Queensland Inter-School Chess Competitions: ChessKid.com leads the way!

Chess is an international game played all over the world with different tournaments and approaches to the game. In Australia, junior chess competitions are some of the biggest especially when it comes to school competitions. Gardiner Chess is a chess coaching and tournament providing company based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, which is one of the largest states in Australia (1.853 million square km).

Each term Gardiner Chess runs inter-school tournaments in 15 regions across the state with children ages 5-18 taking part. This is a chance for children to represent their school and compete against other children from schools in their region with chances to qualify for state and national championships.

The schedule for the road trip can be quite tiring, however it is the most effective way to provide chess tournaments to children in regional areas who may not otherwise have the opportunity.

Day	Itinerary	Estimated distance travelled
Sunday February 24th	Driving day Gold Coast to Maryborough	339km (210 miles)
Monday February 25^th	Wide Bay South tournament then drive from Maryborough to Bundaberg	110km (68 miles)
Tuesday February 26^th	Wide Bay North tournament then drive from Bundaberg to Gladstone	217km (135 miles)
Wednesday February 27^th	Central Queensland South tournament then drive from Gladstone to Rockhampton	109km (68 miles)
Thursday February 28^th	Central Queensland North tournament	0
Friday March 1^st	Driving day from Rockhampton to Airlie Beach for the weekend	482km (300 miles)
Saturday March 2^nd	Recovery day, rest and relaxation	0
Sunday March 3^rd	Driving day from Airlie Beach to Mackay	150km (93 miles)
Monday March 4^th	Mackay Whitsundays tournament	0
Tuesday March 5th	Driving day from Mackay to Townsville	388km (241 miles)
Wednesday March 6^th	North Queensland tournament then drive from Townsville to Cairns	347km
Thursday March 7^th	Far North Queensland tournament then meet with Mr Long from Trinity Anglican School	0
Friday March 8^th	Return rental car and fly from Cairns to Gold Coast	Flying so 0 km driven

It's certainly a big trip, however it used to be even longer (more than 5500km in 2017)!

With local clubs few and far between, these tournaments held in term 1-3 provide an outlet for students to compete and to meet other like-minded students. This leads to very excited students at each event who are always keen to challenge other schools and achieve their best.

Looking back at term 1, it was very interesting to see that the majority of winning schools (five out of seven) are currently using, or have recently used ChessKid.com to help their students learn more about chess.

Here's one teacher's experience with ChessKid:

At Trinity Anglican School we have over 100 students who benefit from using ChessKid.com. We have found it to be an excellent tool supporting our differentiated Chess Program. The comprehensive program allows students to work at their own pace and rewards them for their study and application. Our students thoroughly enjoy competing online with nearly 5000 students from around Queensland. Thank you, Gardiner Chess, for providing this safe and powerful learning platform.

David Long, Junior School Teacher, Trinity Anglican School, Cairns

Chesskid.com has become a valuable asset for schools in regional areas due to their isolation from chess coaches based in South-East Queensland. Gardiner Chess has been delighted to see the continual improvement from regional players as they use ChessKid.com -- indeed it is hoped that a combination of chesskid.com and online coaching will pave the way for regional schools to challenge the continued dominance of South-East Queensland based metro schools.

The Gardiner Chess Team.