The Chess Olympics was a massive success for the large number of juniors who attended, battling to see who the best variant player was.
Introduced to King of the Hill, Three Checks and Losing Chess, even the weaker players had a chance to outdo the stronger. Phoebe Evans
defeated one of the adults to show she was the best at King of the Hill, whilst Byron Minter and Jacob Wright grabbed the certificates in the
two other areas.
However, the night was centred around the puzzle race that took up half the room! The “on your marks, set, go!” saw who could complete the puzzles fastest, eagerly fighting for their position. In the preliminaries, Jacob stormed to the finish in a shocking 45 seconds. Just when it was believed the record was set, Oscar Purcell managed to come home a second faster to much excitement. As the speeds were announced, everyone waited with bated breath to see Trisztan Saftany called out as the third qualifier.
The three contenders stood ready at the new puzzles of the final, eyeing up the medals that would be handed out at the end line. With the “go!” sending them rattling off, Trisztan and Oscar stumbled near the start and Jacob took his chance to race forward to gold. In a closely fought battle, Trisztan managed to come in for silver, whilst Oscar took the bronze.
In all, highly enjoyable and excitable for the kids, a different spin on the usual nights at the club and a change from the usual coaching. Definitely something to continue with next year!
