Eight secondary schools have eagerly signed up for the inter-schools’ league/competition 2022/2023 which will be run across group stages, a semi-final and then culminate in a final.

Group stages

The Group Stage comprises the following two sub-leagues based on geographical divide, with schools in each group playing each other in a round robin.

Schools are responsible for organising dates, times, and venue that best suits them with the proviso that rounds should ideally be played by the following dates:

• Round 1: to be played by 20 January 2023 
• Round 2: to be played by 10 February 2023
• Round 3: to be played by 10 March 2023

Each player has two games against their opponent, a win each giving a draw for that game, a win and a draw, or two wins, giving a win overall.

Most games in Rounds 1 and 2 have now been played and there have been some tight and competitive matches. School staff report, however, that all games have been played in an enthusiastic and friendly manner, and have led to increasing numbers of pupils keen to play chess at school, which is fantastic news.

Of note was the opening match of the competition, with both Lytchett Minster and Poole Grammar schools fielding a magnificent 12 boards each!

Tarik Reghif (Lytchett Minster school chess coordinator) then reports ‘After the success of the trip to Poole Grammar, the chess club has received a huge influx of students with new sets having to be found most days. We took 12 students, such is the appetite for chess in both schools, in the minibus over to Bournemouth School for Girls. Of those 12 students, only 5 were from the first game, meaning we’ve got plenty of competition for spaces’.