Tasmanian Interschool State Finals

Today was the state finals for Tasmanian Interschool Chess Championship. The tournament played online on Tornelo and had a Primary and Secondary division which were both hotly contested.
The Primary division had 74 players from 8 schools and after about 5 of the 9 rounds it became a two team race between Mind Moves and Princes Street. These teams were neck and neck until the last few rounds when finally Mind Moves pulled away and ended winning by 2.5 points, a pretty close race.
The Secondary contest was even closer with 6 of the 8 teams still in with a chance after the first six rounds. In the end The Hutchins School proved victorious claiming the title by just 1 point from Mind Moves. In both Primary and Secondary competitions Scotch Oakburn came a close third with their two teams scoring exactly the same score in both divisions, 23.5.

There were a lot of improving players in the event but the best overall improver was Joey Cavanagh of St Virgil's College who was the biggest improver of the 54 competitors in the Secondary event. As White in this position, Joey had set up a nice Discovered Check by putting his queen on the same file as Black's king. The game continued 1.Nc4+ Be7 Black smartly blocked with their bishop that had just been attacked. However, now the bishop is pinned which allowed Joey to play a little sequence to win Black's queen! A very nice little combination which you solve and the answer you can see here!

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