The ChessMates won 1st Place Team at this weekend's Chess-in-the-Schools tournament in Brooklyn. Congratulations to brother and sister teammates Samantha and Samuel Dong who tied for 1st Place in the Rookie Section and Nick Tung who won 1st Place in Novice. Thank you to the PS 503 teachers, staff, and administrators who gave their weekend time to run tables, celebrate their students, and to extend our school's hospitality to hundreds of young chess players from every borough. A special shout-out to all the PS 503 parents who came out with armloads of delicious baked goods! Because of you, and in partnership with Chess In Schools, our first time hosting a tournament went off with out a hitch! Every bake-sale, movie nights, t-shirt sale, and sponsorship gets us closer to being able to compete at Nationals this spring. Thank you everyone for being part of the team.

The ChessMates at the 2012 Rapid Open in Central Park

A beautiful day at the 2012 Chess in the Park Tournament. Although there were no team trophies in this exhibition tournament, a few of our Chessmates won individual accolades. Kudos to Nicholas Tung (first place under 600); Wang Chen (12th place Novice), and Gabriel Davis (3rd place Novice). A great way to kick off the year!