Stevenson Elementary Trimuphs Again at 2008 National Elementary Chess Championships

Stevenson chess team did it again, for the third time, bringing home team and individual trophies from the National Burt Lerner Elementary (K-6) Chess Championship.  This year, the Elementary National Championship was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from May 9-11. The Stevenson Elementary School from Bellevue, Washington won the 1st place team title in K-3 Championship section, 1^st place team trophy in K-5 U900 section, 10^th place team title in the K-5 Championship section. Last year, the Stevenson team clinched 1^st team trophies in K-3 U800 and K-5 U900 sections and 5^th place team title in the K-5 Championship. In 2005, Stevenson won the National Team title in the K-5 Championship section.

This annual event, organized by the United States Chess Federation, brings together the best scholastic chess players from around the country to compete in 9 sections. This year over 2,200 students from 45 states participated.

Stevenson Elementary fielded a total of 3 teams and 17 of its best chess players. The K-3 Championship team of Daniel Hua, Patrick Wang, Amith Vanmane, Kevin Ma, Nathan Chou and Stephen Embry won the National Champion Team title in the 209-player section impressively with 21 points. The team score is computed based on the top four individual scores. Several team members won individual trophies, including Daniel Hua (7^th place), Patrick Wang (11^th place), Amith Vanmane (25^th place) and Nathan Chou (1^st place among U600). Nathan also won the Biggest Upset award by defeating a player rated more than 800 points higher.

The K-5 U900 team topped the 406-player section in convincing fashion with a score of 24 points. All four team members won individual trophies each with a score of 6 points. They are Kevin Qiu (9^th place), Grace Sun (10^th place), Eric Chen (12^th place) and Allen Yuan (14^th place).

The K-5 Championship team of Jiayi Hu, Brandon Wang, Brian Yu and Robert Zhang scored 15.5 points in the 288-player section. Individual class trophy winners include Jiayi Hu(1^st place among U1200), Brandon Wang(1^st place among U1000), and Brian Yu(2^nd place among U1000).

Other individual trophy winners include Leanne Hwa (2^nd place) in the K-6 Unrated section who had an almost perfect score of 6.5 and Nikolai Warner (10^th place) in the K-3 Unrated section.

The following players also participated in side events. In the Bughouse tournament, Allen Yuan teamed with Jack Go from Eastside Christian School and won 5^th place out of 54 teams. Leanne Hwa and Grace Sun won the 7^th place. Eric Chen and Kevin Qiu won 25^th place. In the Blitz K-6 tournament, Eric Chen, Grace Sun, Leanne Hwa and Allen Yuan won 11th place team trophy and Grace also won individual 3^rd place among U800.

Nationals Team Members:

K-3 Championship Team

1^st Place Team Winners                               

Daniel Hua                  3^rd Grade

Patrick Wang              3^rd Grade

Amith Vanmane          3^rd Grade

Kevin Ma                    2^nd Grade

Nathan Chou               3^rd Grade

Stephen Embry           3^rd Grade

K-5 Under 900 Team

1^st Place Team Winners                               

Kevin Qiu                   4^th Grade

Grace Sun                   4^th Grade

Eric Chen                    4^th Grade

Allen Yuan                  5^th Grade

K-5 Championship Team

10^th Place Team Winners

Jiayi Hu                       4^th Grade

Brandon Wang            5^th Grade

Brian Yu                     5^th Grade

Robert Zhang             5^th Grade

K-6 Unrated

Leanne Hwa                5^th Grade

K-3 Unrated

Nikolai Warner            3^rd Grade

K-1 Championship

Kumho Chun              1^st Grade

Stevenson Chess Club Coaches:

Stevenson Chess Club is coached by Elliott Neff, Matt Fleury, David Hendricks and Gregg Dillingham. This year's team to Nationals is led by coaches Elliott Neff, David Hendricks and Harlan Lee.

Elliott Neff, a self-taught chess master, has been the head coach for the past 5 years.  He is the founder of Chess4Life Center and Clarus Academy in Bellevue.

Matt Fleury has been a coach at Stevenson for 5 years. He was the winner of Washington State Premier in 2005.

David Hendricks has been a coach at Stevenson for 6 years.  He is currently the scholastic director of the Washington Chess Federation.

Gregg Dillingham has been a coach at Stevenson for 3 years.

Stevenson Chess Club

Stevenson Elementary School

Bellevue, Washington

The Stevenson Chess Club is in its 6^th full year as an after-school club activity at Stevenson Elementary in Bellevue, Washington.  The Club has 86 members from 1^st through 5^th grades.  The Club is run by parent volunteers.

Stevenson Elementary is a K-5 school in the Bellevue School District, located in the heart of Bellevue, across Lake Washington from Seattle.  The school enrolls 582 students.  It has a widely diverse student population, with the following demographics: 22% white; 7% African-American; 41% Asian; 20% Hispanic; 9% multi-ethnic.  58% of the students speak a first language other than English. 35% qualify for free- and reduced-price lunches. The school includes both a neighborhood program and a magnet program for gifted students. The goal of our club is to promote scholastic chess to as many students as possible.  The Club includes students from the entire school. The principals at the school are Brenda Naish and Christy Lindquist.  (425) 456-6000.  www.bsd405.org/stevenson/

Contact Person: Uma Vanmane, club coordinator, (425) 653-3433

Photos are at http://share.sameageinside.com/Lists/Photos/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2FLists%2FPhotos%2F2008%20National%20Burt%20Lerner%20Elementary%20Championship

Comments

[David Hendricks]

Thanks for the whole stuff.