For the first time ever, the WUS chess team qualified for the finals of five national competitions: Under 9, Under 11, National Primary, National Junior, and Under 19. It is an exceptional accomplishment, believed to be unmatched by any other prep school in the country.

The season was notable not only for the scale of success but also for its breadth. Twenty-one boys from Years 4 to 8 represented the school across seven national teams, competing through regional and semi-final rounds and, in many cases, against significantly older opponents. The Under 19 campaign stood out in particular, as the team became the first prep school ever to qualify for the finals in a field dominated by sixth-form players.

Results across the board were impressive. The Under 9 and Junior teams both secured first place nationally, with the Under 11 and Primary teams finishing a strong fourth. The Under 19 team, competing at Nottingham University, placed eighth – finishing ahead of several of the country’s leading senior schools, including Eton, Winchester, Dulwich, and St Paul’s. The team was also awarded the ‘Times Plate Trophy’, given to the top-scoring team following a first-round loss.

The school’s standing in national chess was formally recognised with an award from the British Chess Educational Trust. The citation praised both the overall achievement and the school’s pioneering role in entering the Under 19 competition, a milestone in itself.

While contributing to the chess team’s success, Ethan, currently in Year 6, has also ranked number one in his age group in the UK. Yet chess is not limited to only a few, every pupil in the school plays through the House Competition, ensuring that chess remains a shared and valued part of school life.

Dr Horridge, who retires this year, has overseen much of this growth and reflected on the team’s achievements:
“It’s been a pleasure to develop chess to this national level. Much credit for this goes not only to the boys but also the parents and the coaches, Candidate Master James Coleman, International Master Lorin D’Costa, and Grand Master Julian Hodgson.”

Parents described the year as one of “unbelievable chess success” and praised the “stunning play by the boys and management from Dr Horridge.”

The Master, Mrs jefferson, commented: “It is no exaggeration to say that it is a stellar performance from our pupils. Thank you to our brilliant players and to Dr Horridge for accompanying them so well.”

Chess Captain, George, writes:
In March, four WUS teams took part in the English Chess Federation’s Junior Team Chess Challenge and Primary Team Chess Challenge. It is the first time we have taken part in this competition and it was extremely exciting to start this competition by hosting it.

The day kicked off in the morning for the Junior Team Chess Challenge, a competition for Year 7s and 8s. The tournament was an all play all with 5 rounds, in which WUS had an ‘A’ team and a ‘B’ team. The WUS teams fought well in very well in every game, as each round followed the next in an intense, fast-paced tournament. Going into the final round, the WUS ‘A’ team had a perfect record, with the ‘B’ team not far behind. We were paired against the Henrietta Barnett ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams respectively, with the match between the two schools’ ‘A’ team’s being decisive for the final result. Despite some extremely tough matches where not everything was going our way, the WUS teams stormed back to win all games against the two Henrietta Barnett’s teams. This meant the ‘A’ team got a clean sweep, with all players winning all 4 games, an amazing achievement, with the ‘B’ team coming third.

The Primary Team Chess Challenge, a competition for Years 3 to 6, followed in the afternoon, where again two WUS teams participated in an all play all format. The WUS teams dominated the teams from other schools as they won every single game against opposing schools. As the final round started, the ‘A’ team already had an unassailable lead having also defeated the ‘B’ team, and both teams ended the day perfectly as they won all their games against the Bute House teams. This meant WUS ‘A’ finished first with a perfect record, and WUS ‘B’ came second. This fantastic result meant that both WUS ‘A’ teams qualified for the Finals of the Junior Team Chess Challenge and Primary Team Chess Challenge.

These Finals were held at Nottingham University on Tuesday 24 June. Each match was fiercely competitive, as all finalists were winners of their regions. The games were fast paced and intensive, with longer games resulting in players being required to make each move in just two seconds.

The Primary Team played some of the strongest teams nationally, with some unfortunate match pairings, but the team managed to fight back and came tied third, fourth by tiebreak. The Junior Team put out a very strong performance, managing to win each match. This meant that WUS had a clear victory, with the gap between us and second being as much as the gap between second and eleventh!

The following two days was the English Chess Federation’s main Schools Championships, where all the strongest senior school played. Each match was a battle consisting of six serious games of chess between two schools, with games sometimes lasting over two hours. In the very first match, we were drawn against Westminster School. It was an extremely tough match, some of WUS’s previous players now playing for the opposing team. In the end, we lost the match by the narrowest of margins.

However, WUS rallied and remained unbeaten for the next five matches, with some of our players being the very last in the playing hall, fighting for every single point. With two incredible match victories on the final day, WUS astoundingly managed to come joint third with eight other teams, and on tie-break finished eighth out of the thirty best chess schools in the country. This meant that WUS won the plate trophy, just ahead of Eton College who were our main competitors for the plate trophy, which is for the best performing team after losing the first match. Not only that, WUS had finished ahead of other senior schools such as Eton, Dulwich, St. Pauls, Winchester, Harrow, and Latymer, an unbelievable feat for the only junior school in the competition.

U9 and Under 11
Bearing in mind that some of the WUS players had been at Nottingham University, playing in other Chess Finals during the previous few days, it was always going to be a tough weekend although at least we were playing ‘on home turf’. Schools travelled from across the country and out boys played exceedingly well. By the end of the first day, the Under 9s were in a strong lead. The Under 11s were in the top 4. After all nine rounds were completed, the final results were a clear win for our Under 9 team and fourth place for our Under 11 team. This was a magnificent achievement and well done to all players:

These matches rounded off our participation in five national chess competitions, in which we reached the Finals of all five – something that can only be described as “once in generation”. Well played to the WUS national teams!

Under 19 Team: George, Ethan, Torrey, Alex, Shrinivas, William

Junior Team Challenge (A and B teams): George , Torrey, Aryan, William, Alex, Franklin, Feihong, Arthur, Aksharan

Primary Team Challenge (A and B teams): Ethan, Shrinivas, Pranav, Tyning, Rishabh, Ricky, Niles, Samuel.

Under 9: Pranav Iyer, Hongqian He, Rishabh Iyer, Rafi Coomaraswamy, Merlin Wang.

Under 11: Ethan Pang, Miles Zhao, Tyning Cheng, Ricky Gao, Shrinivas Iyer, Noah Chopra.