At the Region V Championship this past
Saturday, the T. H. Rogers chess team had another fine day. We entered 4
full teams and came home with 2 first place and 2 second place trophies!
While several members of our team woke up Saturday with fevers and stayed
home, we still went with 33 players, which was quite a good turnout. Many
thanks to Coaches Evan Michaelides, David John and Jeff Ashton for putting
in a very long day with us. The tournament didn't finish handing
out trophies till close to 7 pm.
In the Regional, State and National tournaments, team trophies are awarded
by section. The top 4 scores per team per section are used to determine
the team standings. So, a full team is 4 or more players from the same
school in the same section. Note that the T. H. Rogers Elementary School
is a separate school from our Middle School. We can not combine players.
The tournament had about 350 players in grades K-12. With such a large
number of players and only 8 sections and 5 rounds, there were a lot of
ties at the individual level. Kudos to all of the players. Details of
the event are as follows:
Kindergarten
- First Grade Team - 1st Place
Propelling
their team to the top were the strong finishes by:
- Evan Xiang - Kindergarten - tied for 2nd place with
- Jackson Chang - First Grade
- Reese Costis - First Grade - was part of a multiway tie for
7th place
- Tassica Lim - Kindergarten - tied
- Edward Ni - First Grade. One of their scores was used to
figure the team total and that put the team into first place
Primary
Championship Team - 1st Place
Our Second Grade state championship team with some help from the 3rd
graders came through for us to win the Primary Championship. Our top
finishers were:
- Kevin Wang - Second Grade - part of a 3 way tie for 1st place
which included
- Eleanor Gilbert - Second Grade
- Ellen Xiang - Second Grade - tied for 4th
- Truman Roscoe - Second Grade - part of a multiway tie for 6th
which included
- Anderson Isdale - Second Grade
Primary Under 600
We only had 2 players in this division, so did not have a full team. But,
they both played well.
- Tristan Lim - Third grade - came in 2nd and
- Sarah Lew - Third grade - tied for 10th.
Elementary
Championship Team - 2nd Place
The John Cooper School's 5th graders were really the power in this
division. Last year, we had only 1 player with a high enough rating to
play in this division. This year we fielded a team of 7. However, we
need at least one more year of development to have enough strength to win
this division. Our top finishers were:
- Curtis Roscoe - 5th grade - part of a multiway tie for 9th
with
- Shantan Cheemerla - 5th grade - and
- Thomas Kuncewicz - 4th grade
- Jim Jenkinson - 4th grade tied with
- Mike Cai - 4th grade
Elementary
Under 700
5th grader Siddharth Desai was our only competitor in this
division, but he acquitted himself well tying for 13th place.
Middle School
Championship Team - 2nd Place
Unfortunately, 3 of our top middle school players were unable to attend,
but the rest of the team played well and secured the 2nd place win.
Again, our top finishers were the following:
- Matthew Michaelides - 6th grade - tied for 2nd
- Mengwei Ni - 7th grade - tied for 7th
- Aman Sharma - 7th grade - part of a multiway tied for 9th
with
- Steven Pan - 7th grade
Middle School
Under 900
Again, we only had two competitors in this section, so we did not win a
team trophy, but they did quite well individually.
- Joseph Ong - 7th grade - tied for 3rd and
- Elizabeth Kuncewicz - 6th grade - tied for 12th.
Congratulations to the teams, and we look forward to the State Meet in
Dallas the last weekend in February!
Martha