M-A’s chess team placed first at the San Francisco Scholastic Championships this Saturday.
With over 300 players from the state and 50 teams including Evergreen Valley High, Dublin High, and Stratford, M-A faced off against students from K-12 in four one-hour classical chess rounds.
“Even though the event marked my first chess tournament, the team was really fun together. I got to enjoy burgers with my teammates and would do it again,” senior Nate Fowler, who placed third in the high school section, said.
This year marks the second time M-A has ranked in the top three in the San Francisco Scholastic Chess Championship: the team placed second last year and first this year. The team competed with their students from Chess Guru, their K-8 mentorship program in Redwood City, who placed second in the ‘program’ category of the competition.
“The period in between rounds when I got to meet all of the kids from the charter school and see how their grades went as well was a uniquely special experience in this tournament,” sophomore Hayden Brongersma, who placed fifth in the open section, said.
After the tournament, students collected their trophies. Junior Shawnak Shivakumar placed first in the open division, sophomore Hayden Brongersma placed fifth in the open division, senior Nate Fowler placed third in the high school section, junior Axel Pilette placed fourth in the high school section, senior Arman Azadpour placed seventh in the high school section, senior Armin Loftman placed sixth in the high school division, junior Matthew Kwon placed ninth in the high school section, and junior Allison Schindler placed tenth in the high school section.
