SBC chess team brings home regional win

It's a game of strategy, of tactics and patience, and for four young men from St Brendan's College their experience, skills and knowledge paid off in spades as the SBC senior chess team brought home a tournament win in the first Inter-school Chess Competition for 2019, beating 20 teams from schools around Central Queensland. 

Students Smith Waigana, Kevin Keller, Mathew Ray and Jared Warusam were the winning combination for the SBC senior team, while the SBC junior team of Allan Sullivan, Max Chambers, Leo Goldman and Matthew Kershaw also performed admirably on the day achieving tenth place. 

In a significant coup, Year 11 student Smith Waigana came home Overall Individual Champion after winning each of his seven games. 

Chess Club Coordinator SBC Business Manager Mr Gordon Porter said he was pleased with the teams' performance on the day, particularly the SBC senior team and Smith Waigana for his outstanding individual performance.

"Our senior students have been playing for several years, however some of the students had not played before starting at St Brendan's College so their performance is testament to their natural ability and aptitude for the game," Mr Porter said. 

The students gain game experience including learning openings, patterns, traps and and strategy in the College library twice per week during second break as part of the College Chess Club.  

And while the College's focus is of course education, there are significant opportunities offered on the extra-curricular program outside of sport, music and cultural pursuits, for students whose interests and abilities lean more towards the intellectual or technology areas.

These include the College's Chess Club, Robotics Club, 3D Printing Club and Code Club, in addition to debating and public speaking and the technical production crew. For more information about SBC and its extra-curricular offerings visit www.stbrendans.qld.edu.au 

Picture:  Tough competitors - St Brendan's College combined chess teams included (from left to right) SBC's Smith Waigana, Allan Sullivan, Kevin Keller, Max Chambers, Mathew Ray, Leo Goldman, Jared Warusam and Matthew Campbell at the first inter-school chess tournament of the year held at The Cathedral College, Rockhampton.