Region III Scholastic Chess Campionships were held at UTD on Saturday, January 24, 2009. With 6 varying divisions and 147 school-aged participants, Lovejoy ISD sent 31 students who participated in 5 of the 6 divisions, and they came home with 9 trophies that included 5 team trophies! This Region Tournament is one step below a state tournament. The competition was stiff, but we did well, and our presence was known!

The Region III Scholastic Championships had 147 participants from the area's schools in 6 different leveled sections. Each player plays 5 rounds and there is no elimination process. Players compete against players in leveled sections based on ability or grade. Chess clocks were not mandatory, but algebraic notation was required. Sloan Creek Chess Team competed with area middle school students. Sloan Creek Chess Team competed in the Middle School Section which had a total of 31 participants representing 22 different schools and 5 different chess teams.

Every LISD student earned a medal in the Region III Scholastic Championships. Here are the results:

Lovejoy Elementary:

1st Place Team in the Champion Section K-6 All Ratings (highest level elementary division): Andrian Andreescu and Heidi Zettl
5th Place Team in the U800 Elementary Section: Connor Redding, Leo Dobson, Marcus Mao competing against 42 other participants and 8 other teams

10th Place Individual Trophy U800 Elementary Section: Marcus Mao, 4th grader competing against 44 other participants
9th Place Individual Trophy in Champion Section K-6: Heidi Zettl, 5th grade competing against 16 other participants
7th Place Individual in the K-1 Division (no trophy): Rene'e Dobson, 1st grade competing against 11 other participants

2nd Place Individual Trophy in the Champion Section K-6: Adrian Andreescu, 4th grade competing against 16 other participants

Puster Elementary:

5th Place Team Trophy in the K-3 Primary Section: Austin Keefer, Hasif Shaikh, and Daniel Taylor
4th Place Team Trophy in the U800 Elementary Section: Jonathan Jenkins, Andrew Keefer, Cedrick Mattli, Fayyaz Shaikh, and Cameron Stapleton

5th Place Individual Trophy in the U800 Elementary Section: Jonathan Jenkins, 5th grade competing against 22 other participants

Hart Elementary:

10th Place Tie; Individual in the U800 Elementary Section (no trophy): Zoe Wang competing against 22 other participants

Sloan Creek Middle School:

3rd Place Team Trophy in the Middle School Section: Hunter Smith, Ryan James, Luke Guillemaud, Jacob Taylor, Jacob Dobson, Connor Huddleson, Hunter Jackson, Ryan James, Autumn Keefer, Ben Meaders, and Evan Sorrels competing against 21 other participants and 5 other middle school teams

Contributed by Tricia Dobson