2012 Washington State Elementary Chess Championship

This Thursday, April 26th will be the last meeting of chess club for the school year.  There will be no more chess club meetings after April 26th.  We are planning to play kids vs. adults and celebrate the results of the state championship and all of the many accomplishments from throughout the year.  But don't mention it to the kids, tell them that there will be a final exam at our last meeting.  

Travis, the chess club's official photographer, has taken many pictures from the tournaments.  If you would like a copy, please bring a thumb drive on Thursday.   Please do not send a thumb drive with your student.  If you can't make it, and would like the pictures, please contact me. 

Thursday is a fun day for chess club and all parents are welcome and encouraged to join. 

The Washington State Chess Championship was held on Saturday, April 21st, in Pasco, Washington.  17 students from Frank Love attended.  One more was scheduled to compete, but was sick (hope you're feeling better, Liam!). 


The night before most of the Frank Love Chess Team met up at the hotel for a pizza dinner and a night of swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. 

Early the next morning, we met for breakfast.

We arrived before 8am at the tournament ready to play.

We waited for the first round to start.

And we waited.

About 90 minutes later, round 1 started.  With two wins and one loss, our kindergartners were off to a great to start.  Out of the remaining 15 players, our team only had 5 points.  It was a dismal forecast. 

In round 2 the Frank Love chess team became more serious and walked away with more wins than losses and continued a steady improvement from there.

After round 5, 3 of our players won 4 out of 5 games.  Congratulations to Rohan, Kenney and Roshan!  Roshan won 10th place for second grade!!

Liam S. got a score of 3.5 in his division and won second place.  Congratulations Liam!

4 students earned 3 out of 5 points.  That includes all 3 of our kindergartners...  again!  Congratulations to Alex V., Austin, Hayden and Curtis!

Dylan D., Henry, JazMinh, Alexander J., Cameron, and Kobe all got 2 points and Tyler, Lakshey and Cooper came through with 1 point. 

All of those scores contributed to our team scores.  There were over 150 schools represented in the tournament.  The top 25 teams won trophies.  Last year Frank Love just squeezed in at 25th place for grades 1-3.  We didn't even have enough players in grades 4-6 to even be considered a team.  This year Frank Love Chess Team won 17th place for grades 1-3 (wish they would count the kindergarten scores!) and 14th place for grades 4-6!  We beat out some of our rivals and ran up on stage.  It was a fantastic finish to an amazing day and a great year of chess club!  One thing I learned, is not to promise that your child can attend the Elementary Chess National Championship in Tennessee if they win 5 out of 5 games in the state tournament.  They will come as close as they can just to scare you!