On Tuesday the 30 July Somerset Primary School hosted the final round of the North West Tasmanian Chess competition. It was a fantastic day with over 130 children from both primary and high schools competing across three divisions. Our Somerset Primary Chess Club has grown from 5 students in 2018 to 28 students in 2019. This year we were again lucky to host the event which allowed all the children who attend Chess Club to be entered into the tournament. We entered teams in both primary school divisions.

All the students really loved the opportunity to battle it out against their peers from other schools. Whilst we are especially proud of all the students who competed in the tournament, there were a number of exceptional results for Somerset Primary School.

In the Primary B division three of our students went undefeated throughout the tournament and contributed to Somerset Primary winning the Primary B division by scoring 27 out of a possible 28 points. Well done to Thomas (7 wins), Mason (7 wins), Liam (7 wins) and Campbell (6 wins) who led the team to victory.

The Primary A division was hotly contested throughout the day. In the end Somerset Primary tied with Ulverstone Primary on the same amount of points. Therefore the judges looked at a competitive scale that ranks matches. We were still tied. Therefore it went to a percentage rank. The end result Somerset Primary was awarded second place by a margin of 0.02. You can’t get much closer than that. Congratulations to Bradley (6 wins), Rhylie (5.5 wins), George (5 wins) and Yada (4.5 wins) for leading the team. This result is fantastic because it now qualifies Somerset Primary to compete in the Tasmanian School Chess finals in October.

Chess Club is run at school every Tuesday at lunch time. All students are invited to attend.