Exeter Junior School chess players highly placed

Devon Junior Championships at Teign School

Nine Exeter Junior School pupils took part in the Devon Junior Championships at Teign School on Saturday, 5th December.

Seven pupils played in the under 11 section, which had 42 players, some of whom had travelled from Cornwall and Somerset to take part.
George Milner did extremely well to gain 4½ points out of a possible 6 and was awarded a trophy for 4th place.  Taylor Finch, still in Year 5 and thus an under 10 player, played superbly and gained 4 points out of 5, putting him in 5th position.  Both these players have gained a place in the Devon under 11 team.
Also playing in the under 11 section were Oliver Pike and Tom Adams (both 3 points), Tobias Ashdown and William Aczel (2 points) and Joachim Boyden (1 point). 
The under 11 team, ably captained by George Milner, gained 2nd place.

In the under 9 section, Edward Middleton scored 4 points to gain 4th place, with Edmund Kelly gaining 3½ points. These were excellent performances from the two boys with a strong field of 24 players. Unfortunately, we needed five players to make up a team, so these scores could not be counted in the team event.

It was good, too, to see some former pupils of the Junior School taking part in the under 15 section.  Tom Senior scored 5 points and was declared Devon Junior Champion at this level.  Suraj Gandhi and August Aalto both scored 3 points, and Lionel Pike scored 2 points.  Since these last two boys are still under 12, to perform so well against much older pupils is highly commendable.

Places in the Devon under 9 and under 15 teams have not yet been announced, but there is little doubt that some Exeter School pupils will be selected for both these county teams.

Another very successful day for Exeter School chess players!