Head's Newsletter 23 November 2017

NATIONAL SCHOOLS’ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Vladimir Kalashnikov ran riot with his knights during his fixture to secure an early lead for Tiffin and the rest of the boards were looking promising. After another victory by Humza Qadir and Shiv‘s ruthless victory sending his opponent into tears, Alexander Wang played out a nail-biting draw to keep Tiffin’s hopes alive. Regardless of their qualified status, Tiffin A team wanted to go out with a bang and boy was it close. Special commendation to Darshan Kumaresan and Vincent Trieu for winning all 3 of their respective fixtures. Unfortunately, a terrifyingly strong KCS team meant we came up short with a theatrical resignation from James Smith. Was there to be a fairytale ending for the B -team? Unfortunately not. Coming up against 3 national age-group players and a 2x national champion for his age, the Tiffin B’s were up against it. Siddarth Ramaraju fought a compelling battle against the national champion, only to just come up short in the endgame. With a win overall necessary to qualify, Tiffin’s hopes were shattered after we had lost 3 of the 6 fixtures in the match. Massive congratulations to all involved and some phenomenal chess played throughout. Special commendation to the A-team for qualifying for the next round and condolences to the B-team for just coming up short. A-team : Haotian Wu, Darshan Kumaresan, Ben Hammond, Vincent Trieu, Sagnik Chatterjee and James Smith B-team: Siddarth Ramaraju, Alexander Wang, Shiv Kapila, Vladimir Kalashnikov, Emir Alhussni and Humza Qadir.

Two Tiffin teams competed in a tough regional qualifier, consisting of four schools including Westminster Under and both the senior and junior Kings College Schools. Upon our arrival, we were informed that food and refreshments would be provided, which put the Tiffin cohort in a jovial mood and ready to play some thrilling chess. In the A-team’s first match against Westminster Under B’s, Ben Hammond set the precedent by winning his match in record time and leading Tiffin to a thrilling 6-0 first round victory. Unfortunately, for the B-team, a few miscalculated blunders against Westminster Under A’s led them to a narrow 4-2 defeat, with Shiv Kapila securing the only victory for Tiffin B’s . With the A’s in the driving seat and the B’s having to make up for lost ground, this second match was always going to be interesting. Irrespective of other results, 2 wins were a necessity to progress to the next round. After Tiffin A’s narrowly defeated KCJS A team by 3.5-2.5 points, they had secured qualification into the next round of the national tournament! Now the pressure was on the B’s, which they mopped up with glee.