On Friday 17 August the Northwood chess team competed in the Durban and Districts High School Chess League Finals held at Clifton. On the day of the tournament, the boys made a conscious decision to bring the trophy home with one of the boys saying, “It’s Mr Jordan’s last year and we are taking the trophy for him!” Compared to Glenwood Boys High School’s team of ten, which included five grade 12 boys and an additional five reserves, the Northwood Chess Team appeared inexperienced.
The team of three grade 11’s, two grade 10’s, two grade 9’s and three new grade 8 players surprised Glenwood, in the third round, with a victory of 34 out of 40 and a three point lead. After Round 3, the tournament director (Glenwood’s Mr Jonathan Bentham) decided that Northwood was the clear cut winner and that there was no need to have more than four rounds. He also made a point of mentioning that it took ten years for Northwood to beat them!
The final results were as follows: Round 1 – Northwood beat St Henry’s Marist College 10-NIL, Round 2 Northwood beat Westville Boys 10-NIL, Round 3 Northwood beat Glenwood 5,5 – 4,5 and finally in Round 4 Northwood beat DHS 8,5 – 1,5. Northwood’s winning team, listed as per their board numbers, was: 1. Yasteel Devnarian, 2. Luke Joseph, 3. Thomas Meadows, 4. Yetish Ramsurrup, 5. Shayur Hansraj, 6. Kyran Appana, 7. James Meadows, 8. Taish Ramkisson, 9. Ukyle Bezuidenhoud and 10. Deshaj Parthab.
CONGRATULATIONS to the following boys who have been selected for the KZN side for 2012 and will represent KZN in Cape Town from 15 to 21 December at the Junior Chess Championships (SA Trials 2012):
Shayur Hansraj (tied 1st place at the Closed U16) U16A
Kyran Appanna (U16A)
James Meadows (U14B)
Yasteel Devnarrian (U18A)
Ukyle Bezuidenhout (RESERVE)
Taish Ramkisson (RESERVE)
