On Wednesday afternoon, Rowan (Old House) and Gabriel (Blackford House) played against each other in the final of the Inter-House Chess Competition.

Both of them had won all of their games in the previous four rounds of the competition, but they had not yet played against each other. The game was streamed by video-link to another classroom, where a crowd of mostly Old House and Blackford House boys watched, ready to cheer every move.

Gabriel opened as White and took an early lead, capturing one of Rowan’s knights. Undeterred by this, Rowan kept the pressure on, with a strong attack using his king-side bishop. The centre of the board was soon being hotly contested, with queens, knights and bishops in a complex arrangement. Gabriel suddenly broke out of the centre with one of his knights, attacking Rowan’s queen. Rowan in turn pushed a rook up the middle, taking a knight and attacking Gabriel’s queen.

At this point Gabriel could have exchanged queens and would have been still ahead in points. Instead he went for what looked like a much riskier strategy, moving his queen into safety. Rowan moved his queen out of danger and captured Gabriel’s rook. Rowan now looked to be in the stronger position in terms of points, and he could have won the game with checkmate if he had been allowed another turn in which to move his queen down to the far side.

Unfortunately for Rowan, he was never given the chance to make that checkmate move. Gabriel drove his queen forward. Check! Both players had left their kings overexposed, moving one rook forward but leaving the other trapped ineffectually behind a bishop. Rowan had no choice but to move his king out of check, but this meant taking himself further into a trap. Gabriel moved the queen. Checkmate! Both players had used less than five minutes of their time. A jubilant crowd of boys trooped down the stairs and took their hero back to Blackford House.

Congratulations to both boys who have played extremely well during the tournament. At times it looked as if either could win the game, but in the end Gabriel’s consistent approach won him the game.

Thomas Owens - Teacher of Mathematics

The Final. Between Gabe (Blackford) and Rowan (Old).
Great to see chess to closely followed.
Well done to Gabe who was the victor. Thank you Mr Owen's, Dr Kewell and Alex from ICT@KSBOldHouse @KSBBlackfordHse @KSB500th @KingsBruton pic.twitter.com/QSl9NVFqS9

— Old House (@KSBOldHouse) December 4, 2019