On Monday 13 April, the first day back for the Summer term, students got down to chess business. Mark Rich, our Chess Master gave a Simultaneous Display with 10 students at Bexhill Academy, our local secondary school, who are the holders of the prestigious u-14 Butler Cup.
It followed an earlier collaboration between Bexhill Chess Club and the Academy when 12 Academy students and 12 players from Bexhill Chess Club played a match on 25 February this year, which developed the collaboration by club members Mike Chapman and Lawry Rhodes, running an after school chess club at the Academy now on Mondays and Wednesdays. Andy Nguyen , our Academy student and our junior expert has been an excellent coach for the students at the after-school club. He hopes to lead new rising talent at the Academy to compete to defend the Butler cup, now that Luke Chapman is no longer eligible to play in u-14 competitions.
Photos below from Bexhill Academy’s Facebook page. Also below is the Academy’s article which includes a video which you can see on the same page.
“On Monday 13th April, Bexhill Academy’s chess team welcomed Mark Rich, a national chess master, to do a simultaneous display. Mark played against 10 of our best chess players all at once as a training exercise prior to our finals day in the Butler Cup, the county cup for Chess. 
The students did brilliantly against a player of such prestige, with notable performances from Daniel J and Isaac J, who took their respective games deep into the end game.
A huge thank you to Lawrence Rhodes, our chess coach from Bexhill Chess Club, for organising the event. The Butler Cup finals, held at Windlesham House, are set to be played in June.”
