This weekend was the 10th annual Checkmate Violence Chess Marathon at Temple University. Over 200 students came out to participate in this two day event-including 16 Esperanza Academy students.
Saturday, five rounds in the unrated division lead Esperanza to a sweeping victory. Tyrese Casiano and Angel Ramos took home bronze medals. Angelika Gonzalez wore a silver medal, and in his first ever tournament, seventh grader Justin Cruz won one of his matches. The combined team points lead to a first place trophy for Esperanza in the unrated division.
Over Saturday and Sunday, 12 Esperanza players battled it out in 7 rounds of chess, with each round lasting upwards of two hours. Jose De La Cruz took home an individual trophy for MVP under 700 rating and Valentino Martinez wrapped up the fifth place over all in the rated section. The efforts of these two along with the points racked up from the wins of Mateo Ruiz, DeShawn McClary, and Daiana Espindola led to a second place team trophy in the rated division.
In between rounds, students were studying for midterms and reading up on chess games. Ilian Jimenez snapped up some free chess books and set to learning Queen’s Indian. Gabriel Ochoa, Christian Diaz, Christian Rodriguez-Baez, Raynel Lopez, Elisia Cragin, and Andrick Medrano all contributed points towards the team win this weekend.