A TEAM of talented young chess players have out-manoeuvred their rivals to pick up a regional trophy.

Yarm School’s Under-11 team triumphed at the HMC Schools’ Chess Championships 2016, which featured teams from the North of England’s leading independent schools.

The school was represented by two Under-11 teams and one team in the Under-9 section at the tournament, which took place in Wakefield.

Captain Ammar Soni, Adhi Dinakaran, Henry Parker and Yusuf Syed, needed to win their final match 4-0, and, after a dramatic conclusion, Yusuf clinched the victory to give Yarm its first under-11 win at the event.

Bill Sawyer, head of Yarm Preparatory School, said: “Chess has significant benefits for our pupils, including developing their capacity for strategic thinking and tactical skills, responsiveness to problem solving and interpretation of others’ thinking.

“Working with Chess in Schools and Communities chess coach Sean Marsh we have teams that compete regularly in internal and external competitions and the school is proud to host a number of tournaments for young chess players from local schools

“We are all absolutely delighted that the Under-11 team won the prestigious HMC Championship and congratulate them, and all the players who took part and did so well.”