Years 7 and 8 at the Lightning Tournament

Last Friday two teams of year 7 and year 8 students competed in the 'Lightning Tournament' at King Edwards Edgbaston. As the name would suggest the tournament was of a quick play format, with rounds of length 10 minutes consisting of 2 games each of 5 minutes, with players alternating colours between games. The competition was certainly tough, however, most QMGS players managed to win at least 1 game in what would prove to be a very sharp introduction to competitive chess. Special mention to Rohan and Saif of year 8 for winning 5 out of 8 and 4 out of 8 games respectively and also to Jagpreet and Vishal of year 7 for winning 4 out of 8 and 3.5 out of 8 of their games.

The first team start the new year with a win!

Last Friday saw the first team play their first match of chess of the New Year against King Edward's Five Ways second team. Their opponents were a young but experienced King Edwards Five Ways side, unbeaten since January last year. Friday also saw the break in retirement for Ravi Patel, and ex-graded player, to boost the strength of the team. Soon after the clocks were started, one minute and 9 seconds to be exact, the first match was over. Aamanh Sehdev retained his 100% win streak of the season, forcing the play for an early victory. Captain Kyrone Grossett was soon to follow along with Aslan Awan on board 6, with two more wins to Queen Mary’s. One more win for the match! Daniel law was next to finish with a win, his emotionless approach to the game has resulted in him holding the best league record for Queen Mary’s over the past two years! Ravi was next to finish, failing to disappoint with a hard fought win. Fahim Nasiri finished soon after defeating his board 1 opponent on time. A fantastic 6-0 victory for Queen Mary's!