Lake Forest Park students win trophies in national junior high chess tournament

Karen Haining and Kyle Haining
with trophies from national chess tournament

The National Junior High School Chess Championship tournament was played in Louisville, Kentucky, the last weekend in April. Over 900 students from across the nation competed. Two were from the Lake Forest Park: Kyle and Karen Haining.

In the first event Kyle and a student at Northshore Junior High teamed up to play in the National K-9 Bughouse Championship tournament. Bughouse may be thought of as a type of team speed-chess. Pieces captured from an opponent are given to one’s partner, who may then play the captured piece on his or her board instead of making a move. 84 students (42 teams) competed in this tournament. Kyle and his partner tied for 2nd place and were awarded 3rd place on tie breaks. Karen teamed up with a boy from Detroit. They tied for 19th place and were awarded 24th place on tie breaks.

The bughouse tournament was followed by the National K-9 Blitz Championship tournament. Players had 5 minutes each to play a complete game of chess. With few exceptions running out of time means losing the game. At the end of this tournament Kyle and two other players were declared co-champions. Kyle was awarded 1st place on tie breaks. Karen did not play in this tournament.

In the National K-9 Chess Championship tournament students played 7 games. Roughly 4 hours were allotted for each game. This tournament was divided into 6 sections so that students could play in a group appropriate for their age and ability. Kyle played in the hardest section, the K-9 Championship section, with 139 other competitors, including at least 5 National Masters and another 7 who had expert ratings. Kyle won 5th place. Karen played in the third hardest section, the K-9 Under 1250 section, with 158 other competitors and won 13th place.

Additional details about the National Junior High School Chess Championships may be found here.