The Discovery Middle School chess team proudly shows its trophy at the Rookie Rally Chess Tournament. The team includes coach Don Maddox, from left, Charlie Makowski, Michael Guthrie, Douglas Zhang, Erin Kueck and Corbin Holland Jr. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Madison students dominated first-place honors at the Rookie Rally Chess Tournament at Blossomwood Elementary School in Huntsville on Jan. 31.

Approximately half of the 200 competitors were Madison youth, “a noticeable increase that demonstrates how popular chess has become. But even more noticeable was that the awards were predominately given to Madison students,” Madison City Chess League Director Ranae Bartlett said.

“We’re entering a new chess era for North Alabama and the entire state,” Bartlett said.

Elementary school teams from Madison City Schools won three of four trophies in the primary (K-3) and elementary (K-6) sections. In primary, Rainbow won first place, Columbia was second and Heritage was third.

In the elementary section, Rainbow, Columbia and Mill Creek earned first, second and third places, respectively.

In the junior high section, Discovery Middle School decisively won first place “a full four points ahead of Huntsville, the closest competitor, in second place,” Bartlett said. Covenant Christian Academy and Liberty Middle School tied for third; in a tiebreaker, Covenant received the trophy.

Individual competitors in the spotlight were Elora Holland, first, Bob Jones High School; in junior high, Michael Guthrie, Discovery, first and Douglas Zhang and Corbin Holland, tied for fourth.

Winners in elementary were Om Badhe, first, Mill Creek; Joshua Lin, second, Madison; from Rainbow, Jonah Tuttle, Will Bao, Jenson Wilhelm and Boone Ramsey, places 4-7; Timothy Zhu, eighth, Columbia; Alex Edwards, ninth, Rainbow; and tied for tenth, Rainbow’s Hayden Billmann and Mercedes Zich and Horizon’s Jacob Holland.

Winners in primary were Geon Park, Rainbow, tied for first with perfect score; Madhushalini Balaji, fifth, Heritage; Caleb Chen, seventh, Rainbow; Pranaav Satheesh, eighth, Columbia; Chris Zheng, tenth, Heritage; and tied for 11th, Mill Creek’s Alex Lee and Columbia’s Abhi Emani and Neil Sethi.

The North Alabama Team Scholastic Chess Tournament will be held Feb. 21 at James Clemens High School. Registration deadline is Feb. 16. For registration forms, visit madisoncitychessleague.weebly.com, point to “More” and click “Upcoming Tournaments.”