Year 8 Chess Tournament

Chess has had a recent resurgence at Mulberry Academy Woodside with Year 8 particularly keen. With so many Year 8 chess players, Mr Whitehead wanted to reward students by allowing them to have a break from classes during P5 on Friday, to do battle over the chess board. The first part of the tournament was done in an online Arena style tournament with extra points for playing ‘berserk,’ which means to reduce the amount of time a player has to make their moves. Players squeezed in about five blitz games each in 30 minutes, with the top two girls and the top two boys playing off for the trophies. Despite a large contingent from 8Y, their highest finisher was Rayyan who earned 3rd place. Salih from 8I finished top of the Arena having twice beaten 2nd placed Shivam from 8E. The tournament then moved to B201, the Woodside home of chess, to have play off matches to determine final positions. Year 10 star player Zahid was on hand to act as arbiter for the tournament and ensure fair play among the younger students. Despite Salih’s earlier victories, Shivam won over the board to take first place. In the girls play off, Sahra 8Y was victorious over Grace 8A to win the trophy. Chess is not all about winning and all students can be proud of playing in a respectful, sporting manner, with lots of handshakes and positive comments. Lunch time chess club is very full but new sets have arrived in B201. The next tournament will be an online Arena that is open to the whole school, staff and students. Get on lichess.org to start practising. Well done to Shivam and Sahra, hopefully there will be some trophies at the opposite end of White Hart Lane too. Mr Sisupalan