Chess Club celebrates special tournament

The First Lutheran School Chess Club hosted its second in-house tournament on June 25.

The club began in February.

This tournament was the 1,000th tournament for Chess Express Ratings (CXR). CXR is an official international chess rating authority for organizers, and for chess players of all ages and strengths, from beginners to grandmasters.

Founded in 1995, CXR has grown to thousands of members and dozens of affiliated chess clubs and organizations on two continents. From its corporate headquarters in New York, CXR processes scores of tournaments with more than 10,000 officially rated games annually.

To help celebrate CXR’s 1,000th tournament, they provided the FLS Chess Club with valuable coins, travel chess sets and other additional items to be used as prizes.

Pictured from left: Cason Wilson, 6th grade West Middle School student, secured a solid first place win in the 900 & Under section with 4.5 out of 5.0 possible points. Catheryne Martin, 8th grader at East Middle School, took second with 3.5 points. Second grade First Lutheran School student Wesley Vaughan was awarded third place with 2.5 points.

Pictured from left: In the 550 & Under section, fourth grade First Lutheran School student Pierce Wagner took home first place with 4.0 points. In second place was Roosevelt third grader, Jason Devinney. Third place in that section was 5th grade First Lutheran School student, Timothy Crank.