No Sleep Till...zzzzzzzzzz

Our players were tuckered out from an action-packed tournament this Saturday at MS 390x in the Bronx. They won 2nd Place in all of the three sections they competed in. Congratulations to all individual trophy and medal winner: Steven Leon, Sophia Ye, Jordan Tenezaca, Eric Zhang, Nelson Li, Kimberly Ramos, Zenjin Zou, Andy Leung, and Micheal Cheung.

National's 2016: DC to Nashville to Rounds One and Two!

The Sunset Knight stopped off in DC before heading to the National Championship. The kids had a great time visiting the Natural History Museum and around. They also survived the dessert section of the Golden Corral. We all slept as the bus drove through the night bring us into Nashville at about 6am. After breakfast, we had a great morning touring the local sites. The kids loved free-time at Dragon Park and the guided tour of the Parthenon.

After settling into the convention center, our kids played in the National Blitz Championship. The Knight's K-3 team ended with winning 2nd Place thanks to top scorers Omar Saquisili, Li Weng Wen, Genesis Lucero, and Leo Ye.

On Friday afternoon the National Championship began with our first two rounds. Our K-6 team crushed the first round but struggled the second. Our K-3 team struggled round one but did well in round two. So results are mixed. Congrats to Omar Saquisili, Genesis Lucero, Li Wen Weng, and Novia Zhang for winning both rounds! At the end of the day, they reflected on their play by writing and sharing out "glows" and "grows",i.e., proud moments and next steps. Tomorrow is their most challenging day with three rounds of slow chess!

Nationals!

Our bus is barreling through Pennsylvania full of tired but proud chess players, parents, and teachers. The kids' performance this year has set a new bar for our future National's teams.

Our Open players finished 4th in the Nation in the Championship Section. This section is the highest in the tournament and is the true measure of strength for scholastic chess. Last year we finished 13th. Our intermediate team finished an unofficial 1st Place in the K-6 U1000 section. Officially we were given the 2nd place trophy due to an error in the tournament score keeping and inadequate time to resolve the issue. No worries, it will be relatively easy to sand off that annoying 2.

Last, but not least, we had a small but tenacious 2nd grade team (Genesis, Leo, Elias, and Luigi) that managed to win a trophy by placing 14th in the K-3 U800 section. On top of our many wins I'd like to highlight our kids' focus and sportsmanship. They were courteous, supportive, and every 503 player took their long games very seriously. Many put in 3-4 hours for each game, sometimes finishing late into the evening.

I would personally like to thank staff members Yesen, Steven, Sara, Laura, Michelle, and Jade for the generous gift of time, patience, precision that this trip required to be a success. And to our parents, Silvio, Sheldon, Nelson, Mauro, and Erika for taking off work to work around the clock in benefit to our chess family.

Thanks to Chess-in-the Schools, Chess Master Tyrell Harriott, and Shaun Smith for providing financial support, coaching, and the invaluable free CIS Saturday tournaments. We couldn't do any of this without you. Lastly, thanks to the fb friends and family who donated to and shared our numerous post this year.

We are on our way to Nashville!

PS 503 wins the 2015 Mayor's Cup: Best in the City!

Yesterday our team won the 2015 Mayor's Cup Chess Championship: Best in the City! Congratulations to top Jonathan Mendez, Jomin Zhang, Jack Guitarerro, and Jeremy Zheng who finished in the top four.

Another Great Tournament!

The Sunset Knights swept the Open Section at today's Chess in the School's tournament at PS 503 in Brooklyn. The kids won 1st Place team and top player Jomin Zhang won 1st Place as an individual!

Big Wins in the Bronx!

The Sunset Knights won 1st Place Team in the Open Section at the CIS tournament at PS 390x in the South Bronx. Congratulations our individual 1st Place winners to Jomin Zhang (Open), Giovanni Cortez (Novice). Devyn Jimenez (JH Novice), and Eddy Mendez (NRB).

These photos show two of our team's rising stars: Angela Chen(1st Grade) and Elias Mendez (2nd Grade) Both won medals at yesterday's event. Here is a snappy, sacrificial game by 4th Grader Zheng Zhou. Zheng lures his opponent in a tricky Max Lange Attack, pulls the king toward the center, and hunts him until checkmate!