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National Elementary School Championship

Spring is the Season for Tournaments

Spring is the season for major scholastic tournaments. In the District of Columbia, the K-5 Championships were held this past Saturday and the Grades 6-8, and 9-12 Championships will be held this weekend. In Virginia, all of the scholastic championships were held this past weekend.

We were very glad to see so many U.S. Chess Center students participating in both. Kids from Burroughs Elementary, our Capitol Hill Children’s Chess Club, and our group at Cleveland Park Public Library all came (with JoJo from the library group winning with a 4-0 score and earning the right to represent the District of Columbia at the Rockefeller Tournament of Champions).

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The Virginia State Championships were held in Roanoke this year – not an easy drive for our northern Virginia students. Dozens of students made the trek anyway and were rewarded with great competition.

The students renewed friendships and had a wonderful time, despite the cold and windy conditions outside. Playing chess is a wonderful way to make and keep friendships.

The U.S. Chess Center congratulates the students and thanks the parents from Churchill Road, Colvin Run, Greenbriar West, Kent Gardens, Poplar Tree, and Spring Hill for going. While we believe that playing is more important than winning, we should note that students from every school where we run the club brought home at least one trophy.

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.