Century Chess Team Places In National Tournament

Two years ago ninth grade members of the Century Chess Club had the unique opportunity to play as a team in the 2010 United States Chess Federation (USCF) Junior National Tournament. The tournament was held in Minneapolis. This was a unique “once in a lifetime” opportunity for those players. The Century team had amazing success and placed tenth in the under 1200 rated division. This year the USCF National Senior High Tournament was held in Minneapolis April 13-15. Once again Century fielded a team (the 2010 9th graders are now 11th graders) in the under 1200 rated division. That division had over 300 players and 64 teams from across the country. The tournament was very grueling with seven rounds of play over the three day period. Some games lasted over three hours. Players received one point for a win and one half points for a draw. The scores of the top four players from any one school were totaled for team standings. The Century Chess Club bested its 2010 finish. Century had 19 total team points which was good for a fifth place tie. Team members were juniors Cheenar Banerjee, Michael Ekker, Enoch Tan and Gregory Nathan. In addition senior Henry Newshutz and freshman Ethan Kub played in the division. Sophomore Rory Li played in the under 1600 division while freshman Ted Woolner played in the unrated division. In addition Cheenar Banerjee and Gregory Nathan received individual trophies for a 30th place finish which was within the top 10 % of all players in the division.