The team, composed of Billy F, Gregory K, David W, Alex W, Ajay P, Ryan S and Monty S, were up against some of the best chess-playing schools in the Midlands which included in their ranks members of the Warwickshire Junior Chess Squad and even the England National Junior Team. Moreover, the qualification threshold was higher than last year, requiring the team to score an additional point to get through.

The boys, however, rose to the challenge and secured their qualification place with three straight match victories, including a memorable win against the KES A team which went right now to the dying seconds of the final game. The team finished fourth out of nineteen teams and even had chances of winning the whole event right till the final round, which could have gone either way.

Highlights included a brilliant rook sacrifice from Ajay, David's beautiful combination to win material right out of the opening and Gregory paralysing his round 5 opponent in python style. Monty was within a hair's breadth of defeating a one-time England representative and former student of Mr Lam, despite being heavily outrated. Ryan shone in his Nationals debut by losing only a single game, and team captain Alex deserved more than a very solid score of 50% as he suffered tragic reversals in two games where he was outplaying his opponent. The team's big hitter for the day was the team's very own chess master, Billy, who was at his imperious best in scoring 100% which included beating two fellow prodigies of master calibre in dominant fashion.

Huge thanks go to Mr Boyd for kindly driving the team there and back and many congratulations to the boys on an outstanding team performance and result!