Chess Team takes 1st place in 10th grade Nationals!

<div> <p>Congratulations to coach, <strong>Mr. Bill Boericke</strong> and <strong>Stuyvesant’s Chess Team</strong>, who just returned from the grade level <strong>national championships </strong>in Orlando, Florida with Stuyvesant taking<strong> 1^st place in the 10^th grade National Championship</strong>! Congratulations to freshmen, <strong>Alison Chan, Adam Avnet, Ryan Chan, Daniel Fridlyand and Rayat Roy</strong>, who placed <strong>6^th in country</strong> in the 9^th Grade division.<br/>Sophomores, <strong>Justin Chen, Ann Zhang, Cheng Chen </strong>and<strong> Jun Li</strong> were the <strong>national champions in the 10^th Grade division</strong>. In the individual standings, <strong>Team Captain Justin Chen</strong> <strong>tied for 1^st with an International Master</strong> in the 10^th Grade divisCion. Bravo!<br/>The juniors battled heroically from a serious disadvantage. The grade level championships count the top three boards in any grade level, but <strong>Arjun Rai</strong> and <strong>Thomas Ghita,</strong> without benefit of a third teammate, accumulated enough points between them to place <strong>9^th in country</strong>!  Congratulations!<br/>Congrats to all! In the full team photo are: (left to right standing) Cheng<strong> Chen,  Thomas Ghita, Arjun Rai, Justin Chen, Adam Avnet and Jun Li; (kneeling) Ryan Chan, Ann Zhang, Alison Chan, Rayat Roy and Daniel Fridlyand.</strong> <em>(photos courtesy of Mr. Boericke)<br/></em>The <strong>10^th grade national champions</strong> at the award ceremony are: <strong>Ann Zhang, Justin </strong><strong>Chen, Jun Li and Cheng Chen.</strong><br/>The picture on the left above is of an impromptu speed chess match at the Orlando Airport between Stuyvesant and Jericho High School. In the foreground are Stuy's <strong>Justin Chen</strong> (L) the 10th grade national champion, and Jericho's Wesley Wang (R), the 9th grade national champion. Justin and Wesley split a game apiece. Another similar photo of the match was taken and tweeted by national chess organizer (and Stuy alum) Danny Rhode, who happened by, and was retweeted by the United States Chess Federation!</p> <p></p> <p> </p> </div>