Spring Branch ISD Featured News

 

Spring Forest Middle School student chess players and adult team organizers shared great news after a March 30 regional tournament at the Spring Branch ISD campus that drew 195 new chess enthusiasts.

Spring Forest Middle hosted the all-day Houston Chess Association tournament and awards ceremony, a first-ever effort in the school district. Spring Forest Middle’s chess team worked hard to earn its 1st place trophy in a highly competitive field, too.

The tournament marked the middle school’s first U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) sanctioned tournament.

In an exciting tournament ending, Spring Forest Middle’s team stood tied with St. Martha Middle School, winning its top place honors on tie breaker points.

Two district elementary school teams did well, too – Nottingham Elementary won 1st place honors, while the student team at Rummel Creek Elementary finished fourth overall.

Spring Forest Middle team member Max Erickson won all five of his matches to place first in his section, and five other students on the team won individual awards. 

The winning Spring Forest Middle team includes Maddie Cardin, Josue Contreras, Park Dalton, Zach El-Badawi, Max Erickson, Yutai Long, Addison Maynard, Joshua Rebollar, Aiden Reichstein, Farsheed Tehrani, Oscar Valle Montero and Sebastian Zigaran. 

During the past two years, the Spring Forest Middle chess team has built a strong team of 16 USCF rated players, and the campus club has about 35 regular participants. Earlier this year, the team returned from a tournament at Awty International School with a second-place trophy and six individual awards.

In addition, during the same period four SBISD schools – Spring Forest Middle, Nottingham and Rummel Creek elementaries, and Cornerstone Academy – have also taken part in citywide USCF tournaments.

SFMS_2019_Chess_Tournament from SBISD on Vimeo.

Spring Forest Middle chess team organizers include school counselor, Leah Whitten, Coach Gale Jenkins, Coach Rasha Shammaa, Coach Steve Cardin, and Coach Shannon Swires. 

Submitted by Paul Bryant, SBISD Communications, larry.bryant@springbranchisd.com.