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Madison City Chess League hosted Alabama's first State Team Chess Championship on February 4, 2023. Calhoun Community College was the location for this unique tournament where adults and students competed against each other, some on teams with both adults and students. Any combination was allowed as long as the average team rating in the Championship section did not exceed 2000 and the average team rating in the Reserve section did not exceed 1200. The inaugural event was sponsored by former Speaker of the House and now Madison County Commission Chair Mac McCutcheon. We had seven teams compete in the Championship section and thirteen teams compete in the Reserve section. Complete tournament results can be found here. The US Chess ratings report can be found here.

One of the hallmarks of a team tournament are the creative team names that are registered to play. This year we saw Knights of the Square Table, Theory of Relativity, Keep Calm and Caro Kann, Blunder Thunder, and Tornado Watch Until 4 p.m. Additional team names are mentioned below.

Here are the results and highlights of local teams that competed.

2nd Place - Lego Chess team Top players in Tennessee joined local Madison resident Steven Pan to form the Lego Chess team and win 2nd place and $300 cash prize.	Top Women's Team - Queen's Gambit team Team members Sarah May, Constance Wang, Nirvana Rajbhandari and Shreya Sunil made MCCL proud capturing the top women's team title and $200 prize! We were very proud to field a women's team in such a competitive section.	Championship Section - Library Huntsville Chess Club vs Lego Chess team

2nd Place Team Bayside Academy in Daphne won 2nd place team in the Reserve section. Team members are Wilson Engeriser, Rhett Montgomery, Michael Klimjack, and Jacob Stallworth. Bayside tied in team points with the Dark Horse Warrior Chess Club which came in third on tie breaks.	Top Secondary Scholastic Team Congratulations to BJ Mittens for winning medals for top scholastic team. Pictured (L to R): Andrew Yang, Artem Starenki, and Andrew Park. Not pictured Marek Fries.	Top Elementary Scholastic Team Congratulations to Horizon Elementary for winning medals for top elementary scholastic team. Pictured (L to R): Kylie Zou, Alice Zou, Esteban Jerez, and Theodore Piper.

Top Women's Team

Congratulations "Queen's Quest" team members (L to R): Caroline Wang, Samsara Rajbhandari, and Sophia Jerez. Not pictured Rachael Ehrman. The team won medals and a $100 cash prize.

Keep Calm and Caro Kann The team from James Clemens High School did a great job on Saturday: Sahishnu Saha, Isabelle Park, Madhu Balaji, and Jason Park .	LMS Lions We were so excited to see Liberty Middle School team members Tim Lee, Laya Gowder, Anna Ai and Rhyan Quansah represent their school at the first state team championship!	Queens Quest BJ and DMS partnered to build a winning women's team in the Reserve section! Members Rachael Ehrman and Caroline Wang from BJ and Samsara Rajbhandari and Sophia Jerez from DMS were a winning combination!

Horizon Eagles The only elementary team in the entire competition showed out on Saturday with a 5th place finish and top elementary scholastic finish! Way to go!	BJ Mittens Love this team name (if you play on chess.com, then you know)! Team members Andrew Park, Andrew Yang, Artem Starenki, and Marek Fries tied for 4th and won the secondary scholastic team medal.	DMS brings 5 teams! DMS registered some creative team names with DMS Kings, The Cockroaches, Sleeping Rascals, Don Pawns, and Tornado Watch Until 4:00 p.m. and gained a lot of experience playing many higher rated players in this first team championship event.