The final of this highly successful competition was held at St Catherine’s School in Bramley, Surrey, over the weekend of 5th/6th April. St Catherine’s has been a generous and far-sighted sponsor of the National Schools Championships for the last eleven years. The behaviour of the girls was first-class, making the entire event a pleasure to organise. The chess was very hard-fought but remarkably sporting at the same time. Excellent weather topped off the weekend.
Congratulations to the champions, Bancroft School (below) in the U11 and St Paul’s Girls’ School (below them) in the U19
My thanks go out to all who helped with the tournament. Roll on next year! Full results can be found at the following links:
Under 11 – https://chess-results.com/tnr1127086.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES
Under 19 – https://chess-results.com/tnr1150916.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES
From Bancroft School —
Bancroft’s Prep School’s Under 11 girls chess team are once again national champions! Zoe, Mary and Ishta competed in a gruelling two day contest over the weekend of April 5th and 6th, playing against some of the most prestigious schools in the country, many of whom have longstanding traditions of competitive chess. Bancroft’s Prep arrived on the girls’ chess scene with a bang in 2023 when we won the English Chess Federation’s Under 11 chess final for schools at the first time of entering.
Last year we were narrowly runners up but it is a joyous feeling to regain the trophy and bring it home to Woodford Green! Zoe, Mary and Ishta won all their matches in all nine rounds dropping just a single game in the process. All of this is down to the hard work and skill of the girls themselves but also our professional chess coaches and team manager and Deputy Head, Lisa Life, who made it her mission some years ago to make competitive chess a big feature of the Prep School.
Lisa said, ‘I am overwhelmed by the grit and competitive spirit our girls showed. To hold their nerve in so many tight games when everything was on the line was just awesome. When they realised they were national champions they couldn’t stop smiling! We’re all so proud of them.’
From St Paul’s School —
Through the nine rounds of competition there was no more than a 0.5% margin of difference between St Pauls Girls School and North London Collegiate A – with the championship decided on the head to head result between them. Our admiration and praise for the runners up North London Collegiate A and all the teams who gave their all. Our appreciation and thanks to St Catherines School for being such gracious hosts.
— John Michael Mouskos
The Head of St. Catherine’s, Alice Phillips, said of the event, ‘St. Catherine’s is proud to support girls’ chess in this way. Thanks to you and all your team at ECF and in school for delivering another great final. The girls clearly gained hugely from this experience and it was lovely that they had a beautiful weekend of weather so could be out and about in the grounds when not playing chess with great focus.’
Final results Under 11: https://chess-results.com/tnr1079089.as … turdet=YES
Final results Under 19: https://chess-results.com/tnr1079109.as … turdet=YES
A very successful day , with a double feature on BBC South today! A more detailed report can be found here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/national-schools-report-girls-semi-finals/
It is a delight once again to sponsor and host the ECF’s National Girls’ Chess Championships: a unique and collegiateevent. From its inception in 2014, this tournament has exceeded all expectations each year and is the most dynamicnational chess competition for young female players. We look forward to welcoming schools from all over the country and warmly invite new participant schools to help celebrate this exceptional assembly of like-minded girls.
– Mrs Alice Phillips, Headmistress, St Catherine’s, Bramley