Blaise Primary children share limelight with Worlds No 1 Chess Grand Master

When 50 Bristol Primary Children travelled to the London Chess Classic (LCC), no one would have imagined that two girls from Blaise Primary would share the limelight with the Worlds No 1 chess player,Magnus Carlsen.

This all changed when the editorial team of Chess magazine spotted a photo of Lily and Abbie playing in the schools competition and picked it to feature on the front cover of the February issue. The chess competition is organised by the charity Chess in Schools and Communities, who also organised the trip from Bristol. 

In Bristol and the South West, Chess in Schools has been growing expedentially. CSC South West Director - Robert Chandler said "I'm over the moon for Abbie and Lily. To share the cover of Chessmagazine with Magnus would be most chess players dream! This issue will become a collectors item as during the LCC Magnus Carlsen became the highest-ever rated player of all time."

Junior Chess is becoming very popular thanks to the Chess in Schools and Communities program to increase educational attainment by learning chess for 1 hour per week for 30 weeks. Currently CSC is in 25 schools with some 1,600 children learning chess every week, during lesson time. 

Mr Andy Bowman, Deputy Headteacher Hillcrest Primary School recently wrote " Dear Robert, I just wanted to drop you a line before we break for Christmas to feed back to you what a success Chess in Schools has been so far. Alan has really captured the children's attention and we have had some excellent feedback from staff, children and parents. Thank you for you work to get this set up."

If you would like Chess in Schools to come to your child's school, please email robert@chessinschools.co.uk.