MADISON – The North Alabama Team Scholastic Chess Tournament boosted game expertise for students to compete at the State Scholastic Chess Championship in spring 2020.

The United States Chess Federation uses the four-person team format in collegiate and national team championship events. FIDE (an acronym in French for international chess federation) uses the format for world championships, according to Ranae Bartlett, Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.

Discovery Middle School hosted the event. Sullins Eye Center participated as tournament sponsor.

The MCCL Team Cup winner was Bob Jones Blue Team with Victor Lundy, Michael Guthrie, Will Bao and Josh Lin.

In second place, Bob Jones White Team included Aubteen Pour-Biazar, Hugh Mitchell, Edward Calinsky and Jenson Wilhelm. Claiming third place was James Clemens High School Team with Sherwood Dong, Sohan Mynampally, Will Fox and Shreya Sunil.

“This year, competition was as tight as ever. Both high schools are emerging as chess powerhouses in Alabama,” Bartlett said.

In the K-12 section, two all-girl teams tied for third place and top female team: Bob Jones Red with Puja Chopade, Neha Chopade, Kennedy Gore and Constance Wang; and Discovery White with Shruti Kadam, Christine Wang, Swetha Jakka and Caroline Wang.

Discovery’s sixth-grade team earned top honors in K-6 with Pranav Gentela, Eddie Xiao, Janardhan Vasireddy and Andrew Yang.

Other finalists were Rainbow Blue Team – Caden Jordan, Holland Lang, Landon Drummond, Xavier Bruni, second; Madison Elementary – Christina Yang, Lisl Hendrix, Ronan, Christian Swenson, third; Heritage Elementary – Laya Gowder, Aadi Saxena, Jaxon Kimberly, Samarjeet Bista; and Horizon Elementary – Jacob New, Eashan Padur, Molly Fruchtnicht, Asher Kovacs, fifth.

Mill Creek claimed Top Female Team with Ellie Chan, Anna Ai, Eiliyah Hafiez and Tiegan Eastman.

In Primary (K-3) section, Rainbow Red won first place with the only perfect team score of four points with Jethro Jones, Noah Hsu, Emma Kuang and Hank Tyrrell.

Other place winners were Rainbow Orange – Jacob Kuang, Isaac Kreusser, Jackson Campbell, Emory Howell, second; Horizon Elementary – Samsara Rajbhandari, Xander Yem, Austin Davis, Noah Kemp, third; Rainbow Green – Connor Jemison, Tyce Crosswy, Sawyer Wright, Luke Day, fourth; and Rainbow Purple – Jacob Bluestone, Brantley Davis, Eamon Jemison, Abigail Barbre, Gavin Luthy, fifth.

Rainbow Pink was Top Female Team with Isabella Williams, Cora Newberry, Sydney Kelley and Eleanor Kruesser.