Greenwich Academy Chess Team Takes Top Prizes at 9th Annual National All-Girls Chess Championship

Sixteen girls traveled to Chicago for the weekend of April 20 through 22, to represent Greenwich Academy at the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Ninth Annual National All-Girls Chess Championship, where they were competing with 238 girls representing 150 schools from 28 states, District of Columbia and Ontario Canada that competed.

The Greenwich Academy girls came home victorious, winning first place in the 8-and-under section and 2nd place in the 12-and-under section. Quite an achievement for a program that began just three years ago at GA.

In just three years, the Greenwich Academy chess has grown from an after-school activity, on to a mainstay of the Group I curriculum in 2009 to a force to be reckoned with in all-girls competitions. In the 2012-2013 school year, it will be in the curriculum for the entire Lower School and one of the most popular after-school activities for the Lower School under the guidance and instruction from FIDE Master Sunil Weeramantry.

GA hosts two NSCF (National Scholastic Chess Foundation) tournaments during the year, and the girls regularly compete on weekends at other tournaments in New York and Connecticut. In only their first year of the GA chess program in 2009-2010, a small group competed in the All-Girls National Tournament in Chicago. They came home with the first-place team trophy in the 10-and-under section In 2011, an even larger group competed and came home with a 2nd place team trophy in the 12- and-under section and tied for 3rd place in the 8-and-under section.

"When we started the tournament nearly a decade ago, we envisioned a competition open to all female students from all over the United States.  We have realized our vision, as the All-Girls Chess Championships has turned into much more than a tournament—it’s a celebration for young women, who share a similar passion for the game of chess," said Michael Khodarkovsky, president of Kasparov Chess Foundation.

The Greenwich Academy chess champions were proud to share their trophies and celebrate their victory with their schoolmates and teachers.