Hunter Malone and George Thompson were first-place winners in the Claremore Upper Elementary School Chess Club’s Winter Open tournament on Feb. 11.
Malone, sixth-grade son of John and Shelia, won the Bishops division. Thompson, fifth-grade son of Howard and Robin, won in the Knights division.
Each won four games and drew another, scoring 4.5 of a possible 5 points in the five-round tournament.
Runners-up in the Bishops division were Dakota White, sixth-grade son of Anthony and Tammy, and Shawn Swatek, fifth-grade son of Mike and Leslie Swatek, each with 4 points. Heather Hargrave, fifth-grade daughter of Barbara; Dil Patel, fifth-grade son of Daksha; and Devon Reece, sixth-grade son of Evelyn Haysler, each scored 3.5 points.
Joshua Wolfe, sixth-grade son of Beth, had 4 points for second place in the Knights division. Kristofer Kotoff, fifth-grade son of Jim and Susan, was third with 3.5 points.
Each CUE Chess Club meeting starts with a Swiss System-style tournament round. Every player competes in five rounds of full tournaments, being paired with others having about the same performance level. The in-club tournaments prepare members for competition in nationally-rated tournaments, where they compete against other schools as a team.
On Saturday, 13 of the club members — representing CUE’s largest team to date at a rated tournament — will compete in the Winter Scholastic Chess Challenge at Wright Christian Academy in Tulsa.
The team will be very visible their new bright red club shirts featuring a Zebra knight. The shirts were first sketched at a December tournament by club member Kyndl Rowland, fifth-grade daughter of Julie.
CUE Chess Club is looking for its first tournament title after a pair of runner-up finishes in its first two events. About 150 students from northeastern Oklahoma are expected to compete.
The local tournament and the event in Tulsa are building up to the Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization championship tournament on March 1 in the Claremore High School cafeteria. The state tournament is being hosted by the CUE Chess Club.
Local sponsors of the state tournament are Web Sites By Leslie (www.websbyl.com), Java Dave’s and RCB Bank.
Scholastic chess players with their school teams from all over Oklahoma will be in Claremore to compete for this year’s OSCO honors.
For more information about the state tournament, visit www.okschess.org.Call Mike Swatek at 342-4245 for more information about state tournament sponsorship opportunities, participation or volunteering.