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Students from Waddell Elementary School, Lylburn Downing Middle School and Rockbridge County High School participated in the 2024 Virginia Scholastic Chess Championships on March 9-10.
The team from Waddell finished in third place in the state in the K-5 Under 1000 section; the team from Lylburn Downing finished in third place in the K-8 Under 1200 section; and the team from RCHS finished in fifth place in the K-12 Under 1400 section.
There were two especially notable individual performances. In the K-8 Under 1200 individual competition, LDMS student Graham Shester finished in second place, with a nearly perfect score of 4.5 points (four wins and one draw).
In the highly competitive K-8 Championship section, LDMS student Elliott Allen finished with only one loss in five rounds (he had two draws and two wins). He won a trophy for finishing in second place in the under 1700 section. After this tournament, he holds the highest United States Chess Federation rating of any of the scholastic players in Lexington and Rockbridge County.
RCHS students participating in the state chess championships were Liam Courtney Collins and Jonathan Soriano Caceres.
LDMS chess team members included (from left) Rossel Soriano Caceres, Alex Eastwood, Gibson Fox, and Graham Shester. They are holding both the trophy for their third-place team finish and Graham Shester’s trophy for his second-place individual finish.
