Trivia? Yes. But the President’s Day Chess Challenge hosted by Lodgic Everday Community in Champaign, IL was not. Complementing our local talent, chess players from Decatur, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal joined us for this 4-round K-12 Scholastic replete with Knights Tours, a Chess Arts Contest, and of course, a Prez Chess Trivia Drawing on 2/17/19. Here’s how it played:

 

Sections. Awards went to the top 5 players in 4 sections. Grades 6-12: Jeffrey Yao (3.5); Joseph Torrellas (3.5); Joyce R Zheng (3.0); Ronsher Thirumaran (3.0); Hozaifa Am Bhutta (2.0). Grades 4-5: Dhruv Marlapaty (4.0); James Yan (3.0); Srikar Jayam (3.0); Jason Yan (3.0); Alyssa Stevens (3.0). Grades 2-3: Bryan Zhao (4.0); Boyou Huang (4.0); Vikhat Chatrathi (3.0); Gautham Ramkumar (2.0); Marshall Flynn-Mitchell (2.0). Grades K-1: Scott M Escalera (4.0); Kavin Sivagnanam (3.0); Arnav Sharma (3.0); Paul R Ouyang (3.0); Lucas Meza-Bettivia (2.0).

Teams. Next Generation earned 1st Place Team Trophy with an impressive 11.5 (out of a possible 12); Northpoint Elementary won 2nd Pl Team with a 10; and, Dr Howard Elementary clinched 3rd Pl Team with 9 points. Congratulations all!

When 9th century Sanskirt poet Rudrata and 18th century mathematicians Euler and Von Warndorf worked on the Knight’s Tour, little did they know they’d paved the way for the Double Knights’ Tour. That is: 2 knights, moving alternately, traversing the board, same principles. And 3 very talented youngsters created 3 different paths, garnering awards for perfect 64s: Marshall Flynn-Mitchell, Lenny Zharnitsky and Varun Gurramkonda.

As for the Original Knight’s Tour, Scott Escalera, Varun Gurramkonda, and Kylan Herring valiantly crossed swords picking up the top 3 awards for their flawless 64s.   “Brave young knights in a brave new world…”

President George Washington was showcased in our Chess Arts entries. Prizes went to The Escolar family for an intricate creative “George Washington to Play” Chess Theatre and Emma Lan Manzhi for a subtly colored chess set featuring founding father GW.

Kudos to US Chess Rookies: Nolan Andrews, Jon Carpenter, Malachi Chambers, Andrew Finley, Amartya Gunjam, Maxwell He, Grace Ledford, Lucas Meza-Bettivia, Samuel Risby, Liam Sears, Sai Shyamla, Anyssa Tangmunarunkit, and Tristan Tanta.

Our generous sponsors, This Is It Furniture and Tutor Doctor, turned the Prez Chess Challenge from dream into reality. We thank them again! And once more!   Plus very special thanks to Dr Gs Brainworks for prize donation and moral support.

The venue? ChessXcellent. Lodgic Everyday Community is a new non-profit initiative dedicated to “creating opportunities for working families, facilitating thriving business, and fostering shared community”. Thanks to Marissa Siero and her team for turning opportunity into action.

Will our Pres Day Chess Challenge be an annual event? Did Bill Clinton play on Georgetown University’s chess team? Did Gerald Ford declare October 9th National Chess Day? Did Thomas Jefferson join Salon des Esches in….?

President's Day Tournament