News | 28 January 2025
More than 900 students participated in the IES National Chess Championship
When Internationella Engelska Skolan arranged the IES National Chess Championship for the first time, more than 900 students from 21 schools participated. The tournament was played online on Friday. The overall winning team was IES Umeå but many students in different categories won prizes.
The IES National Chess Championship was organised in cooperation with the Swedish Chess Federation (Sveriges Schackförbund) and consisted of two tournaments: one for students in grades 4-6 and one for students in grades 7-9. The tournament for grades 4-6 lasted for 60 minutes and the 7-9 tournament lasted for 90 minutes. The winning team was IES Umeå, grades 7-9.
Anette Kelk, head of maths and science at IES Umeå, coordinated the tournament there. She said: ”It was so much fun! There was a great interest in chess among the students already and there was a great commitment to this tournament. Everyone gave it their all, and what is particularly pleasing is that the seventh graders did the best. It shows great potential”.
The pedagogical value of chess is well-documented. Mark Price, head of aesthetics and a lead teacher at IES Hässleholm, was one of the enthusiastic initiators of the IES National Chess Championship. He emphasised that playing chess is also very beneficial from a social perspective.
He said: “There has been chess, in some form, at many IES schools for many years. Until now these activities have been like small islands. An idea was hatched by a small group of enthusiasts and an IES-wide competition seemed to be the natural next step”.
On the day the excitement was tangible.
Mr Price added: “At my school, the students have been getting more and more excited for weeks, and Friday was the big day. After an hour of chess the students were mentally drained, but the excitement still ran through their veins. On the way out of the door a grade 4 student who is relatively new to the game asked if we could do this again next week.”
Viggo Bodin, 9C, IES Kungsbacka
Viggo Bodin in grade 9C at IES Kungsbacka was the winner of the whole competition. He said: “It was a lot of fun and I am so happy that it went so well for me! I think the whole thing was really well organised and it was great to play against other IES schools. It was also brilliant to get a chance to do this during the school day.”
Prizes were awarded to the top three schools, the school with the most participants and the school with the highest average score per student. Prizes were also awarded to the top ten players in each competition and a further prize was awarded to the best girl per tournament.