A feature of the Chess Academy is the emphasis placed on playing high-quality competitive games. Opponents will be matched against others of a similar standard wherever possible. We encourage games to be recorded so players can go through their games afterwards using a computer engine to show tactical opportunities and blunders.
We have created two houses: Ravenclaw for more experienced players and Gryffindore for those at an earlier stage. If you feel you should be playing in the other group just email or speak to a coach. Evenings typically consist of one or two serious games with perhaps a few puzzles to solve where time permits or a coaching session.
We award prizes (typically momento trophies) each term to the winner, highest-placed girl and most improved player in both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor groups. The best Gryffindor players will be promoted to Ravenclaw.
Games played in the Ravenclaw tournament are rated by the English Chess Federation. An ECF rating is helpful in entering tournaments organised elsewhere as it can determine which sections you can play in and whether you are eligible for prizes.
The prizewinners and leading scores in the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor championships are as follows.
Winter 2024
Ravenclaw leading scores
- First Thomas Sha 12
- Second equal Ethan Wood. Youssef Younes, Ed Griffin 8.5
- Girl’s prize Bluebelle Campbell 4
- Most improved player Walt Dean 6.5
- Gryffindor leading scores
- First Isaac Waller 12
- Second Matthew Chan 10
- Third Ruben Emerson 7.5
- Akshayaa (girl’s prize), Daniel Mayes (most improved player), Preston Lam, Younes Kousksou 6
- Spring 2024
- Ravenclaw
- First Thomas Sha 12
- Second Guy Parsons 9
- Third equal Bluebelle Campbell (girl’s prize) 8
- Third equal Youssef Younes (most improved player) 8
- Most improved player Walt Dean
- Gryffindor
- First Ruben Emerson 9.5
- Second Younes Kousksou 7
- Third Leo Kriz 6.5
- Akshayaa (girl’s prize), Daniel Mayes (most improved), Vaibhav Ramesh 5
- Autumn 2024
- Ravenclaw
- First Thomas Sha 9
- Second Neel Mishra 8
- Third Ivan Yu 6
- Ethan Wood 5.5
- Bluebelle Campbell (girl’s prize), Guy Parsons 5
- Elliot Lingard, Ming Nguyen, Youssef Younes 4.5
- Neel Mishra and Elliot Lingard shared the most improved player award.
- Gryffindor
- First Yiqian Zhao 12.5
- Second Preston Lam 11.5
- Third Liam Mouchlianitis (most improved player) 10.5
- Younes Kousksou 8.5
- Moer Sha, Shreya Kumar (joint winners of girl’s prize 8
- Winter 2025
- Ravenclaw leading scores
- First Antonio di Fruscia 10.5/12
- Second Thomas Sha 9.5/12
- Third Ivan Yu 9/10
- Guy Parsons, Ming Nguyen 7.5/12
- Gryffindor leading scores
- First Moer Sha 10/12
- Second Tomas Drake 7/10, Isaac Waller 7/12
- Younes Kousksou 6/8
- Shreya Kumar 5.5/10, Vaibhav Ramesh 5.5/10
- Spring 2025
- Ravenclaw leading scores
- Gryffindor leading scores
- Ziyu Ong 14.5
- Tomas Drake 10.5
- Oli Bula 10
- Isaac Waller 9.5
- Pratyush Reddy 9
- Younes Kousksou, Lucas Drake 8
- Autumn 2025
- Ravenclaw leading scores
- Guy Parsons 7.5
- Antonio Di Fruscia, Thomas Sha, Jonathan Guo 7
- Ivan Yu 5
- Nicholas Hardcastle, Lee Kanchi 4.5
- Minh Nguyen, Neel Mishra 4
- Gryffindor leading scores
- Matthew Guo 12
- Moer Sha 11
- Tomas Drake, Ofri Pilowsky-Bankirer, Pratyush Reddy 9
- Isaac Waller 8.5
- Ziyu Ong 8
- Lucas Drake 7.5
- Mikhail Yankovskiy 7
- Vishruth Ramesh 6.5
Winter 2026
Ravenclaw leading scores
Thomas Sha 7
Antonio Di Fruscia 6.5
Ivan Yu, Lee Kanchi 5
Minh Nguyen 4.5
Youssef Younes 4
Theo Ware, Neel Mishra 3.5
Jack Mao 3.5
Gryffindor leading scores
Ziyu Ong 11.5
Aarav Shah 11
Isaac Waller 10
Ofri Pilowsky-Bankirer 9.5
Pratyush Reddy 8.5
Moer Sha 8
Armaan Sha, Tomas Drake 7
Vaibhav Ramesh 6.5
Arshiya Paleti, Han Ting Huang, Daniel Frere-Pritchett 6
Spring 2026
- Ravenclaw leading scores
- Thomas Sha 6
- Antonio Di Fruscia 4
- Lee Kanchi, Minh Nguyen 3
- Ivan Yu 2.5
- Jonathag Gui, Ishaan Sreenath, Guy Parsons, Matthew Guo, Theo Ware, Liam Mouchalantis 2
- Gryffindor leading scores
- Jesse Prince, Juncheng Lin 12.5
- Tomas Drake 11
- Ofri Pilowsky-Bankirer 10
- Lucas Drake, Isaac Waller 9
- Daniel Friere-Pritchett 8
- Ziyo Ong 7
- Pratyush Reddy, Vaibhav Ramesh 6
- Han Ting Huang 5
- Francis Prince, Arshiya Paleti, Vishruth Ramesh 4.5