US Jr. Chess Congress report

From Mrs. Gyurek:

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Kieron,

You will be pleased to hear that the OLL team of Eddie Schwering, Sam DeFreese and Croix Gyurek presented Our Lady of Lourdes in a good light. Trophies were given to the top 25 in each group. Because team play was based on players with the same age group and Sam, Ed and Croix all competed in different fields , OLL did not really compete as a team. As individuals, they each did OLL proud given the fact that this is an annual national tournament with repeat participants.

In 8th Grade & Under, Eddie took a trophy for 23rd place. He went into the last round ranked 21 of 26, I think. Eddie entered a tough class of competitors and pulled a couple wins in a field of mostly experienced players.

In 6th Grade & Under, Sam had an especially tough challenge. Not only was this his first major tournament, but there were 65 competitors in his field, with the highest ranking near 1700! Sam came in 53rd of 65.

In 3rd Grade & Under, Croix received a trophy for 22nd of a total of 52 competitors. He won 4 rounds and lost 2.

There was one team of two boys who ranked 6th in their bracket so perhaps all that was needed was one other player in each field. The boys did very well, considering that U.S. Jr. Chess Congress boasted players from many states, including Indiana (Evansville, Fort Wayne, Anderson, Terre Haute were top contenders but other schools had players, too). We met players from Michigan, Chicago, St. Louis, Kentucky. There were players from other states as well (Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia. Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New York when we had checked the website.