Macleans College chess players secure national final selection

The East Auckland Inter-Schools Chess Regionals were held recently at the Bucklands and Eastern Beaches Memorial Hall.

This year was a milestone event - the increase in popularity meant age group competitions had to be held separately to accommodate the record number of students. Over 100 students participated in the secondary school division, with Macleans College sending the largest delegation of all schools; 30 students split into six teams of five.

The Macleans College teams did not disappoint with the premier team going undefeated and coming agonisingly close to a first place finish. Teams D and C placed in the top five alongside the premier team, and half of the top ten placed teams were representing Macleans College.

The premier team of Alex Pan (Hillary House), Charles Zhang (Hillary), George Guo (Hillary), TJ Kichavadi (Batten) and captain Lucas Xiao (Rutherford) gained qualification into the national finals to represent the region. The national finals are to be held in Wellington during the Term 3 school holidays.

Thank you to Mr Chang for making this experience possible and for accompanying the teams during the tournament.