ESF SHATIN Wins 4th Dr. R. Lister Cup

On 1 March, over 350 players representing close to 50 schools gathered at Malvern College for an entire day of chess fun and to compete for who could keep the Dr. R. Lister Cup for the coming year. Will the students of the Chinese International School be the first ones to successfully defend their title, or will we have a different winner for a fourth consecutive year?

In each category, the four best individual results from each school are added to decide the school score and make the school ranking. For the overall Dr. R. Lister Cup, all these school results from the different categories are added. Predicting the winner was going to be very difficult. In each separate category, a different school took the first-place trophy home. Let's go category by category!

U8

This was a very lively group. Many of the participants got their first taste of a big competition, and it certainly looked like a very good first experience!

Allowing up to 3 illegal moves meant we had a lot of leeway for the players. Many of them still struggle with the touch-move rule, pressing the clock with the same hand they move their pieces with, and missing that they are in check. Our arbiters had their hands full but made sure all of them learned the rules and consequences in a fun way.

All of the players showed great sportsmanship and comraderie which created a very positive atmosphere. There were of course also results.

Diocesan Boy's Primary School (17.5) narrowly stayed ahead of Hong Kong International School (16.5), ESF Shatin (16) and Harrow International School (16). St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese Primary School (14) ended up in fifth place. These schools might not have produced the individual winners, but entered the competition with a strong midfield for which they got rewarded!

U10

With a 131 players, the U10 is the biggest category of the day. In this big mix of students, you can find already very experienced players and beginners alike.

Things were close. ESF Beacon Hill School (21) sent a strong team and deservedly clinched first place with 2 individual top 10 finishers! The rest of the podium was very close as all 4 school scored 19 points. Then we look at the next best player to decide the ranking. Malvern College (19.5), Chinese International School (19.5), ESF Shatin (19.5), Yew Chung International School (19.5) were the other top 5 finishers in that order. Yew Chung International School gets a special mention for getting top 5 with only four players!

U12

Another very big group with 112 players. Nanchang Phoenix City School (21) was untouchable here. They provided the top 2 of individual winners and clinched first place with 2 more respectable top 30 finishes.

ESF Shatin (19.5) and St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese Primary School (19.5) shared second and third place in that order per the tiebreaks. Singapore International School (19) and International Christian School (16) completed the podium.

U18

We have to take a big jump in age to find the oldest category. At this age, we can find some of the best players of Hong Kong and many up and coming stars! 48 players fought for the honours here and at the end of the line it were the players from ESF Shatin (19) who scored best with a very high level of consistency (they occupied places 6-8 with 5/7). Victoria Shanghai Academy (18.5) followed at half a point, while Harrow International School (15), Chinese International School (14) and Malvern College (13.5) completed the podium.

Dr. R. Lister Cup

With all these results added up, it was ESF Shatin (74) scoring the most points! Harrow International School (61) and homeplayers Malvern College (58) took second and third place.

Congratulations to all the winners!

There are a lot of beautiful pictures of the day, you can find them here.