National Schools Championship
On Tuesday, Woodbridge School faced the might of Haberdashers’ Aske’s School in the Zonal Final of the National Schools Championships.
Apart from top board, the Woodbridge team was outgraded by a huge margin. The game between Justin Tan and Ravi Haria (pictured below) featured two of the strongest juniors in the UK:
| Board | Woodbridge | Grade | Result | Haberdashers | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Tan | 241 | ½ – ½ | Ravi Haria | 226 |
| 2 | Lai Chun | 122 | 0 – 1 | Tarun Malhotra | 189 |
| 3 | Anthony Yu | u/g | 0 – 1 | Roman Mitra | 178 |
| 4 | Taisei Tsuroka | u/g | 0 – 1 | Lawrence Lee | 154 |
| 5 | Hugo Kelleway | 95 | 0 – 1 | Vincent Lee | 152 |
| 6 | Harry Rennell | 87 | 0 – 1 | David Xu | 150 |
Adam Hunt reports:
“The scoreline didn’t really reflect the games, with all matches going comfortably into the second hour. Anthony Yu entered a B+5 v N+5 endgame which he couldn’t hold. Harry Rennell lost a pawn in the opening and a second in the endgame and that was that. Taisei Tsuruoka got to Rook and 4 v Rook and 5; again which he couldn’t hold. Predictably the last game to finish was the top board encounter where Justin Tan was a touch better but never enough to really trouble White. Haberdashers are, grading-wise, favourites to go on and win the event.”