Whitefield Hosts Martin Luther King Jr Chess TournamentWhitefield Hosts Martin Luther King Jr Chess Tournament

For the third year in a row, Whitefield Academy hosted the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Chess Tournament, bringing 500 scholastic chess players and their families to the campus on Monday, January 19.  The five-round tournament is the largest rated tournament hosted by the Georgia Chess Association each year.  In addition to playing chess, the students have the opportunity to participate in service projects between rounds to honor the memory of Dr. King.  This year, players packed 70 backpacks and more than 40 hygiene kits to benefit New American Pathways (newamericanpathways.org), an organization serving refugees who have been resettled to the Atlanta area. The Ecuador Missions Team ran concessions including offering delicious fresh popped Kettle Corn, which benefitted the players and parents and also raised money for the trip to Ecuador this summer.



The focus of the day, however, was definitely chess!  Two teams represented Whitefield, competing in the

K-3 section and the Middle School section.  The K-3 team performed well on the day garnering a total of 13.5 points.  Despite missing their top three players, two of whom were competing in a national 3 v 3 soccer tournament, the team finished tied for third place, taking fourth place on tie-breaks.  Nathan Jones (3rd) was the team’s top scorer with four wins, taking 15th place in the individual competition.  Also contributing to the team total were third graders Trey Kantor, Archer McBride, and Christian Wiggins.  The team was rounded out by Graham Hood (2nd) and Ryan Walker (2nd)?




Whitefield’s Middle School team faced tough competition but battled well and finished in fourth place as a team.  Leading scorers for the team, Zachary (8th) and Zoe Justice (5th), each with 3.5 points, finished in 12th and 13th place respectively.  Also contributing to the team score were Caleb Corliss (8th) with three points, Jack Krahel (6th) and Devin Wade (7th) both with two points on the day.



Both teams will be competing on February 21 to earn an invitation to the state championship tournament held in March.