THE quarter-finalists of the rural and Corporate Area Divisions of the 2007/2008 RBTT Schools Chess Championships have now reached the critical knockout phase of the championship.

The rural championship begins today at Belair in Manchester with the playing of three matches. Hosts Belair will face Iona High; defending all-island champions Glenmuir will tackle Manning's B and Manning's A will challenge Denbigh High.

The fourth quarter-final match between Clarendon College and Montego Bay Community College, is scheduled for Monday at Glenmuir High School.

While Glenmuir and Manning's A are expected to take their matches, the other two clashes are expected to be close contests.

All four quarter-final matches in the Corporate Area Championship will take place at the head office of title sponsors, RBTT Bank, in New Kingston tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.

The feature match tomorrow will see Wolmer's Boys up against Camperdown, while in the other matches, Kingston College will face Calabar; 2005/2006 finalists Ardenne will challenge Wolmer's Girls and Queen's will try to find a way to checkmate current tournament favourites Campion College.

This year's championship has been divided into two separate tournaments for rural and Corporate Area teams, with the all-island final between the top two from each area scheduled for February 23 at the RBTT Bank head office in New Kingston.