A student at Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise is celebrating after he finished in the top five of a national chess tournament.
About 200 students from across the UK initially entered the competition which was run by Ormiston Academies Trust.
OIEA student Edward Miles, 13, finished fifth in the competition.
He said: “I’ve been playing chess since I was four or five. I play against my dad and my uncle. I think I was six when I first beat my dad in a game. I play once a week at home and my sister is now into chess as well. I like the intelligence you have to have to play and I like thinking of strategies. I do play video games too but chess is my favourite.”
Edward is a member of a chess club which is held every week at lunchtime at OIEA and is run by teacher Lois Ryan.
She said: “We applied to Ormiston Academies Trust for some funding to run the club and we were successful. We got the materials we needed and we launched the club last November.
“We get up to 20 students coming and 50 per cent of them had probably never played before. I had to choose three students to represent the academy in the trust’s tournament. It wasn’t just about who was the best, it was about who comes regularly to the club, who could represent the school well and who was mature enough to sit and play chess for an entire day.”
The first stage of the competition saw 200 students compete in an online tournament and the top 25 went through to the next round, which followed the same format. Three OIEA students made it to the second and final stage including Edward.
He said: “I would like to do it again next year and see if I can finish even higher.”
Miss Ryan said: “I think everyone has been surprised by the success of chess club and it’s definitely exceeded my expectations in terms of how many students come every week. It’s also great to see them supporting each other with the more experienced players helping the students who perhaps haven’t played before.”

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