Queen's SCHOOL and Iona High advanced to the next phase of the 2006/2007 RBTT National Schools' Chess Championships, after topping the first qualifying tournament held at Ardenne High School on Saturday.

Going into the final round Iona held a slim lead with six points, followed by Denbigh High and Queen's on 5.5 each, Kingston College 'B' on 4.5 and Kingston College 'A' on three points. In the final round, Queen's drew on their vast experience to dispatch Denbigh 3.5 pts to 0.5, Kingston College 'B' got past Iona 2.5 pts to 1.5 and Kingston College 'A' received a four-point bye.

Queen's, therefore, topped the Zone with nine points followed by Iona on 7.5, KC 'A' and 'B' on seven each and Denbigh on six. Queen's and Iona will now join eight other teams in the next qualifying event scheduled for January 20 at the Montego Bay Community College.

The top eight teams from this event will move on to the round of 16 knockout phase, where they will face the eight teams that automatically qualified for the round of 16 by winning their respective zones.