Malta Chess Federation
Established in 1923
St. Theresa College Mriehel Secondary Interschool Champions
May 05, 2023
The Chess Interschools were held on Wednesday 26 th April at St. Ignatius Middle School at Tal-Handaq Qormi. A record 218 players representing 60 teams from 19 schools played a Swiss system tournament. Each team fielded a minimum of 3 players with some having 2 reserves. As is typical in team tournaments, players of the same team played with alternative colors.
All students accompanied by their school representatives enjoyed the experience. Most students knew what to expect following the Federation’s four Taster tournaments organized in preparation for this event. Due to the time restriction, the tournament was stopped after four rounds. Following four rounds, three teams had maximum 8 points (De La Salle King’s Army, St. Theresa College Mriehel Secondary and St. Michael Tal) while two teams obtained 7 points (St. Michael Magnus and National Sport School).
Classification after the first tournament:
Interschools Finals
To determine the winner, the top 5 teams qualified to play a round robin (all play all) in the Interschools Finals held on Monday 1st May at the Chess Federation club. The games were held in a rapid format for 8 minutes and 4 seconds increment per move. The students used their time management well and many interesting games went to the endgame and the students used up all the time at their disposal.
In the first round, National Sport School drew against St. Theresa Secondary with Vince Kosik (St.Theresa) winning on board one against Andre Gauci (NSS); Mikela Bonanno (NSS) beating Zente Kosik (St. Theresa) while Joe Paul Borg (St. Theresa) drew against Aleksandar Matijevic Cassar (NSS).In the derby match St. Michael Tal beat St. Michael Magnus 2-1 with Julian Zammit and Luke Xerri both winning their games for St. Michael Tal while Isaac Sacco won his game for St. Michael Magnus.
In round 2, St. Michael Tal beat National Sport School 2-1 (Julian Zammit and Luke Xerri getting the points for St. Michael Tal while Mikela Bonanno winning for NSS). In the most anticipated game between De La Salle King’s Army and St. Theresa Secondary, the top board encounter between the Taster tournaments winners Noah Cauchi and Vince Kosik didn’t disappoint. Vince played well and seemed to have found a winning combination with checkmate in two. However he opted to go for material advantage. Noah defended well and it ended in a rook endgame. Vince played it well and although Noah defended as well as he good he could not prevent Vince from promoting his pawn to a queen to win the game. In the other matches, Zente Kosik and Jacob Solomon Muthamizh Selvan won their game for a 3-0 win for St.Theresa Secondary.
In round 3, St. Michael Tal won their third match 2-1 against De La Salle King’s Army. Noah Cauchi beat Julian Zammit. However Jake Cascun and Luke Xerri won their games to keep St. Michael Tal on a 100% score. In the other match, St. Michael Magnus beat National Sport School 2-1. Andre Gauci got the point for NSS while Isaac Sacco and Kieran Paul Abela won for St. Michael Magnus.
Round 4 produced one of the most exciting rounds. De La Salle King’s Army against St. Michael Magnus and the two unbeaten teams St. Theresa Secondary against St. Michael Tal. De La Salle won 2-1 with wins from Noah Cauchi and Gabriel Grech while Kieran Paul Abela won for St. Michael Magnus. St. Theresa Secondary had to win against St. Michael Tal to surpass them in the lead. They managed to win 2-1 with wins from Vince and Zente Kosik while Luke Xerri brough the point for St. Michael Tal.
In the final round, St. Michael Magnus were paired against St. Theresa Secondary while National Sport School played De La Salle King’s Army. With St. Michael Tal having played all their games, St. Theresa Secondary knew that only a win will assure them first place. The first game to end was that of the 3 rd board with Kieran Paul Abela winning to give St. Michael Magnus a 1-0 lead. The tension was clear when Vince Kosik on first board offered a draw to Kyle Cassar. Kyle declined the offer. Zente won on second board to level the score to 1-1. In the complicated endgame, Kyle blundered to give Vince the win and St. Theresa Secondary won 2-1. In the other game, De La Salle won 3-0 with wins from Noah Cauchi, Gabriel Grech and Terrence Camilleri.
Final Classification:
Ranking crosstable
| Rk. | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Pts | TB2 |
| 1 | St Theresa College Mrieħel Secondary | * | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1½ | 7 | 8,5 |
| 2 | St. Michael Tal | 1 | * | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| 3 | De La Salle King’s Army | 0 | 1 | * | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 4 | St. Michael Magnus | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | National Sport School | 1½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | * | 1 | 3,5 |
On an individual level Jacob Solomon Muthamizh Selvan of St. Theresa Secondary won best reserve player with 2 wins from 3 games. Luke Xerri of St. Michael Tal won best 3rd board player by winning all his 4 games. Zente Kosik of St. Theresa Secondary won best player on board 2 with 3 out of 4 points while Vince Kosik won the best player on first board by winning all his games.
Jacob Solomon Muthamizh Selvan
Luke Xerri
Zente Kosik
Vince Kosik