Chess

Colleen Elkins | Gifted and Talented Co-Ordinator K-6

The 13^th National Schools Finals – Queen’s College, Melbourne

As NSW Primary School Chess Champions in 2017, our school was invited to participate in the 13^th National Schools Finals in Melbourne in a two-day event starting on Monday 26 November. The competition consisted of three age-group sections. We entered a team into the Middles Competition (Years 5 – 9).

We took seven players down to Melbourne to participate in this event. Our team, consisting of: Daniel Melamed; Jesse Herdan; Jesse Gothelf; Zac Sidley; Jordan Fleischer; Sol Biton and Jake Fleischer took on the challenge with great determination, and high spirits as usual – competing against 24 other schools.

Each team member had to play seven rounds of chess and in the tallying up of points, Emanuel School came in second in the overall competition. This is an outstanding achievement! The boys made everybody exceptionally proud of them. Daniel Melamed came first in the individual competition. Well done, Daniel!

We were fortunate enough to have Mr Michael Todd, our school coach, accompany us on the trip, to help with the analysation of each game as it ended. This created a rich learning experience for the players and we are exceptionally grateful to Michael for his time and energy as well as the passion that he puts into fostering each player.

Many parents accompanied us on the trip to support the team and to assist with organisational matters. It was wonderful to have such a lovely group of supporters and their selfless efforts in helping out when needed were highly appreciated. Thank you!

Congratulations to our players and to our coach on this outstanding achievement. We are so proud of you.