Chess Club

Harrow Junior Tournament

The College was represented by a team of four - Durcan, Foley, Lee and Ormiston. A round of the Tournament was played about every three weeks at the Methodist Hall, Harrow. Because of the high standard of play, many games had to be adjourned from one Thursday to the next.

This, along with the usual number of postponements resulted in the Tournament being rather protracted. John Durcan had to retire from the Tournament before its completion.

The Harrow Junior Shield, the Tournament's trophy, was won for our College for the first time; John Foley was the victor and the youngest ever to win the Shield. Richard Lee came third, and John Ormiston gained fifth place. Out of the fifty competitors taking part, our three remaining players took three of the first five places! Their undoubted skill was commended by Mr. Stevens at the Annual General Meeting.

London and Home Counties Minor Tournament

This three-day tournament was held at Islington School, 31st December to 2nd January. At it, the School was represented by R. Durcan and j. Ormiston, both of whom played well against hard opposition.

In a junior Tournament, J. Foley and R. Lee represented the School - the former, playing particularly well, came fourth.

The Sunday Times
National Schools Chess Tournament

The School was represented by one team in the Sunday Times Tournament and gained our greatest success to date in it; to have reached the Zone Final - for the greater part of London and Middlesex - was no mean achievement.

We got off to a good start with a 5-1 victory over Drayton Manor in the First Round; in the Second we beat Minet Primary School by six games to nil. In the Third Round we came up against Hayes County G.S., they were considered favourites and we knew it would be a very hard fought match. Being hosts on this occasion we welcomed the moral support of playing on our home ground. Of the six games to be played three were finished and resulted in a win, a draw, and one lost; the other games had to be adjudicated. There was a period of great suspense while the adjudicators deliberated. Then, after an appeal, the result was confirmed - Durcan and Foley were judged to have won their games. These two games, along with Lee's outright win and one drawn game, gave us victory. We qualified for the Fourth Round, the Zone Semi-finals.

It seemed unlikely that we could win this round, and having to play against the Jewish school, Hasmonean, made victory seem less probable.

The tactical rearranging of our team did not at first appear to bring any beneficial result, but then a win by Flint gave us heart, and Duncan, Durcan and Lee went on the offensive. We won three games and, being the younger team in a tournament handicapped on age, qualified for the Final.

The Tournament Final was played at the College against Hampton Grammar School. We won two games, through some very fine play by Flint and Foley - the latter's game was the most exciting of the match. Our congratulations to Hampton on their victory.

So the Salvatorian team was out of the Tournament. We had played well, gained valuable experience and - with a strong junior team in the pipeline - could look forward to taking part next year. We'll set our sights high; next time we will go further.

Team: Duncan, Durcan, Flint, Foley, Lee, Shaw and Taylor.

The members of the Chess Club would like to express their gratitude to Mr. Towey for his interest and assistance throughout the year. Our thanks too, to Mr. Flint who, with Mr. Towey, helped provide us with transport.


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