KES - U18 National Tournament

Last Saturday the first team played in a national final at Kings Edwards Edgbaston. Some of the best school teams in the country were present, including Nottingham High School, Hampton and RGS Guildford. It was a tough day for most of the QMGS team, however most players
managed to win or draw at least one game.

The big success story of the day had to be Fahim Nasiri's performance. Fahim has been the schools best chess player for a number of years now, though has never competed in a graded tournament before and hence entered this tournament with a grading of zero.

It, therefore, caused considerable surprise amongst the spectators when, after a very close game, he managed to beat the Nottingham High Schools board one player who had a grading of 184. He followed this breath taking performance with another impressive win over the King Edwards board one player who had a grading of 176.

Fahim finished in joint second place, amongst the other board one players. He shared this position with a player with a grading of 201. The tournament organiser has passed me the details of an "International Chess Master" who captains a team in the "four nations chess league" and told me and would be very interested to hear of Fahim's performance today.

KECH 3.5 - QMGS 2.5

After an hour and a half of gruelling chess and many closely fought battles, QMGS first team eventually lost 2.5 to 3.5 to Camp Hill’s first team. It was a very enjoyable night of chess and it was nice to see such an excellent rapport between both teams in the after match discussions. Many valuable tips exchanged I am sure. Abu-Bakr Ahmed was man of the match for QM winning his game on board 4. Playing in the fourth team must seem a distant memory now!!

Junior Chess League - Full Round Up of Results

How close was division 2?

It was a close call but ...

QMGS retain the second division title for the 3rd year running! With KES and QMGS having won 2 matches in the division and drawn against each other it came down to a points decision. Overall QMGS won 2 more matches than KES and so just retain the trophy. Well done to the first team regulars; solid and dependable as ever! But also well to those who played in the first team for the first time this year and managed to win their games, your contribution really did matter in the end!

Found these photos whilst having a 'digital tidyup!'

Chess Colours - Ben Nevett-Farman

Ben started and ended his chess playing career for QM on board 2 in the first team. To say he maintained an impeccable record would be an understatement, as he won every single game he played for the school. His high standards of play have only been matched by his sportsman like conduct and civil manner. He has represented the school exceptionally well in every way. I only regret not finding him sooner. Ben truly deserves his chess colours. (Ben - second from left in the photo above)

Closed Play Tournament

The final tournament of the season took place at King Edwards Five Ways last Friday. It is a quick play tournament in which most of the teams in the Birmingham Junior Chess League take part.
	All of the players who took part managed to win at least one game. Well done to Bilal Idris, for winning 6 out of 8 of his games.