St Peter's Boys Prep Checkmate!

Chess at St Peter’s has traditionally been one of the firm favourites with the boys and we continue to produce excellent results in the Independent Primary School Chess League fixtures every year.

In an effort to expose boys at St Peter’s to this unique game, we embarked on a programme just over 12 years ago, where every boy from Grade 4 to 7 would receive five to six hours of coaching during Wednesday Cultural periods. This obviously improved the standard of chess at St Peter’s hugely and our league results reflected the emphasis we placed on developing chess at a higher level. Unlike most of our competitors, who only have one team in the league, St Peter’s Boys Prep has two teams. Each team has 8 to 10 Seniors and a similar number of Juniors. We therefore have close to 40 boys playing regular chess league fixtures every term of the year.

We have a chess ladder in operation from Grade 4 onwards and boys interested in improving their game, attend chess practices once a week. We have a professional chess coach employed by the school and as Master in Charge of chess, I also spend every practice playing and coaching our lads – it really is a highlight for our boys to say they beat either of the coaches! Presently, we have well over 30 boys in Grade 3 attending their coaching session on a Monday afternoon and I would like to thank the Junior Prep teachers especially, for introducing and teaching chess to the boys. The future of chess is certainly strong.

Checkmate!