Oak Ridge Today

Seven ORHS students among thousands at national scholastic chess championships

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Edward Moran

Oak Ridge High School freshman Edward Moran, left, bears down to win his last-round match against a senior from Maryland to clinch second place. (Submitted photo)

 

There were 1,585 high school category entrants among the 5,578 students from across the country competing in the 2017 USChess SuperNationals tournament, which was held May 12-14 at the Opryland Convention Center in Nashville. ORHS juniors Bronson Burdick, Andrew Chan, and Carson McGhee, as well as freshmen Justin Blanchard, Edward (“Bear”) Moran, Logan Ogle, and Mack Patrick were among them, joined by former world champion Garry Kasparov, who made the ceremonial first move.

The school’s top score was Bear Moran’s 6.5 of a possible 7 in the U800 category, which was a clear second overall behind only a junior from Florida who had the only perfect score of the 220 players in that division. The ORHS players overall had a winning percentage of more than 55 percentage against the top competition in the United States.

Each year, there are national competitions for elementary (K-6), junior high (K-9), and high school (K-12). Every four years, these championships are combined in one venue as “SuperNationals.” The organizers stated this was the largest chess tournament in history in terms of participants. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge schools advance to state chess team finals

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Several Oak Ridge teams advanced to the state chess team championship this month after a regional tournament in Lenoir City on March 4.

Two teams from Oak Ridge High School qualified, and so did teams from Jefferson Middle School, Woodland Elementary School, and Linden Elementary School, a press release said.

The Tennessee Chess Association regionals held at Lenoir City High School on Saturday, March 4, included 151 students on 32 teams from 18 schools across East Tennessee, the press release said. In each of the four grade divisions, the top four teams qualified to play in the state team championship at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville on March 25.

The K-9 division was won by the ORHS freshman team of Logan Ogle (captain), Justin Blanchard, Edward (“Bear”) Moran, and Minwoo Kim, the press release said. They were tied for first with top-rated Episcopal School of Knoxville at the end of the last round, necessitating a blitz (10 minute) match to determine the winner. This match was tied 2-2 so a second match followed, which ORHS won. This matched the result of the 2016 ORHS freshman team, which also won the team regionals in a playoff. [Read more…]