3rd Mt. Alexander Cluster Chess Tournament.

Schools chess is 'big' in Castlemaine. And when they built the Old Castlemaine Gaol 150-odd years ago, nobody thought one day it would be full of schoolchildren playing the Royal Game.

A record number of 270 students from far and wide participated in the third annual Mt. Alexander Cluster Primary Schools Chess Tournament held at the old Castlemaine Gaol.

The event is officially the largest regional schools chess tournament held in Australia.

Castlemaine Primary School won the event for the second successive year, with new entry the Maryborough Education Centre (MEC) surpassing all expectations producing the overall individual winner.

For the second year running Ross Allengame's class from Castlemaine Primary won the A_Division and will be representing the cluster at the State Finals in October. MEC finished second and Castlemaine North finished third in the elite category.

St. Mary's won the B-Division, from Winters Flat and Castlemaine Primary while Maryborough Education Centre won C-Division from Castlemaine Primary and Castlemaine North.

Other participating schools included Winters Flat, Castlemaine North, Castlemaine Primary, Chewton, Campbells Creek, Newstead, Taradale, Elphinstone, Maldon, Guildfrod, St. Mary’s, and Harcourt Valley.

And a week earlier, 75 students from Daylesford, Kyneton, Maryborough and Castlemaine ventured to our CSC Junior Campus to do battle for bragging honours in the secondary school version.

Students from the Junior Campus, under the guidance of schoolteacher Mark Johansson, filled six of the first seven placings in that event.

The Chess-Squared Program sees community tutors deliver chess tuition in classtime. It started in the Castlemaine schools three years ago, has won a State Numeracy Award, last year delivered a Keynote Presentation at an International Conference in Scotland, and has a research component auspiced by James Cook University.

Castlemaine Primary has won eight places and MEC have secured 5 places in the State Finals. The Castlemaine Secondary College through strategic tournament play throughout the year has a maximum of 10 players representing the region at the State Finals in October

Report from CSC Jnr. Campus Tournament

They came from far and wide. About 100 Students from Daylesford, Kyneton, Maryborough and local primary schools came to do battle for bragging honours at the annual CSC (Castlemaine Secondary College) Chess Championship.

All of the students seemed to handle the rigors of the tournament day really well. They were highly motivated and played some really exciting games. It was no place for the faint hearted and a wholesome competitive spirit permeated the proceedings.

The tournament included three primary schools whose students often matched it with the secondary school students and never flinched when confronted by stronger more mature opponents. Their attitude was 'bring it on'!

CSC junior campus's team consisting of Joel Vearing, the outright tournament winner, Patrick Kelly second, Zac Gillet fourth, Jun Jun Robins fifth, Jesse Cameron and Matt Morgan sixth, and Max Nachman eigth, all of whom formed the nucleaus of last years all conqueroring CSC team that went on to become sixth in the Australian national titles, dominated the tournament.

All the students had good attitudes and were resilient in the face of defeat taking their losses in their strides.

Castlemaine Primary School won the primary school section and finished equal second over all. Matthew Hunter, Jordan Furlong, Oscar Black, Kaleb McBride, and Iona Moller all doing exceptionally well ,and showing that once again Castlemaine Primary School will be a formidable force in the upcoming Mt Alexander School Cluster Tournament to be held on the 15th of September.

The positive feed back we had for the day was awesome, and we all extend our hearty appreciation to Mark Johansson for his hard work and sacrifice in making it happen.

regards

Harry