Lincoln Middle School wins chess championship

SPRINGDALE — Lincoln Middle School captured the national championship in the unrated division for the third consecutive year at last weekend’s National Elementary Championship, a chess competition for grades kindergarten through six.

Lincoln’s unrated team topped seven other teams from across the nation. The team ended up tied with Poplar Creek Elementary School of Wisconsin, but was crowned the champion on a tie-breaker based on strength of schedule, according to Ryan Billingsley, Lincoln’s chess coach.

The unrated division is for teams of kids competing for the first time in a national chess tournament. Lincoln’s team included Makayla Quinn, Jake Chambliss, Dallas Harriman, Orlando Gooding and Colton Crainshaw. Makayla finished in seventh place with five points. Dallas finished eighth with 4.5 points.

The National Elementary Championship was held May 11-13 in Nashville, Tenn.

Lincoln’s team of veteran players — those with a player rating under 1,000 — placed sixth in the nation, repeating its performance at last year’s competition.

“There are seven rounds, and they count your top four players, which is a total of 28 games,” Billingsley said. “Out of all of those 28 games, we were one single draw away from fourth place and a single win away from finishing second overall as a team.”

The under- 1,000 team included Paulo Ortiz, Kaleb Roy, Ty Burks, Jace Birkes, Symphony Richards, Amber Bryant, Nathan Lee, Bryce Bradley, Luis Calvillo, Tristan Raines, Chiking Vang and Sawyer Copeland. Kaleb led the team with five points and finished in 26th place.

Lincoln Middle School, home to about 380 students in grades four through seven, is building a reputation as a chess school. Billingsley founded the school’s chess club four years ago. He also began offering chess as a class this school year, which about 60 students have taken so far, he said.