23 March 2018
For the second year in succession, Abingdon faced Reading School in the regional final of the National Schools' Chess Championship. Abingdon had reached the final by knocking out ACS Egham International School and then Reading Blue Coat School. Reading had reached the final by knocking out Desborough College and then Eton College.
1. Ross Tselos (143) v Matthew Wadsworth (218)
2. James Beckinsale (116) v Anthony Zhang (216)
3. Thitipat Ditrungroj (112) v Peter Isaksen (166)
4. Oliver Yau (106) v Nikhil Kadambadi (163)
5. Richard Oh (104) v Ryan Wong (156)
6. Seb Watkins (102) v Alex Vanlint (153)
Reading this year fielded their strongest available team, and so the disparity in grades was enormous, averaging 65 points. Still, Abingdon's build up had gone well – four ODCL matches in four weeks – and our players were up for the fight.
Last year's 2-4 loss was our best recent result against Reading, who were then National Champions. This time Abingdon again punched above its weight, losing by just 1.5-4.5 to an even stronger Reading team. Oliver Yau scored a spectacular win on Board 4, overcoming a 57 point rating gap, and Thitipat scored his best ever draw, against an opponent rated 54 points higher on the ECF scale.
Congratulations to the whole team on reaching the final and putting up such stiff resistance to opposition of the very highest calibre.
