A local chess club has sprung from small beginnings to take first place at the national chess championship in Nashville, Tennessee.
In the first-ever trip of a Santa Barbara team to the National Bert Lerner Elementary Chess Championship, the team from the Chess Club at St John of Damascus Academy (www.sjda.net) won first place in the K-6 Unrated section of the Standard Tournament. The entire tournament involved well over 100 schools and 2,000 players.
The SJDA team also took third place in the warm-up event at the four-day championship, the speed-chess "Blitz Tournament" in which players are allotted five minutes each.
The annual competition was started in 1976 by the United States Chess Federation, and convened this year at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville. (http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/elem/)
The winning team consisted of players Agata Bykovtsev, Sanya Bykovtsev, Joshua Dillon, Daniel Giordani, Garrett Gish, Austin Harris, and John Stephen Van Fossen.
In addition to their impressive first place team finish in the unrated section of the standard tournament, three Saint John of Damascus Academy team members received individual trophies and members of the team swept the top three Blitz trophies in the K-6 Unrated section.
Sanya Bykovtsev: 3rd Place (Blitz)
Joshua Dillon: 14th Place (Standard)
Daniel Giordani: 11th Place (Standard) and 1st Place (Blitz)
Austin Harris: 2nd Place (Blitz)
John Stephen Van Fossen: 10th Place (Standard)
Team coach Andrew Svehaug - with two first-place National Chess Championship trophies of his own plus numerous state and local championship wins - is extremely pleased with the results of the tournament. With St John of Damascus Academy as host, Svehaug regularly holds local chess workshops and tournaments open to all students grades K-12 (www.americanchessinstitute.com).
The Chess Club started last fall and showed rapid improvement in their skills. In their first two tournaments, they placed fourth and then second. They went on to place first in their three most recent local tournaments before heading to Nashville.
Named for the brilliant and influential eighth-century Syrian educator, St John of Damascus Academy attributes their quick development as a club to the inspired leadership of their coach as well as the mental agility that comes from the classical training offered at the school, started in 2001 and currently offering grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
In the best tradition of Christian education, the Classical approach is academically challenging and developmentally appropriate with emphasis on Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. The chess program fits right into the Academy's scholastic emphasis.
Rooted in the historic teachings and ongoing life of the Church, SJDA's educational program integrates faith with learning across all disciplines. In addition to providing a solid foundation for higher education, the Academy describes itself as preparing students to excel in every endeavor, to deepen in their faith, and to engage the world with courage and love.
SJDA will host a Chess Camp & Festival on June 15-16 and a Summer Chess Camp on July 9-13. These will be held at the Academy's Goleta campus at 401 N Fairview, across from the Goleta Library. More info and registration forms can be found at www.sjda.net.
The Chess Club team arrived back in Santa Barbara eager for next year's tournament. In the meantime, they'll continue to learn further advanced strategies, visualization techniques, and grandmaster game analysis.
