Students from Success Academy charter schools in Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, and Harlem earned three of the top 10 spots at the National Elementary Chess Championships in Nashville May 8-10.
Students from Success Academy charter schools in Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, and Harlem captured three of the top 10 spots when 2,100 elementary school students from across the country faced off in the National Elementary Chess Championships in Nashville May 8-10.
The Success Academy Cobble Hill scholars (pictured above) finished third in the kindergarten to third grade U800 division, while Williamsburg (pictured below) came in seventh. Success Academy Harlem 4 finished sixth. The division included 59 teams.
Each student played seven games over the three-day tournament, where rounds stretched long into the night—many lasting more than four hours. On their way to the top, the 19 Brooklyn students on the Success Academy Cobble Hill and Success Academy Williamsburg teams plotted each move carefully—recording their decisions in a logbook before decisively smacking the time clock to start their opponent’s turn.
As any chess pro would admit, there are disappointments as well as victories. For third grader Dylan Eisenberg (pictured above), the championship got off to a rough start with a loss, but the plucky Brooklynite who attends Success Academy Williamsburg went on to win his next six and finished 13th out of 333 competitors in the division.
Success Academy sent 105 scholars from 9 schools to the tournament.
