The London Chess Classic is an annual tournament between some of the best chess players in the world; Magnus Carlsen, the world’s number 1 chess player, has won it five times! As part of the event, the 20 children from Stepney Park’s chess club were invited to spend last Thursday there, participating in school activities linked to the event. This year it was held at the Emirates Stadium.
On arrival, we met the author Onjali Rauf, whose book, ‘The Boy At the Back of the Class’ we read in Year 5. She gave a fantastic talk and told us how her love of chess led to her writing her new book, “The game I will never forget.’ It is the story of the relationship between a chess loving 10-year-old boy and his grandmother who has come to live with his family. The boy is resentful at first, but they connect when he discovers she was a chess prodigy. The only problem is that she keeps forgetting things – and it's getting worse.
Next, the chess club paired up to have ten simultaneous matches against a grandmaster. Unsurprisingly, the grandmaster won all the matches quite quickly! After the matches, he chose the pair that had played best against him and they each won a copy of Onjali Rauf’s new book. Congratulations to Shajid and Arman. They even managed to get their books signed by Onjali Rauf.
The next event was a chess lesson from a chess tutor, where we revised different opening strategies, pins, skewers and forks.
After the lessons, there was the chance to relax in the stands where Arsenal beat Brentford 2–0 the night before. After lunch, the main event was a chess tournament between all the schools. Some schools had come from as far away as York, Nottingham and Birmingham to take part.
