News

Rainbow Elementary was the location for the Second Annual North Alabama Team Scholastic Chess Tournament where 31 teams competed in three sections for top team and top female team trophies.  Rollin Lobstah food truck and Gourmet Grits catering offered some variety to the usual chess tournament food choices, and Rainbow PTA offered fun and healthy snacks to competitors.  The event which helps North Alabama teams prepare for the State Scholastic Chess Championship in March was sponsored by State Representatives Mac McCutcheon and Mike Ball.  The tournament was directed by USCF certified national tournament director and FIDE arbiter Bill Nash and Dr. Gerald Larson, Scholastic VP for the Alabama Chess Federation.  Assisting the tournament directors were FM Bradley Denton, Joshua McClellan, Nitin Badhe, and Guy Calinsky.

Primary (K-3) Section

The growth in the number of competitive chess players in grades K-3rd continues to excite the Madison City Chess League.  This year eight teams from four elementary schools competed for the top five team trophies and the top female team trophy.  The 1st place team was Rainbow White (below L to R):  Zachary Calinsky, Ethan Van, Karsten Wallace, and Geon Park with a perfect score of 4 team points!

The 2nd place team was Heritage Gold (below Left):  Chris Zheng, Oviya Gowder, Jonas Gislason, and Vallabh Busetty.  The 3rd place team was Rainbow Green (below Right):  Xavier Bruni, Landon Drummond, Cameron Edwards, and Hatch Lombardy.  Rainbow Green was a team comprised completely of 1st graders competing in their first 4-person team tournament.

 

The 4th place team trophy went to the only all-female team, Rainbow Pink (below left): Caroline Wang, Corinne Wilhelm, Audrey and Catrina Holschen.  Because they were the only all-female team, they also won the Top Female Team trophy.  The 5th place team was Rainbow Violet (below Right):  Mable Danh, Nicholas Koukos, Luke Chynoweth, and not pictured, Artem Starenki.

 

Also competing were two teams from Mill Creek Elementary and one team from West Madison Elementary.

Elementary (K-6) Section

The Elementary section was the most competitive with 17 teams representing six schools, competing for the top five trophies.  Three all-female teams competed for the top female team award as well.  The big winners were an all-female team from Columbia Elementary Team Hill (pictured Left below):  Puja Chopade, Yuti Das, Shreya Sunil, and Neha Chopade who came in 1st place!  Since Columbia Team Hill finished 1st, the top female team award went to the next top female team, Rainbow Orange team (pictured Right below): Megan Danh, Amelia Dobbs and not pictured, Perri Larkin, Madeline Edwards and Caitlin Kelly).

 

The 2nd place team was Rainbow Red team (Left below): Edward Calinsky, Constance Wang, Victor Lundy and not pictured, Jonathan Yang.  The 3rd place team was Mill Creek Cyan team (Right below):  Pranav Somu, Om Badhe, Rishi Sethuraj, and Sohan Mynampally.

 

The 4th place team was Columbia Team Foust (Left below): Isaac Pollard, Pranaav Satheesh, Sherwood Dong, and Thomas Nguyen.  The 5th place team was Rainbow Blue team (Right below):  Ryan Shurtz, Boone Ramsey, Maaanasi Limaye, and Jenson Wilhelm.

 

It was exciting to see not only Columbia, Mill Creek and Rainbow present such strong teams, but to also see developing teams from West Madison, Madison and Heritage Elementaries competing in the toughest section of scholastic competitive chess.

Junior High (K-9) Section

The Junior High section saw three teams from Discovery Middle School and two teams from Liberty Middle School compete for the top three trophies.  Congratulations to 1st place winner - DMS Teal Team (Left):  Will Bao, Josh Lin, Michael Guthrie, and Hayden Billmann and 2nd place winner - DMS Black Team (Right):  Sujay Jakka, Alex Edwards, Erin Kueck, and not pictured Aneesha Ankam.

 

Receiving the 3rd place trophy were members of the LMS Orange Team (below): Principal Nelson Brown, Chris Baker, Lawrence Zhang, Carson Boland, and Christopher Woodard.

Open (K-12) Section

Covenant Christian Academy won 1st place in the Open Section, but was paired with teams in the Junior High section for playing purposes.  This excellent home school team in Huntsville always brings great students who show great skill and sportsmanship at every tournament.  Many congratulations to CCA!  Team members (L to R):  David Appleberry, Joseph Quan, Evan Steckmesser, and Owen Phillips.

The complete individual tournament report can be found here.  A gallery of photos from NATS taken by MCCL photographer Scott Wilhelm is available here.