The Anglian Learning Chess Academy’s A team completed a highly successful season by winning the Cambridgeshire Schools League, contested by 34 teams in two divisions.
The first division was an all-play-all, 15 round event played over five Sundays. ALCA A won all their matches, securing 78 points from 90 games in total, just 3.5 points ahead of second-placed Cambourne Village College. Thomas Sha and Ethan Liu led the way on the two top boards with 13/15 and 14/15 respectively, backed up by Guy Parsons 13/14, Neel Mishra 10/10, Ivan Yu 9/12, Gabriel Varea 8/12 and Minh Nguyen 5/5. Neel and Minh each spent one Sunday playing on top board for the B team and winning all their three games for aggregate personal scores of 13/13 and 8/8.
ALCA B, also playing in the first division, came mid-table with 48 points, a highly creditable result. Ray Lee was their highest scorer with 5.5/10, plus two wins for the A team.
ALCA is indebted to Mauricio Varea who was the organiser, manager and selector of the teams, and to the parents who gave up their Sunday afternoons.
Players from the winning ALCA team with coaches Mauricio Varea (left) and Paul Kemp. From left to right they are Thomas Sha (holding trophy), Ethan Liu, Minh Nguyen, Kyal Vijay, Ray Lee, Guy Parsons, Gabriel Varea, and Ivan Yu. Neel Mishra (not shown) was also a vital player.
