Chess Club

LRB Manager, Mr Richardson, tells us about one of our chess players, Joy in Year 8:
“Joy is a very good chess player and is improving at a tremendous pace. I’ve been extremely impressed by his ability and his dedication to study. He isn’t undefeated in school, but he’s won at least once against every student he’s faced, and that includes some of our sixth formers.
The photo was taken after he won a school arena tournament at the end of last term. 2nd and 3rd places went to two of our Year 10 students, Jaime and Dahir. I asked Joy for some information on his background with chess:
“I began playing chess in September 2019 and I started playing online during lockdown. I started chess because when I saw this amazing player Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (who is only 15 years old)  playing  the Tata Steel Championship in 2018. I was fascinated by how he was playing and how the game of chess is played. My goal is to reach the top 10 in the world in 10 years. Also, my goal is to beat Nihal Sarin, Alireza Firouzja and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. I learned chess from the YouTube channel Chess Talk and from the chess course from chessfox.com. It is good for people who want to start chess and become an intermediate player. I would recommend for you to play on chess.com or Lichess.org if you want to start chess. My best achievements so far have been qualifying for the chess competition in Year 7, winning the Wednesday PM Arena.”
We still run a chess club but games between students are played online through lichess.org at the moment. We’re planning regular mini tournaments. If students are interested in taking part, please contact me to sign you up.”

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