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A small school chess team is heading to the national championships this year.
Macandrew Bay School pupils Nixsyn Harbrow, Jack McKee and Sean van Voornveld, all 10, and Anne Bertolli, 11, were the primary school winners at the 2026 Otago Primary and Intermediate Interschool Teams Championship in June.
The victory gained them entry to the New Zealand Interschool Chess Championship taking place in Auckland next month.
Principal Nic Brown said it had been an exciting experience for the team.
“We haven’t really won anything like this before as a school,” Ms Brown said.
“They will do well, they are quite competitive.”
Sean said his father introduced him to the game when he was about 6.
“He was just showing me how to move the pieces,” Sean said.
Jack said his interest grew from watching his friend.
“I just started playing because Sean started playing.
“And then he taught me how to play a bit and then I started to learn the rules.”
Nixsyn said he began focusing more on the game during a period of enforced rest.
“I just started playing when I broke my wrist because I had like nothing else to do,” Nixsyn said.
Anne began playing chess when she was about 6.
Taking part in the regional tournament was intimidating at first.
“I remember at first being like really nervous and also I kept stressing out about the timing, because I thought I wouldn’t have enough time, even though 20 minutes was, like, by far enough,” Anne said.
Ms Brown said the school community had been rallying behind the pupils to fund the trip.
“Jack’s mum has been running Pilates sessions in the library,” Ms Brown said.
The school had also held a bake sale and a quiz night to raise money, with a car wash planned for the coming weeks.
The pupils will fly to Auckland on September 25 ahead of the weekend competitions on September 26-27.