Representatives of The Varnett Public School chess club finished first among a nine-team tournament over the weekend at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.
All players from the Southwest campus, seventh-grader Isaiah Johnson won three matches and his eighth-grade brother Curtis Johnson registered two wins in the Advanced section. Trence Green-Thomas, a fourth-grader, won three matches in the Intermediate section.
Those results gave Varnett a first-place finish with eight points and showed that our team has not skipped a beat since our school placed ninth out of 44 teams in a national tournament in 2019.
Varnett's competitors this time around included Harmony Public Schools, Atherton Elementary, Fleming Middle School and McReynolds Middle School, said Varnett coach Mr. Richard Burton. Mr. James Hudson, who has taught chess to Varnett students, was a sponsor of the weekend event that featured about 45 participants.
"This is the first tournament since the start of the pandemic (early 2020) and the students were very excited," said Mr. Lonnie Reynolds, Varnett's athletic director. "We're back and we have high expectations!"
Mr. Reynolds said Varnett is exploring opportunities for future tournaments.
Let's congratulate our chess team for a job well done!