"We're going to States!" was the cry heard numerous times toward the end of the day at The Delphian School, where the official "Chess for Success" Region 13 Chess Championship Tournament was held on Saturday, February 4th. One hundred top chess-playing Elementary, Middle and High School students from fourteen different schools in Yamhill and Polk counties packed The Delphian School's tournament halls to vie for trophies and the right to capture regional rankings and go on to the State Championship Tournament held in Portland in March.

This was the first year the event was held at The Delphian School, and more than 200 students and parents attended, making quite a crowd. Chess was not the only activity either; air hockey, ping-pong and foosball in the school's recreation hall turned out to be a popular way for the players to relieve tension between rounds of tournament action.

Competition started at 10:00am and lasted until mid-afternoon. Separated by grade into the Elementary, Middle or High School sections, students played from four to five games each against students from other schools, scoring one point for each win and a half point for each tie. Only those with the highest scores from the K-4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades receive the right to go to the "Chess for Success" State Championships. In the high school section, those with the highest scores and second highest scores qualify.

In addition to competing as individuals, the students also played as a team for their school against the other schools in their section. First place for a team in each section and the right to compete at States goes to the school whose top four players had the highest scores.

At the tournament's end, twenty-one students from six different schools in the region qualified for State Tournament competition.

Qualifiers for the Chess for Success State Championships:

Team competition:
Middle School Section — Delphian School

Gabi Ruiz
Jason Knickerbocker
Kevin Kim
Remi Keough
Oscar Wu (alternate)
William Brubaker (alternate)

Elementary — Delphian School

Lindsay Price
Brett Horton
Lukas Ott
Dillon Rivera
Tanya Eskandari (alternate)
Chad Platt (alternate)

Note: The high school students compete only as individuals.

Individual competition

9th — 12th Grade

Christopher Kevorkian (Delphian)
Iris Bull (Amity)
Jonathan Huang (Delphian)
Taylor Shock (McMinnville)

8th Grade

Bruce Harmon (McMinnville)
Zak Pearson (McMinnville)
Brian Cheney (Newberg)

7th Grade

Gabi Ruiz (Delphian)

6th Grade

Max Conley (Chehalem)

5th Grade

Lindsay Price (Delphian)

K-4th Grade

Brendan Tse (Monmouth)

For more information about the "Chess for Success" State Championships, see its web site at www.ChessForSsuccess.org.

For information about The Delphian School's summer chess camp, contact the Admissions Deptartment at 1-800-626-6610.