ChessPalace hosted the 2006 Winter Scholastics Chess Tournament on January 29, 2006. This much-anticipated annual event attracted thirty-one players from Kindergarten to high school. A new feature introduced this year was an intermediate section for students who are new to tournaments called the Knights Section that proved to be really popular.

A strong group of contenders in the Pawns Section vied for the top prizes in this K-3rd grade only section. Joshua Clune and Aakarsh Aithal, both 1st graders, finished as co-champions with a score 5-1. Following them were first-time tournament participants, Daniel Manion and Angel Wilkins. Rahul Nair finished in 5th place.

In its inception, the Knights Section had a very competitive assemblage of participants led by Ryan Schmitt at first and Mark Bluth at second. This section was open to Kinder to 12th graders who have never played in a chess tournament before but are already at intermediate level. Justin Cuchet and Zakaray Dossi tied for third place, followed by Carter Clemmensen and Kevin Mc-Neil Miller.

In the Bishop Section, which was a United States Chess Federation rated section, Nathan Kernik took home the first place with an undefeated 5-0 score. Following him were first graders Christina Kao and Curtis Clemmensen, and Benjamin Quincey and Daniel Frankel. This year’s group was the strongest ever as most of the players in this group had won a championship title in the lower divisions at least once last year.

Lastly, in the advance Rooks Sections, we saw a very close field of contenders who were all well-armed and ready with their chess gears, clocks, and score pad. Brett Gonzales led the pack with an impressive 4.5-0.5 score. Luis Evaristo, Kiki Frankel, James Kappos, and Jesse Koons completed the field of trophy winners.

ChessPalace would like to congratulate all the participants for an awesome job! Everyone’s sportsmanship and enthusiasm contributed positively to the fanfare of the event. Special thanks also goes to the parent and volunteers, notably Melanie Gonzales and Bill Koons who helped made the event run even more smoothly.

The next scholastic tournament is scheduled for April 8, 2006 Saturday. See you then!

Complete results available here. Enlarged copies of these pictures are available for sale for a limited time. Please email us if interested at play@chesspalace.com.