A team of four from Mullumbimby High has won the 2016 Country Secondary Schools Chess Competition held in Sydney last week.
In a thrilling end to the tournament the Mullum squad was able to pull just half a point clear of Wollongong’s Smiths Hill High to claim the title.
At the end of the final day of competition Mullum needed to win three of its last four games, and when they lost the first, coach Mike Duffin was ready to settle for second.
‘But we won them all from there; the boys did it in style,’ he said.
‘The team of Callum Wilson, Oliver Arthur Andrews, Theo Bourgoin, all from Year 10, and Zahi Addis, Year 7, had a great year and hope to defend their title next year,’ he said.
Callum and Oliver both went through the year undefeated.
‘Callum was last to finish on board one and cracked his opponent with only one minute left on his clock,’ Mike said.
‘A big part of tournament chess is time management.’
The country competition is traditionally dominated by the big Newcastle and Wollongong private or selective schools. At least 136 schools across regional NSW played for the coveted crown.
Mike is a teacher at Mullum High and runs a chess club across terms one to three that is open to all, especially primary school students.
Mike has had a hand in training up Callum and Oliver since they started playing at Durrumbul Primary School when they were about eight years old.
In the past Callum has claimed the Queensland U/14 Championship.
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