Windlesham House won the 47th Annual Cottesmore Chess Tournament for the third time in four years (one of those being first equal) by just a single point as Sidhanth P went unbeaten, Savva made an encouraging debut for the school chess team and Siteng C recovered well after a couple of early losses to win his last three games.
Not many schools are invited to bring a ‘B’ team along and we once again demonstrated strength in depth as Chester C, Michael K and David L used all their experience, along with taking their time carefully, to hold their own against opposition ‘A’ teams. Including our ‘C’ team, who also claimed some notable scalps, four team members are young enough to return in 2027.
The top prize at the event, however, goes to the first placed individual and after twice coming runner-up this was Sidhanth P’s year to win the silver salver, playing six faultless matches. There is no greater honour in prep school chess – the list of winners is almost a ‘Who’s Who’ of leading English chess players!
We can all learn from the length of time Sidhanth allocates to each move. In total, Sidhanth’s games lasted 4 hours and 32 minutes. A few of us made all our moves in close to just an hour’s playing time …
We’ve only ‘done the double’ of top individual and top team once before (2022 – Sidhanth was in that team too!). Very well done to everyone involved.
Final team positions (all ‘A’ teams unless otherwise stated) :
1=Windlesham House (13 points)
2= Brighton College, Lancing College (12)
4= Aldro, Lewes Old Grammar (11.5) Hurstpierpoint (11)
7= Windlesham House B, Ardingly College, Brambletye (9)
10= Brighton College B, Copthorne (8.5)
11=Cottesmore B (7.5)
13= Cottesmore, Duke of Kent (7)
14=Windlesham House C (6.5)
15=Ardingly College B (6)
16=Dorset House (3.5)
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