Report by Mr Cuddihy, Teacher of Maths  

On Wednesday 22 March, Rowley Kerr took some time out from studying Physics to visit his old school chess club and delivered an excellent lesson on “Attacking the King”. The University of Oxford A-team chess captain gave our pupils some excellent tips and talked through the classic Paul Morphy “A Night at the Opera” game played at the Paris Opera House in 1858.  

After the lesson, Rowley played a simultaneous chess match against 15 of our best chess players. The “Simul” took place in one of the maths classrooms and chess timers were used on all boards, adding an extra dimension of excitement.  

Rowley was on very impressive form, slowly but surely establishing winning positions across all boards. However, a catastrophic blunder under intense time pressure proved very costly and Merryn A quickly capitalised by winning a rook on the back rank and subsequently forcing checkmate. Oliver DK, Harry B and Justus L all won their games on time, although Justus on Board #1 conceded his game, declaring “I don’t care about time.”! 

After all the kings and flags had fallen, the score was 12-3 and an enjoyable time was had playing some excellent chess. You’ve surely all seen “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix by now, but do you know how to play effectively against the King’s Gambit? Make sure that you sign up on SOCS for Chess Club next term and I will show you how to improve your chess.