CalChess Girls Tournament 2009
Berkeley Chess School girls triumphed at last weekend’s 3rd annual CalChess Girls State Scholastic tournament at St. Mark’s School in San Raphael. Out of over seventy girls competing, BCS students placed first and second in the K-6 section as well as first place in both the Junior High section and fifth-grade level.
Trophies were awarded to the top five winners and to the top-scoring girl – who was not in the top five – from grades K through 5. Many thanks to Ray Orwig, who organized this year’s event with his usual fairness and composure.
In the K-6 section, BCS student Diana Ren from Marin school in Albany won first place and is now CalChess State Champion. Miranda Christ from Bentley came in a close second. In the Junior High section BCS student Claire Wong From Piedmont Middle School won and is now the CalChess Junior High State Champion. BCS student Sophie Li came first in the fifth grade. Congratulations to the winners and to all the girls who competed.
The girls had a great time, making friends, playing their best chess and being equally gracious about their wins and losses.
There were two other sections in the tournament: grades K-1, where as you can imagine they were as cute as could be and where we saw some very creative chess, and grades 2-3 where a definite level of development could be seen in their chess prowess. The complete standings will soon be posted at the USCF website.