Spirit and speed

Claremont’s chess players develop new skills in a challenging competition 

7th July 2026 saw Claremont High School’s Chess Club take part in an inter-school Chess Tournament at Canons High School in Edgware. Four schools in total took part – alongside Claremont were Canons, Park High School and Newman Catholic College. The game format was ‘rapid’: three 45-minute games each. Trophies, medals and certificates were up for grabs. 

Ms Patel, who leads Claremont’s Chess Club alongside Ms Mistri, reported on the results: ‘Highly-skilled Newman Catholic College won the most games and Claremont's talented pupils came a close second. They learnt and shared new strategies and made many new friends between the three rounds of games. The students did themselves proud. Well done to all ten who took part!’ 

The students certainly learnt a lot from the experience… 

‘It was great playing other schools,’ says Shlok Patel in Year 9. ‘The most challenging part was that everyone was of different levels. I enjoyed meeting new people.’ 

Sriraam Sivathasan, also Year 9, agrees: ‘I enjoyed playing against very spirited and happy players. The most challenging thing was playing against people who were very fast! From this experience I’ll take away that chess is not about winning, but about participating and enjoying it.’