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K-5

2025 Virginia State Scholastic Championships

For our Virginia students, there is nothing bigger than the annual State Scholastic Championships, this year held in Charlottesville. About 350 kids came to play, enough to make the championships fun and challenging without being overwhelming.

The U.S. Chess Center was happy that a few dozen of our students played. It was a wonderful experience for all of them, whether they won trophies or not. Seeing students from all parts of the state reinforced the knowledge that there is no typical chess player. Kindergartners and college students all played (in different sections) and, of course, the demographics were as varied as befits a state as large as Virginia.

New friends were made, and students made plans to see each other in upcoming chess tournaments.

Kent Gardens Elementary repeated as K-5 Champions, and also took second place honors in the K-8 Championships.

Congratulations to Our National Elementary School Championship Participants

More often than not, when students travel to compete in strong tournaments like the state and national championships, it makes for a fantastic experience.  It’s exciting when the kids bring home trophies, and it’s also exciting when they bring back things they’ve learned from competing that they can then share with the other students in their school clubs.

At the recent National Elementary School Championships, held May 13-15 in Columbus, our students at Spring Hill got to do both.  In all, ten Spring Hill students traveled to Ohio to play, and the school finished 6th in the K-5 Championship section, while also winning trophies in the K-3 U-900 section (17th place overall), and the K-3 U-700 section (9th place overall). 

Below, Principal Eck accepts the three trophies the school brought back from Ohio after last week’s tournament.  

When the Elementary School Nationals come to Baltimore in 2023, we hope to see even more of our students come out to represent the local region.

A full list of results from the 2022 tournament is available at USCF’s website at  http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202205151282.

Results from the Rockefeller Qualifier on Saturday, May 14th

Eighteen DC elementary school students turned up for the DC K-5 Championship qualifier this past Saturday, May 14th, to determine who would have the honor of representing the District at this summer’s national Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary School Champions.  Congratulatons to Lenox Serrette who won the tournament with victories in all five rounds.

We were happy to see that, among the field of participants, there were ten children playing in their first nationally rated competition.  Playing in important tournaments is the fastest and surest way to improving your playing strength, no matter the result.

To view the full standings from Saturday’s event, click here.

DC K-5 Championship on May 14

In just over two weeks, the District of Columbia will select its representative in the national tournament of elementary school champions.  This year’s qualification tournament is to be held at the Kellogg Conference Center at 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington DC 20002, on Saturday, May 14.  The winner earns the right to play in the Rockefeller National Tournament of Elementary School Champions later this summer.

The tournament is open to D.C. residents in kindergarten through grade 5.  This is a nationally rated tournament, so players must be or become U.S. Chess Federation members in order to play. The tournament starts at 9:30 the morning of May 14, but registration closes on Thursday, May 12 at 3:00 P.M., so players interested in taking part should be sure to sign up before then.

More information and online registration is available at https://dcscholasticchess.org/tournaments .