Posted on Wed, Mar. 11, 2009
Fels school takes Pa. chess title
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia Inquirer – Philadelphia, PA, USA
Their coach jokingly calls them the Bad News Bears of the chess world – five teenagers who lose things, goof around, and talk trash about each other’s video-game skills.
But now, the Knights of Fels go by another name: state champs.
It’s the first championship of any kind, ever, for Fels, a school more often in the news for trouble than triumph.
“We’re going to have a banner made,” said Greg Hailey, principal of the Oxford Circle school. “A big one.”
The ragtag chess team, which before this year had not even made the playoffs, took the city championship in February. Last weekend, the team entered the 2009 Pennsylvania Under 1300 Scholastic K-12 Chess Championship seeded last, but managed to score that title, too.
Team members vow they’ll fare well in Nashville, where the national championship will be played next month. Though so far the team has no money raised to get to Tennessee, Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District, said yesterday that officials would “find a way to fund this trip.”
In all, more than 100 city students competed in the state championships, and several teams placed well, including perennial chess powerhouses Masterman and Blankenburg Elementary. Both won their respective divisions.
But the Fels win was especially sweet, the team said.
Here is the full article.
Cool name!