Three Individual Top Finishes

Devotion to Chess Reaps National Titles for Students From Capitol Hill Magnet:
After-School Club Collects Three Team, Three Individual Top Finishes in Competition Against 5,000 Students
April 20, 2009
American Chronicle – Beverly Hills, CA, USA

By Doug Belden, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Apr. 20–The chess team from Capitol Hill Magnet School in St. Paul traveled to Tennessee for a national tournament over spring break and came home with some huge trophies.

In a competition that drew more than 5,000 students and 1,500 teams, the school — which serves gifted learners — snagged three team and three individual first-place finishes.

It was an impressive showing for an after-school club started six years ago by parents that has grown from 66 members to 242 — about a quarter of the school, which serves grades one through eight.

Capitol Hill teams came in first in the K-3 unrated division, led by individual first-place winner Shrinivas Venkatasubramani, a second-grader; the K-6 unrated division, led by top finisher Kyler Weatherspoon, a sixth-grader; and the K-9 under-1,250 division, led by co-champion Imanol Avendano, an eighth-grader.

(“Unrated” means players who don’t carry a U.S. Chess Federation ranking. “Under 1250” means players rated below 1,250. The top-rated player on the federation’s Web site is at 2,798.)

Imanol called the tournament “nerve-wracking,” saying some of his matches lasted three to four hours. He felt pressure from wanting to do well, he said, but “it was really fun.”

Kyler was struck by the silence during matches, despite the number of players. “When you’re playing, it’s so quiet,” he said. “It was a great experience. I really enjoyed it.”

Twenty-eight students from the school attended the tournament in Nashville.

Here is the full article.