On Sunday, 2 May 2021, St Paul’s Chess team competed in the second qualifying round for the School Leagues Chess Competition. The tournament is competed over seven rounds, whereby the winning team must get the most individual wins from their top four players. The team consisted of Maxwell and Harriet Castalanelli, Darcy and Finian Jordan, and Jose Adaikkalam.
After six rounds, St Paul’s was in 5th place with 14.5 wins and Carmel Primary School in 1st place with a total of 16 wins. Within 30 minutes everything changed. Two from our team challenged Carmel in a nail-biting clash of wits and skill, winning both games and knocking their team out of the top 3. Our other team player won their games, making it a clean sweep of the last round. As the dust settled, the final standing were 1st place, St Paul’s, over Nedlands (2nd; last year’s State Champions) and Orberthur (3rd; last year’s runner up State Champions). We are into the state finals.
Congratulations to the fabulous St Paul’s team and to their equally fabulous coach and mentor, Mark Castalanelli. Well done to all, we are very proud of you!