Students from City of London Academy Shoreditch Park (CoLASP) beat six other teams at an inter-school chess tournament at the Old Bailey.

All seven teams were drawn from the City of London Academies Trust – the City Corporation’s multi-academy chain. The competition, held in the judge’s room, staged with the help of charity Chess in Schools and Communities, which uses chess to help children’s educational and social development.

Chief executive of CSC, Malcolm Pein, said: “Chess digitally detoxes children, teaches concentration, problem solving, how to plan, how to recognise patterns and a host of softer skills which provide some of the building blocks for employability. As a universal game with no barriers of sex, language, culture or disability it socialises a classroom and boosts children’s self-esteem.”

Andrew McMurtrie, chair of City of London Academies Trust, added: “This competition encouraged pupils to hone their academic and social skills over a chessboard.