The St. Thomas-St. John Youth Chess Club recently traveled to the K-12 National Scholastic Chess Tournament in Atlanta, Ga., and of the 112 games team members played, they won 77 of them.
The trip was "nothing short of very successful," said Sinclair Wilkinson, USCF chess coach/coordinator. "The overall performance of our students was outstanding." Mr. Wilkinson pointed out that the students' 64 percent success rate was "far better than the 50 percent performance rate for most first-time participants in such a quality event."
Most of the students' performance rating placed them in the Top 25 percent of the 1,486 students participating in the torunament from across the United States. The STTJ Youth Chess Club returned home with two trophies: The elementary team placed 9th overall, and one student placed 20th in his category of 257 students.
The impressive participation of the Club is punctuated by the fact that some of the games lasted for more than three hours. "Just imagine seeing our students thinking and concentrating for this length of time," Mr. Wilkinson said.
While in Atlanta, Chess Club members also enjoyed some of the many cultural and tourist attractions the city offers. They participated in an educational tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Museum, including the Civil Rights Leader's birth home, his popular library and his burial site. The group also toured the CNN studios and the Coca Cola factory.
| STTJ Youth Chess Club team members (second row) play in K-12 Nat'lScholastic Chess tournament in Atlanta, Ga., in April. |
| Of the 112 games played by STTJ Youth Chess Club members, they won 77. Approximately 1,486 students from across the country participated in the 2016 tournament. |
