Having beaten twenty teams from the UK & Ireland

Putney High Junior School girls are national chess champions, after beating over 20 teams from across the UK and Ireland. The Putney girls each played five games of chess in a day-long tournament, and came out with the overall best score.

Year six student Sarisha Burt, who has been playing chess since she was seven, said: "I like playing chess because it's a good opportunity to learn new things and use your logic skills, so it's really interesting."

Other team members were Christy Forshaw, Erin Maccabe, Georgia Baker, Atalanta Mowat, Hannah Simpson, all from Years 5 and 6, and from year 3, Jennifer Bradescu.

Putney High Schoolsays that it encourages girls as young as six to challenge themselves by playing chess, an activity which is known to increase the IQ, creativity and memory of those who play it.

July 1, 2014