Students show off skills and sportsmanship at citywide chess

Baltimore Brew
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Students show off
skills and
sportsmanship at
citywide
chess tournament
Baltimore Kids Chess League participants from
across the city battle it out on the chessboard, then
relax with pizza and play
Emilia Halvorsen
May 29, 2015 at 8:54 am
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How to explain it: 120 students from 27 schools,
ages five through eleven, occupying one room for
four hours and maintaining quietness to rival a
library?
It could only mean one thing – a chess
tournament.
Wednesday’s event was the Baltimore Kids
Chess League’s final city­wide tournament of the
2014­2015 season, held at the Johns Hopkins
Center for Talented Youth.
Ben Fawley, left, 10, from Patterson Park Public Charter
School and Asia Wood, 11, from Gardenville Elementary
do the “Big Shake,” which kicks off every BKCL
tournament.
Photo by: Emilia Halvorsen
Intense as it was, the day of competition was a bit
different from the match­ups that take place
throughout the school year.
“This is a more
relaxed
tournament,” said
Will Sinkler,
coach of the team
at Mt.
Washington
Elementary and
Middle School.
Aside from
playing chess, he
said, “the kids get
out of school for
half­a­day to
have fun, meet
students from
other schools
and eat pizza.”
Students of different schools meet and play tag between rounds. (Photo by Emilia
Halvorsen)
Between rounds,
as volunteers
matched players based on their outcomes in the previous round, students laughed and joked in the
refreshment room. A game of tag formed in the small courtyard of the building as more and more
students from different schools jumped in.
The tournament, organized and refereed by volunteers, featured three rounds of chess matches,
pairing students of similar age and skill level, leading to a final playoff round where students
compete for trophies. There were plenty to go around.
“One kid at every table will get a trophy,” explained Caroline Williams, a volunteer and wife of Steve
Alpern, the chess project’s commissioner who officiated the day.
“Steve thinks that the more trophies there are, the more impact it has on them.”
People Behind the Pieces
Sinkler’s team, the Checkmaters, had two players at the novice level and three in advanced. The
team meets for an hour a week not only to play chess but to go over strategy. (It seemed to have
payed off Wednesday as they took home a trophy in the individual category.)
Dave Dallas,
coach for the
Commodore
John Rogers
Elementary team,
said it was the
first year the
school had a
chess team in the
past seven years.
The team, which
has about 25
participants,
practices once a
week for an hour
and a half, Dallas
said.
Since the
tournament only
allowed up to five
players from
each school,
Dallas brought
his top four. “Not
just in skill, but
also in
attendance and
interest,” he said.
Parent Patrice
The Checkmaters of Mt. Washington Elementary, pictured with coach Will Sinkler, took
home a trophy. (Photo by Emilia Halvorsen)
Carroll was
pleased by her
daughter Autumn
Neil’s growing
enthusiasm for
chess. She said her daughter, a 3rd­grader at Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in West
Baltimore, has been eager to compete.
“This is her third tournament,” Carroll said, noting that her daughter is clearly the chessmaster in
their household: “She tries to teach me!”
Scholastic Checkmate
The Baltimore Kids Chess League has been helping to put chess programs into public schools
since its founding in 2003. Along with providing materials for school programs and organizing
tournaments, the league also awards scholarships to a week­long chess camp.
“Chess teaches kids how to problem solve while fostering good sportsmanship and school pride,”
Linda Lee, the chess league’s president, explained. “Some studies have linked chess to higher
reading scores.”
“The Baltimore Kids Chess League has continued to produce quality players,” said Steve Alpern,
going on to call it the city’s “best scholastic program” in terms of the number of participants and
number of students who go on to compete at the national level.
At the end of the tournament, 22 individuals and three teams took home trophies, with the Green
School of Baltimore taking home first place at the team level.
Chess commissioner Steve Alpern poses with the smiling trophy winners. (Photo by Emilia Halvorsen)
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