Otago Boys' High School chess team (from left) Thisun Kuruppuarachchi, Scott Samuel, Noah Wilson and Randika Dassanayake celebrate winning the school's first major tournament in seven years. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
Seven years, in fact.
But for the Otago Boys’ High School chess team, it was ‘‘immensely satisfying’’, coach Alex Nedyhalov said.
The team won the Otago interschool competition, which featured 18 other teams.
Captain Noah Wilson said it had been ‘‘a few months’’’ of preparation for the tournament.
‘‘But every year, you try to get better — it takes dedication, consistent work and discipline.
‘‘It’s nice for the school to hold a trophy after a long time away.’’
The next major tournament will be a national interschool tournament in Auckland in September.
Mr Nedyhalov is quietly confident they can do well and captain Noah is looking forward to it.
‘‘It will be good to test ourselves on a bigger stage,’’ he said.
