October 10, 2023. 

We made it.

Today was no less important than any chess tournament before. Nerves kicking in with butterflies in our stomachs, we gathered around in a circle, hands together, manifesting our victory. The State Finals were here. 

On October 10, our St Catherine’s School Chess Teams from the Junior and Senior Schools, competed in the Victorian Primary School Girls’ Finals and Victorian Secondary School Girls’ Finals.  

It was a seven-round Swiss Tournament with a time control of 13min +2sec increment from move one. Some of the strongest teams in Victoria participated, including The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School, Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Haileybury College, Ballarat Clarendon College, and Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School. 

We want to congratulate the top five girls in our Secondary School Team: Angela Feng, Jingqi (Jenny) Huang, Yingying Ren, Adele Wu, and Vera Zeng for finishing second, just half a point behind MacRob who came first, a great result, nonetheless. Our best players were Angela Feng and Vera Zeng, both scoring an impressive 6/7 points, placing second and third, respectively.  

It was also very exciting to see so many of our Junior School students participating in the Primary School Tournament. It is a great learning experience for the young ones. We commend them on their efforts in making it to the State Finals. A very impressive journey. 

Moreover, we extend our thanks to our Coach, Ross, and all the St Catherine’s staff who supported us along the way.