This past Saturday, on November 12th, the Esperanza Middle School Chess Club competed in a city wide tournament at Caver High School of Engineering and Science. Fourteen students came out to compete for Esperanza in a day long event.
Four matches led to an afternoon trophy ceremony. Angelika Gonzalez, Elisia Cragin, and Daiana Espindola came out strong for the ladies winning 4 matches in total. For Angelika it was her first tournament ever! Other attendees included Valentino Martinez, Dereck Ramos, Raynel Lopez, Christian Diaz, Gabriel Ochoa, Ilian Jimenez-Velazquez, and Jovanni Feliciano (from the high school).
Andrick Medrano won three of his four matches taking home the fifth place trophy! This is a first for Andrick who has been competing for over a year. We are so proud of him! Additionally, De’shawn McClary beat an opponent who was rated twice as high as him. This is an impressive feat and credit to his continual hard practice four days a week after school at chess club.
The crowning moment of the day was Mateo Ruiz. Winning all of his first three matches, he went into the final round competing for first place. His opponent was an extremely high rated player in the city of Philadelphia. Mateo held his own and although he lost his final match, he took home a fourth place trophy placing him on the podium with the city of Philadelphia’s highest rated students.
We are hoping all our hard work during the week and dedication to playing weekend tournaments will result in a bid for Super Nationals in May. Taking place in Nashville, TN, it is the WORLD’s largest chess tournament. It was encouraging to hear from the tournament director and the coordinator of After School Activities Partnership (ASAP) that they felt Esperanza, above other schools, was reaching their potential as not just a city-wide contender, but as a nationally recognized team!
Congratulations Esperanza Middle School Chess Club!