She Plays To Win

On Saturday 9th November 2024, Brentwood School hosted and organised a social starter chess competition for girls in partnership with She Plays To Win.

The ethos of She Plays To Win is to get more girls playing and enjoying chess.

40 girls took part, including 10 from Brentwood Prep and Brentwood Senior Schools. For the majority of the girls, this was their first chess competition.

The girls were split into two sections based on age and experience. Everyone played four games in the competition with some coaching and a special simultaneous challenge match with more experienced girls in the middle.

Brentwood School students Nina Pert (Lower Sixth) and Anushka Kishore Kumar (Year 10) helped run the event and provided encouragement and coaching.

Nina is the British Girls Under 16 Champion and, along with Anushka, was part of our U19 team that finished second in the National Girls School Championships last year.

It was a great experience for everyone and the most social of chess tournaments.

Congratulations in particular to our trophy winners. Everyone who took part got a SPTW chess medal.

Thank you to IM Richard Pert (Director of Chess at Brentwood School) who ran the tournament, Mr Childs and Dr Gascoyne for all their help in making the afternoon run smoothly.

Thank you also to Melinda Wilde (https://melindawildephotos.com/collection-of-work) for her great photographs.

Article written by Robin Slade, Head of Chess at Brentwood School