Success for St Wilfrid’s!

The pupils at St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School in York have been enjoying chess lessons from CSC for over a decade. Over that time, chess has become an essential part of school life and, with the support of their tutor, Dan Staples, and their teacher, Mr Carter, the children have enjoyed considerable success over the board.

Recently, eleven pupils from the school made a trip to the 2025 XTX Markets London Chess Classic at the Emirates Stadium for a day of chess activities. After receiving lessons from our tutors, playing games against a Grandmaster and meeting the author Onjali Q Rauf, the children took their places in a tournament against other CSC schools from around the country. Not only did two of their pupils win gold individual medals - Elizabeth and Rithanya - the St Wilfrid’s team took home the trophy for the highest overall score on the day, scoring 70 out of a possible 75 points. This performance earned the school a feature in the newsletter of the Middlesbrough Diocesan Schools Service, which can be read here.

Following this success, four teams from St Wilfrid’s entered the regional EPSCA Schools Tournament in early February. In the U9 competition, St Wilfrid’s A finished in first place, with another CSC school, Scarcroft, not far behind in third. In the U11 event, St Wilfrid’s A won the gold medal but only after a great effort from St Wilfrid’s B, who finished in joint second place.

CSC Yorkshire Coordinator, Dan Staples, who acted as an arbiter at the event alongside CSC tutor Noel Stewart, said "Many thanks to St Peter's for hosting, it was a great day. For many of the children it was their first experience of a chess tournament outside of their schools. They all played well and got a tremendous amount out of the day." 

Our huge congratulations to St Wilfrid’s for all their success which comes about through a lot of hard work and dedication to chess from pupils and teachers alike.