Battling for Checkmate

In the world of ranks, files, and black and white pieces, chess is making a strong comeback. This was more than apparent at Strawberry School on May 1st where young players met for duel, a queen and her men as their weapons, for the 2nd Annual Countywide Chess Tournament. Hosted by Chess for Kids, 126 kids from 50 different schools came together to try their odds to be the best of the best at this European game. And after numerous games, the winners were unveiled and awarded a trophy and medal.

(photos courtesy of Steve Aja Photography)

Here is a list of the 1st place winners:

Austin Creek: Kyle Wu
Brookhaven: Jeremy Gleaves
CAVA: Jacob Crowhurts
Corona Creek: Adrian Gonzalez
Evergreen: Matthew Wilkin
Grant School: David Yee
Guerneville: Sam Kenny
Healdsburg Jr. High: Travis Williams
Hidden Valley Elementary School: John Burns & Edward Deng
Hidden Valley Satellite School: Rohit Gopalakrishnan & Anib Pravin
Homeschool: Heather Rainbow
Instilling Goodness: Cris Rhan & Anika Daniel
Liberty: Ethan Shahbazian
Mountain Shadows Middle School: Adam Koziol
Oak Grove: Erik Carver
Penngrove: Adam Kane
Pinecrest: Aiden Rameriz
Santa Rosa Charter for the Arts: Emil Guzman
Schaefer: Zack Schieberl, Christopher Martinez & Ryan Le
Sebastopol Independent Charter School: Liev Haroxche
Slater: Tyler Hale & Alexander March
St. Eugenes: Creighton Anderson-Soria, Monica Wishard & Amy Hulsman
Strawberry School: Aaron Thompson
Village Elementary: Noah Weiss & John Diez
Yulupa: Anahita Jensen & Andrew Gao