Yang-Fan Zhou, international chess master and Whitgift Sixth Form pupil, has achieved medal success at the World Youth U18 Chess Championships held in Brazil.  The 17-year-old had helped organise a simultaneous chess exhibition against 30 chess players within the School in September to raise money for his England Youth Chess Team’s participation at the event in Brazil. After being selected by the England Chess Federation as the sole English player in the U18 section, Yang-Fan went on to receive a medal for 6^th place out of a total of 93 U18 players from around the world including India, Chile, USA, Austria, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Czech Republic and Peru.

Being at Yang-Fan’s level of chess involves hours of practice, calculating manoeuvres several moves in advance and memorising complicated sequences. The event itself lasted ten days with each round taking several hours.  Yang-Fan manages to pursue his love of chess while juggling studying for his International Baccalaureate.