The A-Grade Primary Finals were held at the Glen Eira Town Hall. A marvellous room with a viewing gallery around the outside to keep the spectators away from the players. Many thanks to the City of Glen Eira for letting us use their venue.
Although this is a very big event it was
unfortunately built up by some to be too
big a thing. Some kids were under a great
deal of pressure, this is one thing that I
am trying to avoid. The game should be
enjoyable, winning and losing are not
important. The children should be
learning sportsmanship, how to win and
lose gracefully, team spirit and generally
how to behave in a competitive situation.
Parents and coaches who put too much
emphasis on winning, or on the result
undermine much of what the children
should be learning from playing in a
competition like this.
The top three teams were well above the rest, but nobody expected Essex Heights
to finish first in such a comfortable
fashion. For the second year in a row too!
What had been keyed up to be the crucial
match was played in the second round.
Mont Albert vs. Essex Heights. An easy
4-0 for Essex Heights. After that Essex
Heights didn’t look back. 4-0 wins
against 3rd seeds Caulfield Grammar in
the fourth round gave them a 3.5 point
lead over the rest of the field. After that
the lead just extended to a massive 8
points at the finish!
Congratulations to Mont Albert – Grade
3’s who were the top scorers against
Essex Heights, and that was winning 1
game in the first round.
Caulfield Grammar rallied in the last few
rounds to create an exciting finish in the
race for second place. A 3-1 win against
Mont Albert and then a 4-0 win in the last round put them close, but not close
enough to Mont Albert Primary who held
out to finish second by half a point.
Obviously every team that made it into
the finals played well just to get there. I
would like to thank all the players,
teachers and parents for making the
tournament a success.
It was good to see some publicity come
from the day, with photos in The Age and
local papers.
Winning team: Essex Heights Primary
Ruperto Lugo 7/8
James Papa 8/8
Michelle Lee 7/8
Winston Yii 7.5/8
School Coach:
David Cordover & Chess Kids
The B-grade Finals was perhaps the most
exciting competition of the year! Nobody
knew the winner until the last round, and
even then we weren’t sure!
The lead changed time and time again.
And the fight for minor places was just as
tough.
After 3 rounds Essex Heights was in the
lead, having just defeated Wesley and
GBH. Ivanhoe Grammar and Wesley
College were placed in second.
Round 4 saw Ivanhoe Grammar beat
Essex Heights to allow the three teams,
Essex, Ivanhoe and Wesley to draw level
on 10.5 points.
Ivanhoe Grammar snuck into the lead
with a 2.5-1.5 win over Wesley in the 5th
round. Essex Heights lost 1.5-2.5 to
Caulfield Grammar. This left Caulfield
Grammar and GBH only 2 points behind
the lead. Chadstone Park Primary was
another 1/2 point down.
Wesley was able to draw level with a 3-1
win over Carlton Nth – Lee St in the 6th
round. Ivanhoe was equal first on 15
points after their 2-2 draw with Caulfield
Grammar.
The penultimate round was a nail biter.
Essex Heights only scored 2.5 against
Kangaroo Ground while Ivanhoe
Grammar came back with a 3-1 win
against GBH. Caulfield Grammar had a
4-0 win putting them all on 17 points. 3
teams equal first going into the last
round!! Wesley took a 1-3 loss to
Chadstone Park to drop behind the pace.
The last round was a disaster for Wesley,
losing their match 1.5-2.5 against lowly
ranked Essex Heights Girls. Same went
for Ivanhoe Grammar with a 1-3 loss to
Mentone Grammar, leaving them in 4th
position. Essex Heights and Caulfield
Grammar won 3-1 against Chadstone
Park and Lee St respectively to leave
them equal on 20 points. Mentone
Grammar rocketed into 3rd place by
defeating Ivanhoe 3-1.
After a countback system was employed
Essex Heights was declared the winner by
140 to 128. Thus taking out the double, A
and B Finals winners!
Top board scorers were:
Douglas Lindberg (Lee St), Michael
Shafar (GBH), Timothy Jacobs (Ivanhoe)
and Melanie Chang (Essex Height).
Winning school: Essex Heights Primary
Ryan Carey, Leon Looi, Leonard Shan,
Melanie Chang.
School coach:
David Cordover & Chess Kids
