29 November 2017
For the second year in succession the annual clock simultaneous display was conducted by Abingdon's superb coach Grandmaster Peter Wells. Mr Wells, playing White on the odd-numbered boards, faced twenty opponents from across the year groups. There were 75 minutes on each clock. Last year Mr Wells won 20-0, but this year the School achieved one of its best ever results against him by reducing the deficit to 16-4. The seven talented Lower School players did particularly well, holding on for much longer than in previous years, and the best game prize went to first year Harutyun Badalyan, who managed, in the end, to win his game on time – just! (It was checkmate next move.) The other winners were John Ong, again on time, and Dr Burnand. James Beckinsale, taking advantage of a rare blunder, and Jonathan Lee both drew. The full Abingdon team was 1. John Ong, 2. Thitipat Ditrungroj, 3. Richard Oh, 4. Jonathan Lee, 5. Alister Jamieson, 6. Peter Wan, 7. James Beckinsale, 8. Seb Watkins, 9. Luke Ffrench, 10. Ross Tselos, 11. Eric Huang, 12. Alfie Luo, 13. Fran Trotter, 14. Will Riddell, 15. Shreyanshu Mohanty, 16. Freddie Beneat, 17. Harutyun Badalyan, 18. Aahaan Sharma (substituting for Zander Wallwork), 19. Mr English and 20. Dr Burnand.
Congratulations to Abingdon's players on a fine showing and thanks to Mr Wells for another impressive display of chess skill.
