By Parent Volunteers, Bronxville Chess Team     

May 2, 2018: The Bronxville Chess team competed in the National HS Chess Championship in Columbus, Ohio, this past weekend and came home with a remarkable second-place trophy in the U1900 Division. Although the experienced team has had multiple top-ten finishes in previous national tournaments, this is the team's best result ever. With a cumulative score of 18 points, Bronxville came second only to the defending national champions of Brooklyn's IS 318 (who were featured in the acclaimed documentary "Brooklyn Castles").

This year's tournament included approximately 1,500 of the top players from 443 teams and 42 states around the country, with Bronxville team members competing in both the U1900 division and U1600 divisions. The weekend extends over three days and consists of each player playing seven matches that can last over four hours each--a remarkable test of mental endurance and strategic thinking.

The Bronxville team had eight middle and high school students, most of whom have been competing in tournaments since first and second grade. These were Liam Angelone, Nicholas Bianco, Calvin Golimbu, Eddie Hannigan, Jack Kochansky, Alex Kupersmith, Conner Stoltz, and Tyler Tanaka-Wong. Although this was a true team victory, it's worth highlighting the outstanding performance by eighth-grader Tyler Tanaka-Wong, who placed seventh in the division, with 5.5 wins out of 7 games. The players range from eighth to eleventh grade, so they look forward to competing together again next year.

The team was coached by FIDE Master Sunil Weeramantry, who has been successfully training Bronxville’s middle school and high school tournament teams for six years and coached Bronxville's first chess team in 1982. In addition to the outstanding coaching by Sunil throughout the year, the students were supported by a committed group of parents who made the trip to Columbus with the team. Included in this group was David Kupersmith (Alex's dad), who also stepped in to help coach throughout the weekend.  

The Bronxville School has a long tradition of chess excellence, which starts with the lunchtime chess club taught by professional instructors from the National Scholastic Chess Federation for students as young as first grade. The club instills the values of sportsmanship, integrity, and teamwork, which were in clear display throughout this weekend's successful tournament.

Pictured here: Sitting: Eddie Hannigan, Liam Angelone, Tyler Tanaka-Wong, Nick Bianco, and Calvin Golimbu; standing: Alex Kupersmith, Jack Kochansky, Conner Stoltz, and FIDE Master Sunil Weeramantry.

Photo by Robert McLellan from the National Scholastic Chess Federation; photo provided by Nancy Yu