Published on: 26 May 2016



During Week 4, Christ Church’s Junior and Open Chess Tournaments were contested over two gruelling nights of play.

The Junior Tournament involved 15 boys from Years 7 to 9.

Two of the strongest chess players in the School, Joshua Fry (Year 8) and Eric Pan (Year 9) both elected to contest the Open Chess Tournament, which opened things up for new champions.

After a few rounds using the ‘Swiss Method’ it boiled down to Lucas Hogan (Year 7), Daniel Mah (Year 9) and Julian Kam (Year 9). Hogan was defeated by Mah and in the final, Julian Kam proved to be Junior Chess Champion.

The much anticipated Open Chess Tournament saw Joshua Fry and Eric Pan stepping up to compete against last year’s finalists Liam Tien (Year 11) and Jiayi Mu (Year 12).

“In round three Pan shocked Tien by defeating him, setting up a final with Mu. He held his nerve and in a tense final, Pan proved victorious. This demonstrated that age is no guarantee of success in chess,” said Mr Dominic Hodnett.

These results, along with performances in the ongoing House Arts Chess Tournament, will influence decisions concerning team selection for the first of our inter-school tournaments held in June.