ON Saturday, March 16, two teams from Redhill Preparatory School in Haverfordwest went up to Cardiff for the 2024 Welsh Primary Schools Team Chess Championship. There were 26 schools competing from across Wales and the competition was fierce.

Children competed in five rounds throughout the day with the penultimate round being against the overall winners, the Lakeside Kingfishers. This was the only team the Redhill Knights A team lost to, resulting in them obtaining second place in the Championship.

The Redhill Knights B team came 12th overall, finishing in front of many established teams.

Redhill would like to thank Fide Master Alexis Harakis for coaching both teams.

Redhill Chess Coordinator Miss V Brown said: “This is an excellent result. We are very proud of both teams that competed. The standard of chess played on the day was very high and this was Redhill’s first time competing in such a prestigious event.”

Redhill Preparatory School recently became a Chess Hub officiated by the Welsh Chess Union. They had a successful first tournament in December 2023 in which 54 children competed representing 14 schools. On March 23 their primary school chess tournament will see 58 children competing, representing 21 schools from the county. This demonstrates the appetite for chess in the region is there and Redhill is proud to offer an outlet to showcase local skills. 

The next Redhill tournament is in the diary for Saturday, June 8 and will be open to any primary aged child who wants to compete. Details of this will be released through the school’s social media channels soon, so keep your eyes peeled.