Washington Chess Boom

Stevenson again triumphs at chess tourney
May 24, 2008

The Stevenson chess team once again has brought back team and individual trophies from the National Burt Lerner Elementary (K-6) Chess Championship.

The school won the first place team title in K-3 championship section, first place team trophy in K-5 U900 section and 10th place team title in the K-5 championship section. Last year, the Stevenson team clinched first team trophies in K-3 U800 and K-5 U900 sections and fifth place team title in the K-5 Championship. In 2005, Stevenson won the national team title in the K-5 championship section.

The tournament was held in Pittsburgh, Pa., from May 9-11.

The annual event, organized by the United States Chess Federation, brings together the best scholastic chess players from around the country to compete in nine sections. This year more than 2,200 students from 45 states participated.

Stevenson Elementary fielded three teams and 17 of its best chess players. The K-3 Championship team of Daniel Hua, Patrick Wang, Amith Vanmane, Kevin Ma, Nathan Chou and Stephen Embry won the National Champion Team title in the 209-player section with 21 points. The team score is computed based on the top four individual scores. Several team members won individual trophies, including Daniel Hua (seventh place), Patrick Wang (11th place), Amith Vanmane (25th place) and Nathan Chou (first place among U600). Nathan also won the Biggest Upset award by defeating a player rated more than 800 points higher.

Here is the full article.