Seven players from the Ninth Grade Center and Frenship High School competed against schools from all over the Texas panhandle to bring home the second place trophy.
Along the way, several of the Frenship players achieved personal best records and scored high enough to bring home several individual awards. Frenship winners include:
- Ahmad Al-Rahawan, 2nd place
- Andrew Caudle 3rd place
- James Inman, 4th place
Other participants include Eli Reyna, Omar Elgarhy, Juan Reimer, and Justin Castillo.
This tournament was the second competitive outing for the freshmen chess players. In November, the team came in second place overall in the Check with Tech tournament held at the NGC.
This year, the NGC has chess boards available to students during the morning and at lunch in the cafeteria. At FHS, students are invited to play after school on Wednesdays in Mr. Ferguson’s room. Several students who played chess in middle school are rekindling their love of the game while recruiting and teaching their peers how to play. Research shows that Chess promotes not only critical thinking skills, but socialization skills as well.
"Chess has been a valuable addition to the Ninth Grade Center, as it helps students make new friends and fosters an environment of creative problem-solving," said Mr. Burrus, NGC Assistant Principal.
For information on starting a chess program at your school, feel free to give Mr. Burrus at the Ninth Grade Center a call at 806-866-0110.