News

Thirteen girls from Madison traveled to Chicago to compete at their first All Girls National Chess Championship April 22-24. Coach Sarah May, who competed in this event herself nine and ten years ago, and who has served as coach for Horizon Elementary this year, accompanied the girls on the trip to review games in between rounds and coach. The Madison girls did an outstanding job, winning awards and learning so much from the experience. We want to thank our chess parents for their continued support and our Grand Master level sponsor Nilmini Thompson and SPS, Inc. who helped fund our trip.

The All Girls Tournament Report with Photos and Standings in tie-break order can be found here. The USCF ratings report with complete results can be found here.

The Discovery Middle School Team of Christina Yang, Caroline Wang, and Nirvana Rajbhandari won Madison's first National All Girls Championship in program history. Sponsor for DMS is Julie Goldston, and coach for the tournament was Sarah May. This history-making team battled and maintained first place after each round by beating girls rated hundreds of points higher from across the country. The 5th round wins from Christina against an opponent over 200 points higher, and from Caroline against an opponent over 600 points higher were pivotal for the team as they established a 1.5 pt lead going into the final sixth round.

Our girls learned a lot competing on a national stage and enjoyed meeting other girls from across the country. MCCL provided meals for our competitors and coaches and transportation to and from the airport. MCCL also paid for travel for our teacher sponsor Julie Goldston and coach Sarah May. Your donations to our Girls Chess Initiative and payment of membership fees helps us provide support to our girls at national tournaments. If you would like to donate to the MCCL Girls Chess Initiative fund to help us raise funds to compete at All Girls Nationals next year, you can do so here. Thank you.

Our families had the best time in Chicago and can't wait to return next year! The girls had the opportunity to sight-see before the tournament began, sampled Chicago style pizza and visited China Town. Navy Pier, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, and the Art Institute of Chicago were favorites.