Saturday, Jan. 5 and 6 the Annual LVCA January Scholastic Championships were held at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, Pa. The main function of an event like this is to bring young minds together to develop critical thinking skills and develop good sportsmanship. All this is happening in the fun atmosphere of playing competitive chess.
Some of the 22 players (including many 6,7 and 8 year olds) have participated and learned how to play chess at the Lehigh Valley chess club on Saturday afternoons on a weekly basis. The players competed in this 5 game tournament and received trophies, medals, and free US Chess Federation magazines.
The Lehigh Valley Chess Club (an official USCF affiliate) has been known as a hot spot for scholastic chess. Recently it includes winning the K-12 Open Scholastic Club 1st Place Trophy at the 2012 PA State Championships last March.
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The winner of this event was Jason Law, who took 1st.
Place top honors with an undefeated score of 5-0. Other Trophy winners were Chase Weiss-Pocono Mountain West HS (2nd Place), Alexa Nunamaker-Nazareth HS (3rd Place), Allen Qiu-Orefield (4th Place), Samuel Li-Bethlehem Township (Top U1400), Kevin Hemingway-Harrisburg (Top U1200), Gage Hunsicker-Breinigsville (Top U1000), Jerry Law-Parkland (Top U800), and Jack Hickey-Swain (Top Unrated).
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Medal recipients were Tanishq Iyer-Lehigh Valley Academy (Tie Top U1200 Top Finisher), and Ashish Kumbhardare, Neil Deshmukh-Easton area, Jonathan Abraham-Stewartsville, NJ, and Sean Hickey-Swain (All Tied Top U800 Top Finishers). Every player received a valuable chess book as a door prize for their participation.
Lehigh Valley Chess Club information is available at www.lehighvalleychessclub.org or you may call 484-866-3045 for more information. Adult players also are welcome at weekly club events.
The Lehigh Valley Chess Club endeavors to carry on the spirit of friendly competition through chess that does not end with this event, but hopefully inspires young minds and builds their confidence to continue to meet life’s challenges as they grow into adulthood.
The next major K-12 chess tournament in the Lehigh Valley
will take place at Northampton Community College, Main Campus, on Saturday, March 23, 2013.