Leesville Middle School Crowns a New Chess Champion

By: Savannah Sinor

 

Competing and winning against other middle schoolers, Matthew Fontes, a sixth-grader, takes his place as the second quarter champion. He proudly wears the medal bestowed upon him as the winner.

On January 19, the LRMS chess club held its Second Quarter tournament, and after three matches, Mathew Fontes came out victorious.

Prior to the contest, the club practiced and competed against each other multiple times, though not like they usually would. The pandemic prevents them from doing their games in person so they started playing virtually. The club uses lichess.org, an online chess server, to play against each other from the safety of their own homes.

Thomas Hartenstein, the club advisor, uses these games to decide the seeding of the tournaments. The seeding determines who goes up against who in the first round. After that, it is luck and skill that controls who moves on.

As a small club, only eight middle schoolers participated in the tournament. Even though all eight fought hard to win, only two would remain after the second round. Eager to win, these two started their grueling half-hour match. Though both are equally talented, Fontes is able to checkmate his opponent and win the championship.

As champion, he received a medal picturing a chessboard and bragging rights for the rest of the quarter.

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