BY KARISSA MILLER

The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education recently recognized winners of the districtwide chess tournament. Principals, teachers and coaches were present to honor these competitors.

The chess tournament, which was held on March 25, was a round-robin style event and open to students in grades 3-12. I-SS partnered Chesskids.com for the virtual event.

Students had four opportunities to practice with virtual competition opportunities. This provided a chance for students across the district to play against each other in preparation for the tournament day.

Schools were also provided with gold-level accounts, which allowed students to learn at their unique playing level and grow as chess players through personalized lessons and activities.

On the actual tournament day, 61 secondary and 60 elementary students completed 10 rounds of chess play. The online system assigns points based on wins, losses and draws. The fast-play chess tournament was set to 10-minute matches, giving each player a total of five minutes on their chess clocks to make their moves.

The chess winners and their divisions are as follows:

Elementary School Division

♦ First Place: Sirman Srirman from Lake Norman Elementary School
♦ Second Place: Maddox Dunker from Lake Norman Elementary School
♦ Third Place: Keito Suzuki from Lake Norman Elementary School

Middle/High School Division

♦ First Place: Akshar Khandelnal (The Brawley School)
♦ Second Place: Artem Adylin (Woodland Heights Middle School)
♦ Third Place: Pranav Gupta (The Brawley School)

Photos