Lionesses are Division 2 Champions!

2-4th May saw the 5th and final weekend of the 4NCL National Chess League take place.

The Lionesses A team, in Division 2, were ranked 3rd of 12 teams. With 3 teams getting promoted, the dream was on.

A final match win saw the Lionesses sneak into first place ahead of The Sharks 2, who had led going into the final match.

Promotion to Division 1 achieved, with a second title in a row after the Division 3 title this time last season.

This is simply a remarkable achievement by the squad. The girls just never know they are beaten! 4 matches this season they won by the tightest 4.5-3.5 margin and saved many difficult matches throughout the season with their immense fighting spirit. This was the same last season in Division 3 as well.

The girls ability to come back from setbacks, such as in January when they lost heavily in both matches and lost their lead, really demonstrates what these girls are about.

There was a larger squad of girls who have taken part in this A team success. Only 8 girls can play in any given weekend, but each and every girl can take huge credit for their contribution to this success.

She Plays To Win also has 3 other teams in Division 4; The University team, and the Lionesses B and C teams.

Those teams are filled with our younger talent. She Plays To Win is glad to offer opportunities to girls across the UK to give them the chance to play as a female squad against more experienced adults in slowplay FIDE rated international chess.

This has the impact that over 60 UK girls have taken part across the season and gained valuable experience.

Experience that stretches more than just on the chess board; these girls are learning tough skills such as a challenging environment against adult male players, with preparation, analysis and resilience amongst other skills learned.

The University team came a fantastic 7th, just missing out on promotion to Division 3.

The Lioness B and C teams saw a number of individual rating upsets across the season; such as 13 year old Diah, who in March defeated two players rated 1900 despite being rated around 1600 herself.

She Plays To Win is extremely proud to be giving these UK girls these opportunities and have done so for 4 seasons now.

We are extremely thankful to our private sponsor who believes in the project and what this has as an impact for the girls across primary, secondary and university ages.

The Lionesses A team now get ready to play next season in Division 1. This will include the absolute top UK players mostly with Grandmaster and International Master titles, and former British Champions.

Best of luck to the girls on this new challenge!