| Summit
hosts Chess Tournament
The 5th Annual Holiday Chess Tournament this year was a great success. 28 students and 3 adults enrolled as players at Summit Academy in Cottonwood on Saturday December 2nd to try their hand at obtaining recognition and prizes in a contest of pure mental combat. We had participants from as far as Missoula and Lewiston. I was especially pleased to give Sportsmanship Award recognition to Alden Brunson who demonstrated a very unselfish act by allowing his opponent to receive a draw in a situation where he could easily have demanded a win. I saw much grace given by others as well and all players showed excellent character and attitude. Winners and prizes given are as follows: Sportsmanship Award for no wins went to Dori Sonnen who showed excellent attitude in light of this tough outcome. She received a $5 Grangeville Ace Hardware gift card. Special Sportsmanship recognition also went to Alden Brunson and Carter Hull. Grades 1-3: 1st Catherine Seubert, $40; 2nd Will Mahoney, $15 and a fishing pole; 3rd Wyatt Crea, $5 Grangeville Ace Hardware gift card Grades 4-6: 1st Noah Beckman, $40; 2nd Levi Wassmuth, $15 and a Gold Panning Kit; 3rd Gryer Hollibough, $5 Grangeville Ace Hardware gift card Grades 7-9: Preston Amerman, $40; Kerri Villamor, $15 and a lunch for 2 coupon; Cassidy Hamilton, $5 Grangeville Ace Hardware gift card Grades 10-12: 1st-3rd were shared between James Villamor and Robert Jensen (There were only two participants in this grade category.), $40, $15, $5 Grangeville Ace Hardware gift card and a Hydration Backpack. Adults: 1st Larry Prince, $25; 2nd John Hughes, A free PC tuneup coupon. 3rd Bryan Mahoney Overall Student Winner: Tied for first: Preston Amerman and Noah Beckman. Preston came up on top on rank and received $60 cash. Only after prizes were awarded was it discovered that due to a technical error, Noah should have received this prize. To compensate, Noah received a personal gift from The Chess Guy and will have his name on the "Perpetual Trophy of Death" for this year. All winners listed above also received a free ice cream cone coupon. We wish to officially and publicly thank our sponsor businesses who generously donated items and cash for the prizes: Augie's Ice Cream Parlor of Orofino (16 Ice Cream Cone coupons) Buds Power Sports of Cottonwood ($100) Builders Supply of Kamiah, Orofino and Grangeville ($50 total) Clearwater Valley Marketplace of Kooskia (Fishing Pole) Cloningers Market of Kamiah (Hydration Backpack) Grangeville ACE Hardware (5 $5 gift cards) Kamiah ACE Hardware (Gold Panning Kit) The Computer Guy of Orofino (Free PC Tuneup coupon) The Hearthstone Grill of Kamiah (free Lunch for 2 coupon) The Kamiah Pit Stop ($25) The Kooskia Cafe ($20) I (The Chess Guy) also wish to thank the community and numerous businesses that consented to put out donation jars and a few generous private donors who raised a total of $405.86! I also wish to thank the Clearwater Progress [other publications that publish this press release for free can add their names here as well!] for donating space for The Chess Guy to both promote and make this announcement without cost. I also want to thank the parents that transported their kids out to the tournament and the adult players that participated who set a high standard in both conduct and playing strength to challenge the students. Thanks to Amy Rose and George Watson for their time and help during the tournament and to Summit Academy for donating the venue for the event. I also want to thank all those school teachers, librarians and principals and several parents who encouraged me with open access and assistance while promoting the tournament at our schools, libraries and restaurants. I also want to thank The Pizza Factory of Grangeville and Kamiah for opening up their establishments to me to train people in chess over Pizza during the month of November. Feel free to contact The Chess Guy for future tournaments, demonstrations or training at 208-301-8615 or SandyTheChessGuy@gmail.com. See our website at http://SandyTheChessGuy.weebly.com and our Facebook page at https://facebook.com/TheChessGuy. 
Summit Academy hosted a chess tournament on Saturday. Photo courtesy of The Chess Guy. |
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