MADISON – Victor Lundy has tied as winner in the 2020 Alabama State Chess Championship for the Under 1800 section.

Alabama Chess Federation sponsored the competition, which was held online at chess.com because of COVID-19 constraints. The championship was open to all students if the player has a rating that is ‘Under 1800’ with U.S. Chess Federation.

Lundy was a bit surprised about his win. “The 1800 section is always comprised of strong players,” he said.

Because of COVID-19 constraints, tournaments and most practices have been staged online. “For me, I find the online tournament to be a little harder because you have the distractions of your home. But cheating isn’t so much of a problem, due to the tournament directors and how they use different methods to find potential players that cheat,” Lundy said.

Lundy first became interested in chess in 2014 and started playing competitively in 2015. “I learned how to play in the local school, Rainbow Elementary School. Noel Newquist (who teaches art at Heritage Elementary School) taught me the basics of chess, which I used as my base when learning new ideas and strategies,” Lundy said.

Lundy is a sophomore at Bob Jones High School. “I plan on joining National Honor Society and HOSA (Future Health Professionals) once the pandemic starts to die down,” he said.

He is a member of Madison City Chess League and coaches the All Star Chess Club. “By offering an East and West All Star club for second- and third-graders to get an extra hour of weekly practice and instruction, we sought to develop some of our youngest, most promising players to be ready for the State Scholastic Chess Championship,” Lundy said.

“The result was a sweep of team awards in the Primary (K-3) school section and a second-place team trophy in the Primary Club section for Madison,” he said. All Star Chess Club is open by invitation only with a nomination by the student’s chess coach.

Victor’s parents are Jon and Regina Lundy. Jon works as a software engineer at Northrop Grumman. Regina is a psychiatrist with Alabama Behavioral Health.

Victor is available for private lessons.