Chess team places 2nd in state

On Saturday, January 25th, the Jackson Prep’s Chess Club competed at the Mississippi Chess Association’s Scholastic Team Chess Championship.

Prep brought three teams: a senior high A-team, a senior high reserve team, and a junior high team. The senior high A-team finished second in the championship division; the senior high reserve team finished first in the reserve division, and the junior high team finished fourth in the junior high championship division.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Photo courtesy of Dr. Paul Smith

Chess team warms up before the tournament.

Team tournaments put the best players from each team against each other at board one, the second best players from each team against each other, etc. for the top four players from each team.  The first team to get two and a half points out of 4 wins the match and gets a team point. At the end of the tournament, the team with the most team points wins.

The senior high Championship team was composed of club captain Selby Ireland at board one, junior Eli Venarske at board two, freshman Megan Tomblinson at board three, and junior Joseph Watts at board four.  The senior high reserve team had senior Spencer Byrd on board one, senior Kaleb Boler on board two, senior Cade Engels on board three, and junior Ty Usey on board four. The senior high reserve team also had junior Cass Rutledge as an alternate. Prep’s junior team had eighth grader Cage Puckett on board one, eighth grader William Shepherd on board two, and seventh grader Houston Vaughn on board three.

Not only did Prep get a number of team awards, the players also received individual honors.   Selby Ireland was named top player on board one. Joseph Watts was named top player on board three.  Megan Tomlinson was named top player on board four. Senior Cade Engels and juniors Selby Ireland and Ty Usey all went undefeated.