IT was a case of checkmate when a Teesside school emerged victorious from a regional chess tournament.

Pupils represented Yarm Prep School at the UK Chess Challenge Sunderland Megafinal.

The competition included some of the best junior players in the North-East and the school emerged with a handful of trophies and titles.

Thomas Mavin and Natalie Grundmann took the titles of Best Boy and Best Girl in their respective sections for the fourth consecutive year, and both qualified for the next stage of the UK Chess Challenge in Manchester.

Douglas Ziman, and Dhruv Tapasvi were joint first in the under-eight boys and Emma Mavin also topped her section.

Pupils Alexander Grundmann, Jonathan Bates-Powell, William Henry Guthrie, Sam Norton and Robert Duggleby also qualified for the Manchester Gigafinal, which is scheduled for July.

Headteacher Gillian Taylor said: "We are so proud of them - to get so many winners is quite unusual."