Chess Club

At Nailsworth Primary School we currently run two Chess Clubs. The Nailsworth White Chess Club is for students in Years 2 and 3. The Nailsworth Blue Chess Club is for students in Years 4 to 6. 

Nailsworth White meet in the Hub at lunchtime on Tuesday.  Nailsworth Blue meet in the Hub at lunchtime on Thursday. As there are limited places in each club it is expected that students make a commitment to continue to attend the regular training.

The Nailsworth White Chess Club gives opportunities for students to learn how the pieces move and the rules of Chess. We discuss decision making in the various stages of a game and begin to learn different tactics. Students are introduced to basic Chess puzzles and play games against each other.

The Nailsworth Blue Chess Club gives opportunities for students to solve Chess puzzles of varying difficulty. We demonstrate different openings and opening theory for White and Black. Students learn and practise different tactics such as pins, forks, skewers, en passant, castling, discovered attacks, etc. Students learn about decision making theory and strategies during the middle game. Students are taught different end game strategies and how to check mate using a variety of pieces. Students learn how to correctly use Chess timers for games. We utilise videos and lessons from Grandmasters to prepare students for tournaments. Students are able to practise different variations of the game with different time controls from standard Chess, Chess 960 to King and Pawn games.

Students in the Nailsworth Blue Chess Club have the opportunity to participate in the SA Schools Interschool Chess Tournaments. A team of 20 students is able to enter these tournaments. These are 7 game tournaments with the team score calculated on the top 4 players from each team. Students who perform well in these tournaments are offered invitations to the State Finals held in Term 4.

Our school has enjoyed many successful tournaments. Our Nailsworth Blue team has had teams that have achieved a perfect tournament score of 28 points in a 7-round tournament several times. We have had students who have played in tournaments and remained undefeated throughout. We have had many students winning medals and trophies. The majority of students attending tournaments have been awarded certificates of Distinction and High Distinction. We have had several players awarded the Best Overall Player and Best Female Player of a tournament. Our greatest individual success was one of our players placing 3rd in the state and winning a cash prize of $150. Our greatest team success so far has been placing second in the State Finals, only 0.5 points behind first place in 2021. 

“Gens una sumus”

For more information about Chess at Nailsworth, please contact Mr Smith. (daniel.smith668@schools.sa.edu.au)