NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Columbus Elementary School Chess Team competed in its first National Scholastic Chess Foundation tournament of the school year on Dec. 1. The tournament, held at Columbus, saw 99 students representing more than 20 different schools from New York and Connecticut compete.
Students from Columbus Elementary school won eight awards in three sections – Reserve, Booster and Novice – including team successes in all three sections.”There were many hard-fought battles throughout the day, and many lessons learned,” said Chess Team faculty coordinator and ESL teacher Mark Hegenauer – a 2017 recipient of the Scholastic Service Award from the National Scholastic Chess Foundation for inspiring and mentoring young chess players.
Eight Columbus students competed in the Reserve section. The team of Alan Verghese, Ignacio Valencia, Dylan Minchez, Naolin Concha, Dylan Solovyev, Constantine Zelatis, Aiden Rodrigues and Kevin Lopez took 1st Place honors. Individually, Solovyev won a 2nd place, Zelatis took 3rd place and Rodrigues came in at 5th place. Lopez achieved a 2nd place ranking in the under 750 sub-category.
The five-player team of Joel Salick, Gabriela Cesar, Salvador Torres and the Murgias – Gianna and Giovanna – took 1st Place in the Booster section.
The team of Giuliano Murgia, Ashly Corazao, Bryson Sanchez and Tony Zepeda won 2nd place in the 2-3 Novice section. Zepeda also scored an individual award for 7th place.
“We are so proud of our chess players and their amazing chess leader, Mr. Hegenauer,” said Columbus Principal Michael Galland. “He and the team from Columbus travel multiple tournaments throughout the school year, including nationals.”
New Rochelle was also represented by students from Isaac E. Young Middle School and Daniel Webster Magnet School.