Stepney League in full swing

CSC’s Stepney Primary Schools Chess League takes place on the first Friday of each month at Stepney Park Primary in east London. Today saw the third competition of the 2025/26 academic year, with seven local schools taking part. Each sent in a team of six players - 42 children in total - who then played in a 3-round tournament, with medals for the highest individual scores. Over the course of the year, the schools will meet eight times with the trophy going to the school that scores the most points over the season.

Today’s event was a lot of fun. The games were hotly-contested but played in an excellent spirit. Children from Year 1 to Year 6 too part and demonstrated some excellent chess knowledge despite it being still relatively early in the school year. Some children found some very neat Kiss of Death checkmating patterns, while others showed great technique to checkmate with K+R v K. Amazingly for a junior tournament, there wasn’t a single Scholar’s Mate - those that attempted it found their efforts rebutted.

At this early stage, our hosts Stepney Park Primary School have taken an early lead, but they are closely followed by St Peter’s London Docks Primary School, reigning champions Thomas Buxton Primary School, and a very strong team from John Scurr Primary School. None of the teams are out of contention. We look forward to seeing everyone back for Round 4 in February.