Checkmate champions
BY JIM GAINSFORD
10/12/2008 4:00:00 AM

A TEAM of five students from Penshurst West Public School has won the Australian Schools Teams championships in Adelaide on the weekend – the only public school to win in any category.

The Adelaide win made it a trifecta for the students.

Brothers Jack and Harry Ruan, brother and sister Cedric and Clarise Koh, and Brandon Lee also won the State Championships, beating Wollongong Public School by winning all eight games in the tournament on November 28.

The next day they went on to win the NSW State Schools one-day finals at Lidcombe, beating 55 other schools.

Speaking before going to Adelaise, Clarise said she felt confident that the team was going to do well in the state championships.

“They underestimated me because I’m a girl,” she said.

School principal Merrilyn Jenkins said it was unusual for a primary school to have so many chess champions.
“The good thing is they are able to teach the other children how to play chess,” she said.

“They are quite exceptional chess players and they can absolutely annihilate the adults.

“Clarise was advising Richard Glover on ABC Radio 702 on how to defeat Adam Spencer in chess.”

The team represented Australia in the 2008 World Youth Chess Championships in Vietnam in October.

Source: http://stgeorge.yourguide.com.au

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