came fourth, Rosalie PS third, Carmel PS second and the winners were Nedlands Primary School who fielded the largest team, 16 players.

It was encouraging to see Caladenia Primary School and Mt Lawley Primary School teams perform well in a strong field which included many of the WA’s strongest junior players. South Bunbury Primary School team of 7 players deserve a special mention for braving inclement weather to travel up to Perth.

The individual contest was also close. Going into the last round Anthony Nguyen was the clear leader on 6 points, followed by Angus Chen, Issa Majidi and Yonal De Vas on 5 points, and Eric Deng, Emily Zhang, Eu Jun Khaw and Nithuli Liyanage on 4.5 points. In the last round, Nithuli lost to Eric, Eu Jin beat Timothy Kaempf, Emily beat Eu Ming Khaw, Yonal beat Angus, and Anthony and Issa drew. The net result of this was Issa was third, Yonal was second and the winner was Anthony Nguyen. Merit trophies were awarded to Eric and Eu Jin and the best girl competitor was Emily, (an excellent performance in a strong field).

List of Primary School Prize Winners:

1st : Nedlands Primary School: (Issa Majidi, Emily Zhang, Nizam Majidi, Nithuli Liyanage, Aidan Khew, Ryan Florence, Kaviru Perera, Olivia Hou, Ethan Ang, Minh Le Nguyen, Yonje Lee, Tomo Hiraishi, Anastasia Suleski, Emma Chong, Dior Chai and Nathan To: the first four players as the best school performers received medallions).

2nd : Carmel Primary School (Marcus Van Den Berg, Mia Cohen, Ezra Levine and Oz Caro: all four players received medallions).

3rd : Rosalie Primary School: (Kobe Wu, Oliver Tran, Jeremiah Ng, Benjamin Tran, Benjamin Tran: all four players received medallions).

4th : Mt Lawley Primary School: (Lincoln Balaratnasingam, Hamish Atkinson, Minh Pham, Lucia Everitt, Dylan Mahon, Ryan Pillay, Alannah Mcvicar and Charlie Everitt: the first four players as the best school performers will receive either a medallion or trophy).

List of Individual Primary Prize Winners:

1st: Anthony Nguyen 6.5/7

2nd: Yonal De Vas 6/7

3rd: Issa Majidi 5.5/7 (on the Buchholz score)

Merit trophies to Eric Deng and Eu Jin Khaw 5.5/7 Best Girl: Emily Zhang 5.5/7

Secondary Student Division

The 32 players were from 12 different schools with Aquinas College and Wesley College fielding the largest number of players, 7 and 9 respectively. These two teams were the main contenders and Aquinas edged ahead of Wesley and were the eventual winners. The second was Wesley and the third with only three players was Shenton College.

It was very encouraging to see so many new players to this tournament division.

The individual contest developed into a three-horse race between Matthew Chang, Ram Naveen Umasankar and Alex Pimenov. In the last round Matthew beat Isaac Quadros, Ram Naveen beat Daniel Newman and Alex drew with James McEvoy. This meant that Alex came third with 5.5 and both Matthew and Ram Naveen had 6 points. To decide the winner the Buchholz score was used. On this basis, Matthew was first and Ram Naveen was second. Merit trophies were awarded to Dayroush Rafiei Darani, James McEvoy and Naveen Nimalan. Casey Florence won the Best Girl trophy.

List of School Prize Winners:

1st: Aquinas College: (Matthew Chang, Naveen Nimalan, Daniel Newman, Jared Healy, David Csontos, Jonathan Vinci, and Samuel Yeow; the first four players as the best school performers received medallions).

2nd: Wesley College: (James McEvoy, Bentley Hilmer, Sean McGinty, James Savundra, Liam Paull, Aiden Cho, Kevin Handojo, Miranda Joshua and Josh Lawson: the first four players as the best school performers received medallions).

3rd: Shenton College: (Dayroush Rafiei Darani, Christopher Loh and Casey Florence: all three players received medallions).

List of Individual Prize Winners:

1st: Mathew Chang 6/7 (on the Buchholz score)

2nd: Ram Naveen Umasankar 6/7

3rd: Alex Pimenov 5.5/7

Merit trophies to Dayroush Rafiei Darani, James McEvoy and Naveen Nimalan 5/7 Best Girl: Casey Florence 2/7

Special thanks to the following people; John Pimenov who did a lot of work to make this tournament the success it was, Luke Carpenter for data entry, Jay Khew and May Chan for running the refreshment canteen, Miranda Hong and Aidan McGinty for purchase and distribution of face masks and of course, Dennis Holland for a loan of chess clocks and Nedlands Primary School for providing the facilities that withstood such blustery weather.

30/06/2021

Alan Wolstencroft