Individual Stars Shine at State!
Individual Stars Shine at State!
Bob Jones High School hosted the 2022 State Scholastic Chess Championship, the first over-the-board state scholastic championship event since 2019. A winter weather advisory on Saturday threatened a late start to the individual event, but we were able to proceed as scheduled. ACF Secretary and 8 time State Chess Champion Bill Melvin helped award trophies and medals. ACF Scholastic Vice President Todd Guthrie was the Chief Tournament Director. He was assisted by: Kristian Jordan, ACF Public Relations VP, and MCCL TDs: Nitin Badhe, Parag Saxena, Guy Calinsky, Chris Hayes, and Puja Chopade.
State Representatives Mac McCutcheon and Mike Ball sponsored the event. The Madison City Chess League organized the tournament and provided lunch for the TDs and volunteer coaches. Scott Wilhelm was the official photographer for the event. His photos from Saturday's individual event are available here.
The Championship sections for Elementary, Jr High and High School occurred in Patriot Hall upstairs. These sections played longer games to help determine the state's representative to the Rockefeller, Barber, and Denker tournaments later this summer. The rest of the sections played in the Practice gym downstairs.
Individual results in tie-break order can be found here. The USCF Tournament Report (not in tie-break order) is available here. We were pleased to see kids from as far away as Fair Hope, Mobile and Mississippi and from other cities like Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and the Birmingham area.
Primary Championship Section
Winners (L to R): Esteban Jerez 1st (5pts), Esinam Tettey 2nd (4 pts), Isaac Kreusser 3rd (4 pts), Annabelle Hsu 4th (4 pts), Alice Zou 5th (4 pts).
It was a clean sweep as MCCL members captured every award in the Primary Championship section, the highest rated section for students in grades K-3. Horizon third grader Esteban Jerez won the Primary Championship. His winning 1st place continues a long line of Madison winners in this category.
2022 – Esteban Jerez (Horizon)
2021 - Kylie Zou (Horizon)
2020 - canceled due to Covid
2019 - Laya Gowder (Heritage)
2018 - Aadi Saxena (Heritage)
2017 - Xavier Bruni (Rainbow)
2016 - Geon Park (Rainbow)
2010 - Chen Zou
2007 - Elora Holland
2004 & 2005 - Dennis Dergunov (Horizon)
K-3 Under 300 Section
This was a new section created by the Alabama Chess Federation this year due to the growth in K-3 players over the past few years.