Chess tournament held at Arcadia High School

A chess tournament was held on April 19, 2023, at Arcadia High School. Twenty students from Arcadia Middle School and Arcadia High School competed in two sections of three rounds. Tournament results:

Section 1: 1st, Rawlings Solis (HS); 2nd, Belarmino Escalante (HS); 3rd, Lexi Kelly (HS)
Section 2: 1st, Truitt Flowers (HS); 2nd, Porter Buyea (MS); 3rd, Thomas Watson (HS).

The tournament was a three round Swiss, with playoffs. Solis surprised Escalante in round 3 with a knight fork, which forced the latter to resign. Solis’ three wins took Section 1 first place. Four players had two wins: Escalante (HS), Eric Baumgardner (MS), Lexi Kelly (HS), and Angel Villatoro-Perez (HS). Two playoff rounds determined the second and third places in Section 1.

Flowers (HS) won in section 2 with 3 wins after 3 rounds. Porter Buyea (MS) took 2nd place with 2 wins and one draw. A playoff game for 3rd place between Sarah Evans (MS) and Thomas Watson (HS) was won by Watson (HS).

In addition to the tournament trophies, proficiency level awards were earned by Belarmino Escalante (HS), dolphin level; Lexi Kelly (HS), and Aria Matthews (HS), swordfish level; and Stanley Burt (MS), Sarah Evans (MS), Juan Gonzalez (HS), and Addison Coulbourne (MS), minnow level. Congratulations to all who moved up the food chain.