Chess for Success Regional Championship Results

Online, February 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Chess for Success regional championship chess tournament was held at the Delphian School in Sheridan on Saturday, January 29th. Eighty-three of the top K-12th grade chess players from Yamhill and Polk County came to compete for the honor of being awarded the title of Regional Chess Champion for their grade levels and qualifying to play in the State Championships. Only the top finishers of each grade will go on to the States at the Portland Convention Center in March.

Brian Bixler and John Bixler of McMinnville shared the duties of Tournament Director. Competition began at 9:30am with the tournament hall suddenly going quiet as the young warriors shook hands and began their silent battles over mastery of the boards. The tournament went very smoothly, and early in the afternoon the results began coming in.

Delphian student Ethan Jordan's four wins and one loss was good enough for a first-place tie in the K-4th grade group. He won three straight games before losing a very close match to Andrew Love, of Monmouth. Keeping his cool and not giving up hope, young Jordan came back and won his last game. "I was hoping to win all five games," Jordan said, "but I won four out of five. I'm excited about going to States!" Jordan and Javier Puente, of Henry Hill Elementary School in Independence, shared top honors in K-4 and will both be competing at States.

Other winners qualifying for States include Henry Hill 5th graders Alex Nyseth and Humberto Betancourt, 6th grader Adrian Camero of Talmage Middle School in Independence, 7th grader Chad Platt of Delphian School, 8th graders Charles Byrne and Korbin Springer of Delphian, and in high school, Delphian junior Ablai Abdrashitov and senior Cody Malick.

There was also a team component in the elementary and middle school sections of the tournament. Henry Hill Elementary's team took first place in the K-5th grade section and Delphian's team took first in the 6-8th grade competition. Both teams will go on to play as teams at the state championship tournament.

For more information about the Chess for Success state championships, visit chessforsuccess.org. For more information on the Delphian School, visit delphian.org.