 | Fall Rockford Chess Challenge, October
24, 2009
 | Washington Academy was proud to host this
fall's regional tournament and also to send almost 50 players to compete! |
 | K-2 Team: First Place
 | First Grade: Katerina Chess and Ayush
Bhalavat tied for second place. Drew STadelman, Austin Pozzi and Chris
Kellogg tied for third place. Madison McNamee and Chris Park tied for
fourth place. |
 | Second Grade: Sengdao Inthavong finished in
first place. Nikolas Stadelman finished second. Uday Tandon
finished in third place. Henry Thomas finished in fourth place.
And Anton Dzyuba, Anjali Puri and Ryan Sweeney finished in sixth place. |
|
 | 3-5 Team: First Place
 | Third Grade: Rutu Bhalavat finished in first
place. Jonathan Oelkers finished second. Jade Keomanivong and
Greydon Westin tied for third place. We had a four-way tie for fourth
place, Charlie Shriver, Jack Sweet, Wyatt Morris and Andrew Schwartz.
Ethan Strombeck finished fifth. |
 | Fourth Grade: Max Tenin finished first.
Johann Madix and Nicholas Fester tied for fifth place. |
 | Fifth Grade: Grant Germano finished in first
place. Kirkland Shun and McKinley Torre tied for second place.
Chandan Puri came in third. Cassie Shriver finished fourth.
Shannon Wray came in sixth. |
|
 | 6-8 Team: First Place
 | Sixth Grade: Four players tied for first
place, all undefeated: Sam Rinaldo, David Oelkers along with two younger
students playing in this more difficult division, Vincent Do, 2nd Grade, and
Steven Do, 4th Grade. Douglas Chan, Garret Wood and Austin Stadelman
tied for second place. Seth Hayes and Asia Keomanivong tied for third. |
 | Seventh Grade: Benji Bear and Paul Zaczek
tied for first place. Joshua Day finished in second place. |
 | Eighth Grade: Wyatt Tufte took first place.
Neil Mediratta tied with Rayo Tata for second place. Ashwin Puri
finished fifth. |
|
 | Chess at the Ballpark! September
12, 2009
 | Seven Washington Wolves participated in the
tournament at US Cellular Field. |
 | K-3 Team: First Place, Jackson Sweet &
Greydon Westin |
 | K-5 Team: Second Place, Kirkland Shun,
Vincent Do (First Place Individual), Steven Do (Second Place Individual) |
 | Spring Rockford Chess Challenge, Spectrum
School, May 9, 2009
 | K-2 Team: First Place In Kindergarten, Drew Stadelman finished in 2nd
Place, Ayush Bhalavat finished in 3rd Place and Cooper Folkerts finished in 5th
Place. In Grade 1, Sengdao Inthavong and Nikolas Stadelman tied for 2nd Place.
In Grade 2, 1st Place: Jack Sweet, 3rd Place: Rutu Bhalavat, Charlie Shriver and
Greydon Westin, 4th Place: Jade Keomanivong.Grades 3-5 Team: First Place |
 | In Grade 3, Nicholas Fester won 3rd Place. In
Grade 4, 1st Place: Grant Germano, 2nd Place: Kirkland Shun, 4th Place: Cassie
Shriver, McKinley Torre, Chandan Puri and 5th
Place: Spencer Folkerts. In Grade 5: 1st Place: Asia Keomanivong, 2nd Place:
Douglas Chan and Seth Hayes, 3rd Place: Brad Foster and Austin Stadelman and in
5th Place: Garret Wood. |
 | Grades 6-8 Team: Second PlaceIn Grade 6, Paul Zaczek finished in 2nd Place,
Benji Bear finished in 3rd Place along with Steven Do and Vincent Do (both
playing up). Joshua Day finished in 4th Place. In Grade 7, Neil Mediratta
finished in 2nd Place. |
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Our teams had a terrific time at
the Illinois State Scholastic Chess
Championship! We sent 34
students in all. You can see complete tournament results at:
State Tournament Updates. |
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On February 28, eleven players attended the
Midwest Scholastic Class
Championship in Glen Ellyn. It was a day of very tough competition! Our
Primary Team, Vincent Do, Sengdao Inthavong, Greydon Westin and Henry
Thomas, came in 7th place. Steven, Do, Kirkland Shun, Grant Germano, Sam
Rinaldo, McKinley Torre, Brad Foster and Spencer Folkerts played for our
Elementary team. They finished in 4th Place. Go Wolves!
|
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On Saturday, February 7, our
team competed against 189 players from teams around the region at the
Rockford Chess Challenge hosted by RESA Middle School.
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Our Grades K-2 Team
finished in First Place. Our Grade 1
finishers were: 2nd Place - Sengdao Inthavong, 4th
Place - Nathaniel Turner & Henry Thomas, 5th Place - Anjali Puri
& Matthew Blessing, 6th Place - Isabel Runne and 7th
Place - Uday Tandon. In Grade 2, awards were: 1st Place -
Jonathan Oelkers, 3rd Place - Charlie Shriver, 4th
Place - Rutu Bhalavat & Greydon Westin, 5th Place - Jack Sweet &
Wyatt Morris and 6th Place - Jackson Wilkins. |
 |
In Grades 3-5 Team
(another First Place team), our Grade 3
players won: 3rd Place - Max Tenin & Lucas Turner, 4th
Place - Brandon Wallace and 7th Place - Olivia Runne & Nicholas
Fester. In Grade 4, the winners were: 1st Place - Steven Do, 2nd
Place - Grant Germano, 3rd Place - Kirkland Shun, 4th
Place - Bridget Krysztopa, 5th Place - Spencer Folkerts & Chandan
Puri and 6th Place - McKinley Torre & Cassie Shriver. In Grade
5, players finished: 1st Place - Brad Foster, Douglas Chan, Sam
Rinaldo & Garret Wood, 3rd Place - Seth Hayes & David Oelkers, 4th
Place - Austin Stadelman and 5th Place - Madison Turner.
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Our Middle School team,
Grades 6-8 tied for 1st place, but because of computer tie-breaks
finished in Second Place. Our Sixth
Graders finished: 1st Place - Joshua Day & Benji Bear, 2nd
Place - Paul Zaczek and 3rd Place - Vincent Do. In Seventh
Grade, players finished: 2nd Place - Nathaniel Westholder, Neil
Mediratta & Ashwin Puri and 3rd Place - Wyatt Tufte & Parker
Casarotto. |
|
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Seven Washington students attended
the 20th Kumbaya Chess Tournament on January 17. Sengdao Inthavong
came in 2nd place for the K-2 Un-rated. Vincent Do played in the 4-5 section
and came in 1st place. Steven Do came in 4th place for section 4-5. The 4th
grade team came in 2nd place and they are Vincent Do, Steven Do, Kirkland
Shun, Grant Germano and McKinley Torre. 
2008 |
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Six students attended the National
K-12 Scholastic Championships at Coronado Spring's Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida,
on December 12-14. They had a great
time. The 4th grade team came in 17th place. The
team included Grant Germano, Kirkland Shun and Chandan Puri. They gave it
their all. In 5th grade, David Oelkers came in 3rd place!
Jonathan Oelkers and Anjali Puri also did well but did not place. Many
people complimented us on how well our chess kids were behaving. They
represented Washington Academy with outstanding sportsmanship.
|
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On November 8, nine Chess
Team members attended the Illinois All Grades Scholastic Tournament in
Palatine.
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On our First Grade Team, Vincent
Do finished in 1st place. Our fourth grade team, consisting of Grant
Germano, Kirkland Shun, Steven Do and McKinley Torre came in 4th place.
Steven finished in 8th place individually. Our fifth grade team,
Douglas Chan, Asia Keomanivong, Sam Rinaldo and Brad Foster, came in 3rd
place. |
|
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On November 1, 2008
Washington Academy hosted our first Rockford Scholastic Chess Challenge!
We had a terrific time and our teams did an outstanding job!!
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Our K-2 Team finished in 1st
Place! Team members included Nathaniel Turner, Anjali Puri,
Jonathan Oelkers, Jack Sweet, Charlie Shriver, Jade Keomanivong, Manya Shah
and Greydon Westin. |
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Our 3-5 Team also finished in
First Place. On the team was Max Tenin, Brandon Wallace, Lucas Turner,
Natasha Ferrero, Jeremiah Sathanand, Steven Do, Grant Germano, Cassie
Shriver, Bridget Krysztopa, Chandan Puri, Spencer Folkerts, Kirkland Shun,
McKinley Torre, Douglas Chan, Asia Keomanivong, Sam Rinaldo, Brad Foster,
David Oelkers, Seth Hayes, Tiffany Ding, Austin Stadelman and Madison
Turner. |
 |
It was also exciting to have a
6-8 Team for the first time. They finished in 2nd place. Team
members included Joshua Day, Paul Zaczek, Ashwin Puri, Wyatt Tufte, Siddhant
Shah and Parker Casarotto |
|
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On August 25, 2008 the King
School Chess Team because the Washington Academy Chess Team as we moved into
our new, and bigger, school and started a new chess dynasty!
|
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Congratulations team!! We had a
fantastic time and finished great at the Illinois State Chess Championship! March 15
& 16 brought lots of fun and challenge to our team.
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K-1 Team: We came in 9th place in the
state even though none of our players had ever attended a state tournament before!
Our players were: Vincent Do (21st place individual), Jonathan Oelkers, Charlie Shriver,
Jack Sweet, Nathaniel Turner and Greydon Westin. |
 |
K-3 Team: This team finished the best -
5th place!! Of course, we had many experienced players at this level. The team
consisted of: Steven Do (21st place individual), Grant Germano, Chandan Puri, Cassie
Shriver, Kirkland Shun, McKinley Torre and Lucas Turner. |
 |
K-5 Team: This team finished just out of
the trophy range. Too bad, because they played great! On the team: Douglas
Chan, Joshua Day, Tiffany Ding, Brad Foster, Asia Keomanivong, David Oelkers, Sam Rinaldo,
Austin Stadelman and Garret Wood. |
|
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Eight King School students
attended the Knight of the Forest Open in Desplaines on February 23. Team
members included Vincent & Steven Do, Douglas Chan, Joshua Day, Kirkland
Shun, Grant Germano, McKinley Torre and Austin Washburn.
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Vincent Do took 1st place and
the trophy is as big as he is. |
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Steven, Kirkland, Grant and
McKinley took the 3rd place team trophy for section 2-3. |
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Douglas, Joshua and Austin came
in 12th place. |
|
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Thirty-nine players from
King School attended the Winter Chess Challenge at RESA Middle School on February 16.
We had a great time at this great school.
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Our K-2 team came in 2nd place.
In Kindergarten, Vincent Do finished in 1st place and Nathaniel Turner finished in
2nd place. In First Grade, Jonathan Oelkers finished first, Charlie Shriver and Rutu
Bhalavat finished second, Greydon Westin, Jade Keomanivong, Jack Sweet and Melis Dik
finished in third place and in fourth place, we had Manya Shah, Jackson Wilkins and Maya
Sabharwal. In Second Grade, Joey Rock finished in 1st place, Brandon Wallace and
Lucas Turner tied in 2nd, Nicholas Fester came in 4th, Max Tenin came in 5th and Andrew
Gutowski and Jeremiah Sathanand finished in 6th place.
|
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Our 3-5 Team came in First
Place! In Third Grade, Steven Do, Grant Germano and Kirkland Shun tied for 2nd
place. McKinley Torre and Chandan Puri tied for 4th. Bridget Krysztopa and
Cassie Shriver tied for 6th place. In Fourth Grade, Sam Rinaldo, Asia Keomanivong
and Douglas Chan all tied for first place. Tiffany Ding, David Oelkers and Garret
Wood came in third place. Seth Hayes and Austin Stadelman finished in fourth place.
Austin Washburn finished in seventh place. In Fifth Grade, Joshua Day and
Benji Bear tied for 1st place. Paul Zaczek finished 3rd. Samantha Katz came in
4th place. |
|
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Our K-3 Team finished in 4th place at the
National Youth Action Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri on November 17 & 18!
Over 150 teams from 31 states made this an exciting and challenging tournament. Team
members included Steven and Vincent Do, Grant Germano, Chandan Puri and Kirkland
Shun. Our 4-6 Team finished in 19th place. Team members were Joshua Day, Sam
Rinaldo and Ashwin Puri. |
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On January 19, nine King
School Chess Team players attended the Naperville All-Grade Championship at
Springbrook
Elementary School. At this type of tournament, players
only play opponents in the same grade.
Well,
the temperatures outside may have been cold (3 degrees), but inside, the King School Chess
team was hot! Team members were Douglas Chan,
Joshua Day, Steven Do, Vincent Do, Grant Germano, Asia Keomanivong, Sam Rinaldo, Kirkland
Shun and McKinley Torre.
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In the K-1 section, Vincent Do
came in 4th place. In Grade 3,
King
School won the 1st
place trophy! Steven Do came in 4th place,
Kirkland Shun came in 5th place and McKinley Torre came in 6th place. In Grade 4, Sam Rinaldo finished in 4th place. |

2007
|
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Our team attended the Fall Rockford Area Chess
Challenge on November 10 at North Boone Middle School.
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In the K-2 Section, our team finished in second place. In First
Grade: Jonathan Oelkers came in 2nd place, Charlie Shriver finished in 3rd place and
Allison Korkmaz finished 4th. Second Grade: Max Tenin came in 3rd place and Joey
Rock, Brandon Wallace and Kathryn Miller tied for 4th place. |
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In the 3-5 Section, our team finished in first place. Third Grade:
Steven Do finished in 1st place and Kirkland Shun in 2nd place. McKinley Torre,
Grant Germano and Bridget Krysztopa finished in 4th place. Chandan Puri came in 5th
place, Nathan Chavez in 6th place and Cassie Shriver finished in 7th place. Fourth
Grade: Sam Rinaldo came in 1st place. Garret Wood tied Douglas Chan for 2nd place.
Asia Keomanivong came in 3rd place and Andrew Miller, David Oelkers and Seth Hayes tied
for 4th place. Austin Stadelman finished 6th and Haley Eppes came in 7th
place. Fifth Grade: Paul Zaczek came in 1st place. Joshua Day finished 3rd
and Lucus Wulf came in 5th place. |
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On October 27, Kirkland Shun, Grant Germano and
Steven and Vincent Do attended the Naperville Scholastic Chess Tournament. They took
2nd place in the K-3 Division. Congratulations to a small, but mighty team!
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On October 20, Grant Germano and Kirkland Shun
attended the Orlando Park Chess Tournament. As a team, they finished in 3rd place!
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The Summer Rockford Chess Challenge was held on
August 25. St. Peter's did an awesome job hosting this tournament and we had a
terrific time. We sent 18 players to this tournament and Mrs. Faber was very excited
to attend her first chess tournament here. Both our K-2 team and our 3-5 team
finished in first place! We're so proud of them!
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K-2 Team Results - In Kindergarten/Preschool, Vincent Do finished
undefeated in 1st place. In First Grade, Joey Rock finished in 1st place, Max Tenin
in 3rd and Eva Bloom in 4th place. In Second Grade, Steven Do finished in 1st place,
undefeated. Grant Germano finished in 2nd place, Kirkland Shun in 3rd, McKinley
Torre in 4th and Sam Kerwin in 7th.
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3-5 Team Results - Asia Keomanivong came in 1st place for Third
Grade. Douglas Chan and Sam Rinaldo came in 2nd. Tiffany Ding came in 3rd and
Brad Foster came in 6th. In Fourth Grade, Joshua Day came in 1st place. In
Fifth Grade, playing for the last time for King School, Neil Mediratta came in 1st place
and Wyatt Tufte came in 3rd. |
|
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In June, King School hosted the Rockford Top
100 Tournament at Table 13. It was a fun day for chess with some of the best players
in our region.
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In the K-2 Division, Vincent and Steven Do, Grant Germano, Gridget
Krysztopa, McKinley Torre, Lucas and Nathaniel Turner, Chandan Puri, Kirkland Shun, and
Harry DeBruler attended. |
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In the 3-5 Division, Brad Foster, Asia Keomanivong, Joshua Day, Sam
Rinaldo, Neil Mediratta, Douglas Chan, Ashwin Puri and Madison Turner attended.
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The Spring Rockford Chess Challenge was another
great time for the King School Teams. We sent 35 players to this tournament!
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K-2 Team Results - Team: First Place In Kindergarten/Preschool,
Vincent Do finished in 1st place and Nathaniel Turner finished in 2nd place. In
First Grade, Joey Rock and Lucas Turner finished in 2nd place. Brooklyn Scott, Eva
Bloom, Max Tenin and Shawn Lang finished 3rd. Kathryn Miller finished 4th. In
Second Grade, Grant Germano finished 1st. Steven Do finished 2nd. Kirkland
Shun finished 3rd. Chandan Puri, McKinley Torre and Parker Davis tied for 4th.
Bridget Krysztopa finished 5th and Sam Kerwin finished 6th.
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3-5 Team Results - Team: First Place In Third Grade, Douglas Chan
finished 1st. Brad Foster, Sam Rinaldo and Tiffany Ding tied for 3rd place.
Andrew Miller finished 4th. Garret Wood finished 6th. Austin Stadelman
finished 6th and Madison Turner finished 7th. In Fourth Grade, Paul Zaczek finished
2nd. Joshua Day finished 3rd. Benji Bear finished 4th and Olivia Torre
finished 7th. In Fifth Grade, Ashwin Puri came in 2nd place. Neil Mediratta
and Serena Korkmaz tied for 3rd place. Nathaniel Westholder finished 5th.
Wyatt Tufte came in 6th and Rayomand Tata finished 7th. |
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The 2007 Illinois K-8 Chess Championships were
held on March 10-11 at Illinois State University Bone Student Center. Our team had a
terrific finish! Our K-1 team came in 11th place and our 4-5 team finished in 15th
place. Our 2-3 team finished in 3rd place!!! One of our best King School
finishes ever. Asia Keomanivong came in 2nd place for <700 players.
McKinley Torre tied for 9th place. |
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It was another winning weekend for the King
School Chess Team! Twelve King students attended the Glenview Presidential Cup
Scholastic Tournament.
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The K-1 Team, consisting of Bill Brown and Lucas
Turner, came in 5th place. |
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The 2-3 Team came in 2nd place. Team members
were Grant Germano, Asia Keomanivong, Bridget Krysztopa, Kirkland Shun, McKinley Torre,
Chandan Puri and Madison Turner. |
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Our 4-5 Team also finished in 2nd place with Ashwin
Puri, Nathaniel Westholder and Joshua Day. |
|
 | The January, 2007 Northwest Scholastic Open was another great
tournament for King School!
 | Our K-3 team came in 3rd place. Team members were Douglas Chan
(4th), Kirkland Shun, Grant Germano (4th), Chandan Puri (1st), Brooklyn Scott and Steven
Do (5th). |
 | Our 4-5 Grade team came in 5th place. Team members were Ashwin
Puri (5th), Neil Mediratta (5th), Rayo Tata (5th) and Joshua Day. |
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King School has a great time at the Winter
Rockford Scholastic Chess Challenge on January 20. The drive was cold on the way to
North Boone Middle School, but we felt warmer on the way home with our trophies and
medals.
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In the K-2 section, King School came in 2nd
place. In First Grade, Joey Rock and Brandon Wallace tied for 2nd place.
Brooklyn Scott, Eva Bloom, Faith Hood, Jeremiah Sathanand and Max Tenin tied for 4th
place. Luis Rimorin finished in 5th place. In 2nd Grade, McKinley Torre
finished in 2nd place. Bridget Krysztopa and Kirkland Shun tied for 3rd place.
Parker Davis, Steven Do and Gretchen Murray tied for 4th place. Harry
Debruler came in 5th place. |
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Our 3-5 team finished in 1st place! In 3rd
Grade, Sam Rinaldo finished undefeated for 1st place. Asia Keomanivong came in 2nd
place. Brad Foster took 3rd place. Douglas Chan finished 5th and Tiffany Ding
finished 6th. Austin Stadelman finished in 7th place. In 4th Grade, Evan Davis
took 1st place. Michael Whitman came in 3rd place. Paul Zaczek finished 6th.
In 5th Grade, Neil Mediratta and Nathaniel Westholder both won all of their games
and finished tied for 1st place. Serena Korkmaz finished only 1/2 point lower and
took 2nd place. Ashwin Puri, Rayomand Tata and Wyatt Tufte tied for 4th
place. |
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On January 7, five King School students
attended the Glenview Winter Classic Chess Tournament. Team members were Sam
Rinaldo, Douglas Chan, Kirkland Shun, Bridget Krysztopa and Grant Germano. King
School was the only team from Rockford and brought home a 2nd place trophy! As
individuals, Sam Rinaldo finished in 2nd place and Douglas Chan tied for 5th place.
Congratulations chess team! |
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