05.31.08 Sixteen students at Cornville Elementary School recently played in their school's four round chess championship. A new experience for many of the players this tournament nonetheless produced some exciting and fighting games. A three-way tie for first resulted between Kaytlin Allen, William Kelly and Orion Poulin.

The top of the crosstable was very crowded with seven players separated by only one point. The three winners: Kaytlin Allen (first on tiebreaks), William Kelly (second on tiebreaks) and Orion Poulin (third on tiebreaks) each went undefeated with two wins and two draws to score 3.0 points. Tied for 4th-5th place were Keirra Anzivino and Courtney Smart with 2.5 points and Shelby Rodrigue and Dylan Perkins rounded out the top seven with 2.0 points.

You will notice that four out of the top seven players are girls. Scholastic chess and chess in general historically has been, and to a large extent still is, dominated by males but that trend is clearly changing.

The three top scoring players received trophies for their accomplishment and all players received a participation medal.

A big thank you to Brenda Hogate the librarian and chess instructor at Cornville Elementary for organizing this tournament. Please support scholastic chess!

Tournament Co-champion Kaytlin Allen (left) came from behind in this round 2 game vs. Maya Gray and scored the full point.

Co-champion William Kelly plays Sydney Cooke in round 1.

Third co-champion Orion Poulin (left) takes on Bo Mason Locke.

Round 1 action

Mrs. Hogate tangles with a tough competitor in this skittles game.

Final Results
1. Kaytlin Allen 3.0
2. William Kelly 3.0
3. Orion Poulin 3.0
4. Keirra Anzivino 2.5
5. Courtney Smart 2.5
6. Shelby Rodrigue 2.0
7. Dylan Perkins 2.0
8. Maya Gray 1.5
9. Sydney Cooke 1.5
10. Kristin Smart 1.0
11. Megan Griffeth 1.0
12. Joshua Field 1.0
13. Cody Turcotte 1.0
14. Allison Lancaster 1.0
15. Bo Mason Locke 0.0
16. Adam Quattrone 0.0