Youth win national chess awards
Chess players from Rainbow Elementary School are shown at the National Elementary Chess Championship at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – Numerous youngsters won individual awards when a chess team from Rainbow Elementary School won the National Elementary Chess Championship for their bracket.
The national tourney was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel on May 8-10. More than 2,200 students entered from across the country. Of Alabama’s 59 contestants, 41 students were members of the Madison City Chess League.
During the three-day tournament, each student played seven rounds. Each game can last up to four hours. Numerous games “lasted past our kids’ normal bedtimes,” league executive director Ranae Bartlett said.
In the K-6 U1000 division, Aubteen Pour-Biazar from West Madison Elementary School took ninth place with six points. Geon Park from Rainbow ranked 11th with six points. Other honors went to Rainbow students Mercedes Zich in 19th place and Constance Wang, who tied for 25th place.
For K-5 U900 competitors, Rainbow’s Victor Lundy ranked in eighth place with six points, and Sam Fellows took 11th place with 6 points. Zachary Calinsky from Rainbow and Rishi Sethuraj from Mill Creek Elementary School in the K-3 U1000 category tied for 35th place with five points.
Pulak Agarwalla from Julian Harris Elementary School in Decatur ranked seventh with five points in K-3 Unrated bracket.
Other competitors at nationals from Rainbow were Cameron Edwards, Audrey Holschen, Alex Edwards, Wesley Gaddy, Madeline Edwards, Catrina Holschen and Mallory Morgan. From Columbia Elementary School, Neha and Puja Chopade, Pranaav Satheesh and Timothy Zhu competed in Nashville.
Other students at nationals were Joshua Lin, Madison Elementary School; Vallabh Busetty and Madhushalini Balaji, Heritage Elementary School; and Om Badhe and Pranav Somu, Mill Creek. League members from outside Madison were Mohak Agarwalla and Joel Friedman.
Coaches who supported and prepared league members were Bartlett, Bill Nash, Noel Newquist, Don Maddox, Paul Mulqueen, Will Stevenson, Bradley Denton and Discovery Middle School student Michael Guthrie.
For more information, visit madisonchess.com.
