Petts Wood and Orpington Chess Club has come fourth in an international chess competition.

The club is over the moon to be awarded fourth place out of over 100 teams from all over the world for the chance to compete in the World Chess League.Live playoffs.

The team beat out renowned players from New Zealand, Iran and the Philippines to reach their current position on the Chess.com leaderboard.

Pete Hornsby, founder and tournament director at World Chess League.Live, said: “Petts Wood & Orpington A needed to reach eight points to go through in the final round of the league season, and they convincingly defeated, and hence knocked out, Oxford University A 6.5-1.5 thanks to two wins from FIDE Master John Merriman backed up by a win and a draw from rising teenage star Aditya Verma.

“The match was played online on Chess.com and broadcast on Twitch, which was watched by the rest of the club and hundreds of views from around the world.

“Captain John Cook has steered the team through the course of this successful season, and they claimed notable wins earlier on in the year against the likes of New Zealand Live, Team Iran Pro and Philippines Finest Chess Club, all of whom featured several international players.”

The World Chess League playoffs will take place on August 19 and will be broadcasted on Twitch for people to watch.

As well as the world title, the prize for the winner is $3,000.

Pete added: “Chess Club Politika from Serbia and Z House from the USA are the overwhelming favourites, as they have several Grandmasters in their ranks including Grand Master Suat Atalik, Grand Master Miloje Ratkovic, and Grand Master Aleksa Strikovic.

“However there are no easy games in chess and Petts Wood & Orpington have demonstrated their ability to punch above their weight and cause a significant upset!”