Checkmate: Long Valley Students Dominate County Chess Tournament

Sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone can be scary.

Other times, it can be downright awesome.

The latter is the case for 14 Washington Township elementary students who chose to join a countywide chess tournament recently, and ended up bringing home seven medals.

Included in the group were TaG students, or Talented and Gifted pupils from Cucinella, Old Famers, and Flocktown-Kossmann students who took the trip up to an elementary school in Jefferson Township to compete in the three and-a-half hour-long tournament.

Medal winners included Evelyn Oravez, Drew Miller, Andrew DiGabriele, Quintin Veletto, Zackery Dragos, Michael LeFevre, and Aidan Starrs, who won all five games he competed in.

Also competing in the tournament was Ben Konop, who received honorable mention, but was the only Washington Township student to compete in the advanced level, and won four of his five games.

Bryan O’Keefe, Andrew Messaritis, Jeremy Timog, Brodie Fritsch, Isabella Wu, and Matthew Mandela also competed.

“We are so excited for all of our students and their accomplishments,” said TaG teachers Sarah Rooney and Lynn Henwood in a joint statement. “We are so proud of all of our students who decided to take a risk, try something new, and stretch to reach their potential. It was so wonderful to see them shine!”

Pictured: From left: Chess Tournament medal winners with teachers Sara Rooney and Lynn Henwood; Brodie Fritsch and Evelyn Oravez.

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