Articles
from OSCO’s Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Update
May 2004
OKLAHOMA'S MOST ACTIVE CHESS PLAYER
NATIONAL 2ND PLACE TEAM - IDA FREEMAN ELEMENTARY
OKLAHOMA SCHOLASTIC STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN EDMOND
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL (K-12) CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
OTHER NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
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Destiny
Sawyer was
Destiny coaches scholastic clubs to raise funds for tournaments. She also frequents a couple of other clubs for playing enjoyment.
As a
result of Destiny's skill she was the top placing girl at the Oklahoma
Scholastic State Championship, placing sixth place overall with a 3.5-1.5
finish. This qualifies her to be
Destiny's participation in all of the OSCO Grand Prix tournaments with strong finishes also earned her the Grand Prix MVP Award in the Grade 7-12 Open Section and also the Overall Grand Prix MVP Award with 72.38 points.
Destiny's
OSCO Grand Prix and Oklahoma State Scholastic Championship efforts earned her a
total of $650 in scholarships from OSCO to participate in the Susan Polgar
National Invitational for Girls at the US Open in
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NATIONAL 2ND PLACE TEAM - IDA FREEMAN ELEMENTARY
The road to a national tournament starts on the first day of school. Fifth graders at Ida Freeman have been waiting since first grade to reach the point in their life where they can do what every Ida Freeman kid wants to
do: Go to chess club.
Ida Freeman chess players are firmly grounded in the basics of the game. Opening principles, patience before moving, endgame basics and, most of all, etiquette, will all be covered before the first report cards come out. And, for these kids, Chess is fun. This is just as important as learning the fundamentals of playing the game. Children have to want to play to derive the benefits of the game.
At
this school, which has won state titles five times in the last seven years, the
main hurdle to be faced is how to raise the funds to get to the National
Tournament. Depending on the
destination, this can be a daunting task. This year, the National Tournament
was in
Luckily, these kids are not on their own. David Nichols, the chess coach at Ida Freeman from the beginning of time, is a veteran of two such trips, and knows what it takes to get things done. Add to this a very dedicated group
of parents, known as the "Chess Boosters". With an effort that begins the
first month of the school year, these Boosters spend their every spare moment writing letters, making calls, and sharing with anyone who will listen, their personal excitement about their own little chess players. Every parent comes with ideas on how to raise funds, and some of them even work. Nearing the deadline for raising funds, and being only 10 percent toward our goal, our parents came up with some great ideas that salvaged our trip. Among the most successful fundraisers held this year were a family-and-friends-round-by-round-sponsored "Chess-A-Thon" and selling sponsor spots on our school-hosted State Tournament T-shirts.
All these kids have to do is concentrate on putting in the work necessary to become national championship caliber chess players. They certainly kept their part of the bargain.
With
a previous best finish of 29th in National Tournament play, one of OUR players
sat at the number two board in the last two rounds, and our team brought home
the trophy and the pride of the
By Stephanie Simmons - Ida Freeman Chess Club Organizer
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OSCO
(Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization) has just completed nothing less than a
record breaking scholastic year of tournament participation for
Cris
Spencer of
Also in the High School Section, Destiny Sawyer of Locust Grove and member of the King's Pawns Homeschoolers was the top girl finisher in 6th place. Destiny will be the Oklahoma Representative to the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls at the US Open in August. She is eligible for a $650 OSCO scholarship for her participation, which includes a $200 bonus for also being in the OSCO Grand Prix Top 10 (where she actually placed 1st) and another $200 for being the OSCO Grand Prix MVP in the K-12 Open section. You can play through some of Destiny's games from this event and several others on the Oklahoma Chess Association's on-line interactive games page at www.ochess.org/games .
In
the Grade 7-9 Championship section, Jordan Swartz of Cascia Hall in
The
Grade K-6 Open Championship produced a 4-way tie with 4 points, which Drew
Cottrill of Andersen Elementary in
There
were 89 participants in the K-6 U750 Section, one of which actually broke his arm
playing between a couple of earlier rounds and was back in time for the last
round. Even with accelerated pairings, there was a tie for first in this
section with a perfect 5 point score. The K-6 U750 Co-Champions are Connor
Shryock and Dillon Pfundt, both of Ida Freeman Elementary in
The
Grade K-3 Open Championship section with 24 players also produced a tie with
4.5 points. Matthew Silvey of Andersen Elementary in
For all of the final standings and a photo gallery from the State Scholastic Championship, visit www.okschess.org/results.htm and click on the results you would like to see. When asked for the username and password, enter osco (lower case) for both. You should only be asked for this when you view the first results table.
Hang
on to your hats folks!! OSCO is taking scholastic chess to new heights in
Oklahoma and these kids are going to start giving the more seasoned players a
run for their money at the Oklahoma Chess Association tournaments for all ages.
It looks like the future of chess in
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Third
grader Corey Bolger of Owasso led the six
Seniors Ben Shaffer of Chelsea and Charles Unruh led our eight K-12 U1200 contenders with 4 points and a tie for 65th out of 237 players.
In
the K-12 U1500 section with three
We had two players in the K-12 Open section with 4.5 points going to John Cope who tied for 53rd place out of 343 contenders.
First
grader Becky Huang of
Thanks
to Fred Roper for his Tournament Direction efforts at this National event in
Overall,
the
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OTHER NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
There
have also been two other scholastic National tournaments in the last month with
The National
Junior High (K-9) Championship was May 7-9 in