Budding Chess Player

Year 7 student Aart recently played in the Yorkshire U18 Team Chess Championships. Playing with a team from York Junior Chess Club, they won 3rd prize in the 2nd Division. The Championships themselves were played over 3 days in Leeds, Hull and York between November and February. Aart played in the Leeds and Hull rounds, doing particularly well in Hull where he was undefeated, winning 2 matches and drawing 2.

Aart has been playing chess since he was 5, although only really started to become serious about it in 2021 after discovering chess streamers on YouTube. This interest led to him joining York Junior Chess Club which meets every week – sessions are a mixture of fun and more serious chess coaching. Aart has also persuaded his dad to join him at the club and they play some matches as a parent and son team.

This isn’t the first tournament Aart has played in, he’s taken part in competitions in the York League and also the County League. Players are selected for the teams based on their past performance against other players, from which they are given a strength scoring. At the Yorkshire Under 18 team competitions, team members play 4 matches against two different teams – two games playing ‘white’ and two playing with the black pieces. So, over the course of a 3-day competition that’s 12 matches in total. The match points (2 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss) determine placings, with individual game results (1 for a win, half point for a draw and 0 for a loss) used as tie breakers.

Aart is very much looking forward to playing in other tournaments, improving his own skills and also his own rankings. He’s also encouraging other students to take up chess through the Strategic Games PDA.  Who knows where chess might take Aart in the coming years!