By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
THE Pakenham Secondary College chess team continues to shine, this time at the National Chess Championships held in Melbourne over the weekend.
After a stellar performance at the state championships held in October, the school sent its cream to Queen’s College at Melbourne University to compete in the national finals on Monday 30 November and Tuesday 1 December.
The team was accompanied by chess co-ordinators Sergio de Lima and Christian Ampongan, who said the students did themselves and their school proud.
“Being our very first time taking part in this competition, we were not sure what to expect,” they said.
“After playing 70 matches, where for the first time our students had to record every one of their moves, we came seventh in the country!”
Harnoor Gill, Cameron Higgins, Minhong Yang, Victoria Hendrick, Tibesso Abduro-Witago, Hayden King, Danien Kho, Armann Gill, Fabian Bonaudi and Ketu Dedeffo all managed to score a few wins on behalf of Pakenham Secondary College.
The co-ordinators added that the students should be pleased with their performance, against tough competition.
“We were eager to test ourselves against the best in the country and the result couldn’t show better consistency,” they said.
“Most importantly, the students all had a great time together as a team.”
