Olympia High School 12th-grade student Addison Flora was declared the grand champion against 104 players after having a perfect score of five wins at the Southwest Washington Scholastic Chess Championships last Saturday, February 4.
Approximately 210 chess players from 93 Washington middle and high schools competed at Centralia College in the event, hosted by Washington High School Chess Association. The high school and middle school championship (6th-8th grades) categories included individual and team matches.
At the high school level, besides Olympia’s Flora, several players tied for second place, with 4.5 points each, including Joshua Haelle of Pope John Paul II High School, in Lacey.
Middle School
Three players from the middle school category shared the title of grand champion against 106 players, after each having a perfect score of five wins. These included Stephen Belgau of Jefferson Middle School in Olympia and Aiden Zheng of Tumwater Middle School. Zheng shared the championship with one other player, each having a perfect performance, putting them on top of 106 peers.
Team qualifiers for high school
Olympia High School gathered the most checkmates with 19 points for the high school team event and was proclaimed the Southwest Washington High School Team Champions.
The Olympia High School team includes:
Team qualifiers for middle school
Jefferson Middle School garnered 15 points, winning the Middle School Team Championship.
Jefferson’s team includes:
What’s next?
Winning teams in the high school championship qualified to compete in the High School Chess Team Championships at Stanwood High School in March; winning teams in the middle school championship are set to compete at the State Elementary and Middle School Championships at the Tacoma Convention Center in April.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here