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The Madison City Chess League hosted its second annual chess championship series allowing four-person teams from each elementary, middle and high school in Madison to compete against each other. The series of matches was non-rated, and offered students a rare opportunity to practice in four-person teams with match point scoring just like the State Scholastic Chess Championship. Coaches and sponsors attended to support their teams and review games after they were played. There was no registration fee as the organizer and tournament directors volunteered their time. MCCL membership was required in order to participate.

The Varsity Section

The Varsity section was comprised of some of our highest rated teams in middle and high school.  Three teams from Liberty Middle School (last year's winner), three teams from Discovery Middle School, three teams from Bob Jones High School and one team from James Clemens High School.  This is a testament to the growing strength of our chess program in Madison.

The MCCL Team Cup - a travelling trophy that will be displayed at the winning team's school for one year.

For the first time, the Varsity four-round match was played during the Queen's Quest elementary chess tournament at Mill Creek Elementary on November 18, 2017. The time control was Game: 45/d5. It is never easy to find a date to schedule a match like this as our middle and high school students find themselves eligible to compete in multiple academic team events that can occur on the same day. But making this an annual event during Queen's Quest will hopefully make attendance continue to grow. Having ten teams in Madison compete for the Team Cup was quite an accomplishment and we hope that number will continue to grow each year.

 After two rounds only two teams remained undefeated with two wins:  LMS Black team with Om Badhe, Will Fox, Shreya Sunil, and Ethan Xu and Bob Jones Blue team with Michael Guthrie, Josh Lin, Hayden Billmann and Will Bao. Round 3 would determine the winner of the Team Cup as both teams were paired against each other in a head-to-head match-up. Superintendent Robby Parker had the chance to stop by and watch this match-up of the two highest rated teams in person. He was impressed with the level of concentration our students demonstrated. The two first-boards, Om and Michael, ended their game in a draw. Both were rated in the upper 1800's at the time of the match and have been playing competitive chess since elementary school. The rest of the BJ Blue team members won their games to secure the Team Cup for Bob Jones for 2018.

Pictured L to R: Coach Bradley Denton, Josh Lin, Hayden Billmann, Michael Guthrie, Will Bao and Coach Bill Nash.

The traveling Team Cup Trophy will be delivered to Bob Jones High School for display after this year's winning team's names are inscribed on the trophy.

The Junior Varsity Section

Each elementary school in Madison registered teams to compete in a Primary (K-3) or Elementary (K-6) section. MCCL announced that it would award medals for the first place team in both Primary and Elementary divisions as well as top female team in each division. Each elementary school entered at least one team, and two schools (Rainbow and Mill Creek) registered all-female teams to compete for top female team.

In the Elementary division eleven teams competed in five rounds. The first three rounds occurred on Sunday October 22nd and the final two rounds occurred on November 5th at Rainbow Elementary. After five rounds, the Rainbow Blue team achieved a perfect team score of five points to win first place. Columbia Elementary came in second place with 3.5 team points. Heritage and Rainbow Green team tied with 3 points each to come in third place. The all-female teams from Mill Creek and Rainbow Pink team tied for top female team, so both teams received top female medals.

This event was great practice for all of the students who participated prior to Queen's Quest.

Rainbow Blue Team (front L to R): Karsten Wallace, Xavier Bruni, Geon Park, and Artem Starenki (not pictured Arnav Maskey).

Back Row L to R: Mill Creek team members Sahithi Mynampally and Piper Stevens and Rainbow team members Mable Danh, Ally Kuang, Rachael Ehrman, Christine Wang, and Caroline Wang.

Ten teams competed in the Primary (K-3) section of the Junior Varsity Team Cup Championship. Mill Creek, Madison, Columbia and Heritage each entered one four-person team; Horizon entered two teams; and Rainbow entered four teams in the competition.  The first two rounds of the match were played at two separate locations, with Heritage hosting Mill Creek and Madison primary teams on October 24th, and Rainbow hosting Columbia and Horizon on October 25th. The final two rounds of the match were played on November 7th. Rainbow Red team won all four games achieving 4 team points and winning first place.  Mill Creek, Rainbow Orange team and Madison each achieved 3 points and tied for second place.

Rainbow Red Team members (L to R): Landon Drummond, Andrew Nguyen, Holland Lang, and Noah Hsu.