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Chess
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The 1969-70 chess season has been the most successful so far. The senior team won the Harrow and District Schools league and reached the final sixteen in the Sunday Times National schools' tournament. There were successes also for individual boys who entered chess congresses, including the Harrow Under - 18, the London Junior, and the Middlesex Under - 15 championships. Wins were gained in them all.

The Sunday Times National School's Chess Tournament.
Represented by one team, our greatest success in the tournament was recorded this year, improving on last year's very fine performance. In the first round of our zone matches, a convincing 5-1 win over Preston Manor helped build up our confidence for the coming rounds. The next game against Sutton's first team, proved to be a more exciting, more closely fought match; the final score was 3-3 but by the rules of the tournament, we, the younger team, went through to the quarter finals. We beat Glyn Grammar School 3rd. team, 5-1, to meet the local rivals, Harrow County, in the semi-finals. By tactical rearrangement of the team, we had good wins by J. Duncan and M. Flint and two draws after adjudication; the score was 3-3, but the age rule saved us again and we were in the zone final for the second successive year. Last year we had beaten Hasmonean Grammar School by the age rule in the zone semi-final; this year we met them in the final and we knew they were not easy competition. Flint gained a draw but Duncan and Taylor lost, leaving the score-line 21/2 - 1/2. Hasmonean needed one point from the remaining three games. Forced to go on the offensive, our players on these three boards put up a good fight; Lee won and the other two games went for adjudication. After a tense wait, we heard that Duncan had won his game and Foley had drawn giving us victory by the age rule once again.

It was no mean achievement to win our zone, since it covered the greater part of London and Middlesex and was one of the strongest of the country's sixteen zones. The school was awarded a chess clock for reaching this stage of the competition.

We were drawn against Ilford County Grammar School for our next match, a team we found too strong for us and we were eliminated from the competition by 4 points to 2. However, the team had played well and had gained valuable experience, and we hope we can improve on this year's performance next year by reaching the last 8 or even the final itself.

The Middlesex U-I5 Chess Championship.
The tournament was held at Hayes during the summer holiday; the college was represented by R.Lee and J. Foley, both of whom had played last year. Since last year's winner and runner-up were too old to compete this year, we had high hopes of success.

After an exciting tournament, a play-off was necessary, Lee and Foley being two of the three boys involved. Eventually, after some hard-fought games, Lee became the winner and Foley the runner-up; congratulations to them both on a fine performance.

The London Junior Chess Championship.
The College was represented by P. Holmes in the junior section, and J. Foley, R. Lee, and J. Ormiston in the intermediate section. From an original entry of approximately eighty boys, three went on to a play-off, one of them being Foley. He and his opponent from Purley won one game each and drew one in the play-off, resulting in a tie. They share the cup, holding it for six months each.

Harrow Under-18 Chess Championship.
In this tournament, held at Harrow Chess Club, the college was represented by Flint, Foley, Lee, Mcllroy, Ormiston and Walsh; Flint and McIlroy, however, retired before the championship had ended. Foley, last year's winner, was just beaten by Lee this year, and Ormiston came joint third - quite an achievement by the boys of the Salvatorian College.

At last, the senior side achieved it's first success in the Harrow and District school's league, winning by 11/2 points over our nearest rivals, Pinner County. Since all members of both junior and senior teams should still be at the College next year, we hope to repeat, or even improve on, this year's successes. Our thanks go to Mr. Towey for the time he has spent in organising the chess club, and his help in providing transport.

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