CLUB NEWS

McK CHESS CLUB

2026 McK Chess Grand Prix Tournament

The annual McK Chess Grand Prix tournament was a huge success this year. From February to May, almost 60 students across McKinnon Rd and East Campuses competed in this lunchtime tournament. During that period, a record of over 300 individual chess games were played. The McK Chess Club would like to thank all participants for playing their part, as well as Dr Lelekakis and Mr Jansen for supporting the logistics at East Campus.

Congratulations to all placegetters and award recipients. They will receive their trophies or medals at the next General Assembly.

McK Rd Campus:

🥇WINNER: Aaron Todes, Year 12

🥈RUNNER-UP: Yotam Hazan, Year 12

🥉3RD PLACE:  Konstantinos Dimitrakopoulos, Year 10

Equal 4th Place: Kazu Nakada, Year 7

Equal 4th Place: Aarav Shah, Year 11 

Equal 6th Place: Shraavan Balaji, Year 11

Equal 6th Place:  Shiv Vyas, Year 12

East Campus:

🥇WINNER: Sivanesh Veerappan 9T

🥈RUNNER-UP: Jason Yang 9C

🥉3RD PLACE: Hao Nan Zhang 8C

4th Place: Samarth Sharath 9H, 5th Place: Vihaan Bhalla 8U

Special awards recipients:

• Yotam Hazan  - Best debutant (overall)

• Kazu Nakada - Year 7 Award (winner)

• Bowen Zhong - Year 7 Award (runner-up)

• Shiv Vyas - Best performance by a player rated below 1000

• Hao Nan Zhang - Best newcomer award (East Campus)

For the full results, visit the official Chess GP website.

McK Chess Rating/Title (May 2026 update)

Congratulations to Shraavan Balaji, Year 11, who has been awarded the Rook Class Player title (& badge) by the McK Chess Club after achieving a McK rating of 1262 at the conclusion of the Chess Grand Prix tournament.

Meanwhile, senior Year 12 players Alex Do, Year 12  and Aaron Todes (both King Class titled players) have reached a new milestone of 150+ rated games played and 100+ wins in their chess record at McKinnon! A fantastic and rare achievement. ⭐

All students who have played in any tournament organized by the McK Chess Club in the past will be in the McK Chess Rating database. Rating is used for competition seeding, school team’s selection, as well as determining player’s titles. The updated rating list for 2026 can be accessed via this link.

McK Player’s Titles are in [...].

The current top 10 McK Rated Chess Players at McKinnon:

Sandy Law

McK Chess Club