Chess

KERRIE ANDERSON STEVE HAMILTON

Prep Chess Coordinators

2015 saw the second year of GPS Chess at Prep level, and it provided us with an opportunity to consolidate our position as very serious contenders.

GPS Chess and the associated trips to Brisbane and Ipswich demanded a significant level of commitment from our Prep boys and indeed their parents at late-night pick-ups! Our GPS Prep results continue to impress, as we won or drew well over 50% of the competition. With narrow losses to our stronger competitors, one could say we had some very serious GPS success. Worthy of note is that of the 13 Prep GPS players, nine boys won over 50% of their games. Most significantly, our boys wore their uniforms, manners and school pride with impeccable style throughout the season. As well as GPS Chess, a number of boys were asked to compete in local interschool competitions on the Gold Coast. Many boys competed for the very first time and represented TSS with aplomb in such competitions as the Individual Age championships held at Emmanuel College. The future certainly looks very positive with boys from Years 1 to 6 recording outstanding victories.

Under the watchful eyes of expert Gardiner Chess coaches, many TSS Prep boys enjoyed the opportunity to enhance their skills, or in the case of new students, to learn this strategic game of manipulation and guile from scratch. Every Monday morning from 7:30 until 8:30 boys train diligently to become the best they can possibly be.

Thank you to ever-willing Herschel Aloysisus, the thoroughly dependable and reliable 2015 Chess Captain. Thanks also to Coach Doug and Coach Alex from Gardiner Chess who inspire the boys with new and exciting strategic directions. Along with Chess teacher Mr Steve Hamilton and teacher Mrs Jasna Poezus, instill an enthusiasm for the game as well as promoting an intellectual rigor so beneficial to growing young minds.

GPS CHESS CLUB

SEATED ROW: J. LEES, T. YOON, H. ALOYSIUS, H. GRAY, S. WOLFENDEN, R. SAMPSON SECOND ROW: L. LANE, J. MCAULEY, D. SELBY, L. ROSS, L. CHABERT, Z. HOWARD TEACHER: MRS K. ANDERSON

ROB CLEGG

Chess Coordinator

“Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.”

Benjamin Franklin

This year was another exciting year for Chess at TSS with excellent results in the GPS competition as well as regional competitions. The GPS Chess season came to an exciting conclusion in the final round with the Premier Team able to take a narrow win against Toowoomba Grammar School to secure third place in the competition. This is a great result for the team and our best result since also coming third in 2009.

Our Premier Team this year consisted of David Liu on Board 1, Ryan Shim (Chess Vice-captain) on Board 2, Cale Kalinowski on Board 3 and Robert McCullough on Board 4. This team is also a young one, with a Year 8, two Year 11s and a Year 10 student. With all of these players eligible to play next year the prospects for 2016 are again promising.

It was fantastic to see Years 5 and 6 join the official GPS competition for the first time this year. There are some very talented chess players in this age group and it will be of great interest to see how they develop as they go through into their high school years. The great strength that TSS has in chess is the depth of quality chess players we have in the school and the enthusiasm there is for the game right throughout all year levels.

GPS RESULTS FOR ALL TEAMS: Premier ................................................3rd Senior ..................................................3rd Junior .............................................. =5th Open A ................................................5th Open B ................................................4th Open C................................................3rd Open D............................................ =3rd Open E ................................................4th Open F............................................. =3rd

Chess awards this year were given to: Captain of Chess: Cameron Kroon

Most Points in GPS in Premier Team: Ryan Shim

Most Points in GPS in Junior Team: Taisei Fuji and Tyson Spisich Most Improved Player: Hugh Wheaton Encouragement Award: Harry Knudsen

PLAYERS OF THE ROUND Round 1 v BGS ....................... David Liu Round 2 v BBC....................... Taisei Fuji Round 3 v GT ...........................Komei Jo Round 4 v IGS ........................Tosh Allan Rouns 5..............................................BYE Round 6 v NC ..............Peter Wolfenden Round 7 v ACGS .............. Ha Min Kang Round 8 v BSHS.... Robert McCullough Round 9 v TGS......................Ryan Shim

TSS Chess players also participated in the Gold Coast Individual Age Chess Championships in Term Four. TSS performed strongly on the day with two age champions, three players receiving medals for placing in their age group and a significant number of players winning Ribbons of Merit. Congratulations go to Cameron Kroon and David Liu for winning their respective age divisions and for Nick Warren, Hugh Wheaton and Robert McCullough for placing third in theirs. Winners of a Ribbon of Merit were Tyson Spisich, Tosh Allan, Komei Jo, Vikram Nedunchezhian, Kye Fielder, Taisei Fuji and Christian Goh. My thanks go to the Chess Captain, Cameron Kroon, for his leadership of the team and his excellent speeches at Assembly. Our coaching sessions continue to be popular and we were fortunate to again secure the services of a very knowledgeable coach in Woman International Master Alexandra Jule. My thanks also go to Mr David Ellis and Ms Kerrie Anderson for their assistance with the GPS program this year.

HOUSE CHESS COMPETITION This rapid chess competition held in Term Four was again fiercely contested by all Houses. For the second year in a row Surman managed to narrowly defeat Radcliffe in a very tense final. Well done Surman House.

2015 SENIOR CHESS TEAM

SEATED ROW: MR R.G. CLEGG, H.J.E. KNUDSEN, W.C. SPISICH, C. SHIM, C.R. KROON, R. NAIR, H.M. KANG, L. ZHENG, MR D.M. ELLIS SECOND ROW: F.M. LANE, S. LEE, C. GOH, K. JO, D. LIU, N. PURZA-PAGE, D. FEI, P.J. WOLFENDEN, T. FUJI THIRD ROW: Y. BHOOLA, R.A. MCCULLOUGH, T.J. SPISICH, T.J. SHERLINE, T. YANG, T.M. ALLAN, M.T. COSSILL, L.M. READ, K.B. FIELDER, H. ELISHAV, V. NEDUNCHEZHIAN