National Primary Schools Championships 2009

The finals of the EPSCA National Primary Schools’ Chess Teams Championships, the National Small Schools and the UK National Schools Championship took place on Tuesday 30th June and Wednesday 1st July 2009 at Pontins, Brean Sands.

In the U9 competition, Homefield took an early lead with Hallfield and Brooklands close behind. By round 4, Homefield and Hallfield had pulled clear of the field but did not play each other until round 7 when a 3-2 win to Homefield secured their first place with 31½ points. Hallfield achieved a well deserved second place with 27 points and Nottingham High came 3rd with 22½ points. Fourth to Eighth place went respectively to The Hall (19½), Brookland (13½), Aughton St Michaels’ (10½), Dulwich College Prep (10½) and The Rackham (5).
Special congratulations must go to Wendy Bradley and the Homefield Team who have made it to the final on numerous previous occasions only to see other teams take the coveted first place. This truly was their year and one the school will long remember.

In the Under 11 championship, the first 2 places were never in doubt from the end of the first round - despite a valiant effort from all the other teams. Haberdashers’ Askes once again secured first place with 27½ points and Eltham College took second with 25 points. Third and fourth places were hotly contested by Magdalen College (19½ points) and Nottingham High (18 points). Fifth to Eighth places only became clear from round 5 as up till then team positions changed significantly with each round. Eventually the order was: Amherst (16), QEGS Wakefield (13½), Brookland (11½) and Hulme Court (9)

The Small Schools competition was double the size of last years event although even this only brought the number of schools entering up to 4. Blagdon led from the outset and with 18 points ended up 7 points clear of their nearest rival. Langley Prep came second with 11 points and only ½ point behind, Alcuin took 3rd place. The final place went to Heathside Prep with 8½ points.
By special request, a Small Schools Plate Competition was held. Unusually, a “B” team won the event however this was most likely due to random labelling of teams rather than the B team unexpectedly playing better than the “A” team. The results were as follows: 1st = Heathside B (16½), 2nd = Langley Prep (15½), 3rd = Heathside A (9) and 4th = Blagdon (7).

Results spreadsheet