The 2023/4 season finished with a mixture of excitement, pride, and a touch of heartache. Last September we started the campaign with back-to-back very close losses against two Wilsons Grammar School teams (7-5 and 6.5-5.5). At the time, little did we know we would then win our next ten matches in succession, remaining unbeaten for the remainder of the season.
This ten-run winning streak included very sweet revenge victories against the two Wilsons teams which defeated us at the start of the season. Sadly, this was not enough to win the Surrey Division 2 East league title, as the strongest Wilsons team won eleven out of twelve fixtures, with Emanuel handing them their only taste of defeat.
Our fantastic team can be very proud of their sterling efforts which included both home and away victories against teams from Dunottar, Reigate, Trinity, and Whitgift. To keep the pressure on Wilsons, Emanuel won their final fixtures Trinity (8-4) and Dunottar (9-3), with our ‘B’ team also heavily defeating the Dunottar ‘B’ squad. However, Wilsons kept winning and they jumped above us in the final match of the campaign.
Eleven players represented the school in our league fixtures this season, all of which have terrific win/loss ratios. We also say a sad ‘farewell’ to three of our strongest players, Will, Lucien and Charlie who are heading off to university. Will, in particular, had an incredible season and played on board one for the entire campaign and did not miss a match.
Here are the player statistics for our top six players (1 point for every league victory):
Will (Year 13) 19.5
Fred (Year 10) 17
Karan (Year 11) 16.5
Lucien (Year 13) 13.5
Dan (Year 12) 12.5
Charlie (Year 11) 11
The five other players who rotated in as substitutes were Harry (Year 11), Jamie (Year 11), Eddie (Year 8), Lila (Year 7) and Taran (Year 8).
We are sad to lose Charlie, Will and Lucien who have been the backbone of our team, however, we have lots of young players coming through and there will be healthy competition for a spot in our top six next season. Karan has been a superb captain, his dedication, organisation, and commitment is second to none, and we are delighted he will be remaining captain for next season also.
I would also like to thank Mr Wilson Lai for his support this season and the expertise of our professional chess coach Mr James Coleman, who has helped develop the games of many of both our serious and casual players. James will be returning next season also.
There is little or no competitive chess in the summer term, but Monday Chess Club continues as normal, with James on hand to coach the players.
The photos are taken from the final two matches of the season, against Trinity and Dunottar.
Mr Jones, Senior Librarian
