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The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis further established itself as the elite chess club in the country at the 2009 National Youth Action tournament held in Oakbrook, Ill., last weekend.
Students Kevin Cao, Jialin Ding, Isaiah Gadson, William Tong and William Nesham represented the CCSCSL in the K-9 division and finished with a combined score of 29 points out of a possible 36, easily securing first place.
Twelve-year-olds Kevin and Jialin were part of a three-way tie for first place overall in the K-9 division with a score of 7.5/9.0. Isaiah and William Tong finished in a eight-way tie for fourth place with a score of 7.0/9.0, and William Nesham finished 11th out of 116 competitors with a score of 6.5/9.0.
According to the October supplement of the USCF rating system, Kevin was the fifth-highest rated 12-year-old in the country. He is also the reigning Missouri Blitz Champion and the Missouri Quick Chess Champion.
In the K-6 division, the CCSCSL was represented by Margaret Hua, Stephen Zhang, Michael Yin, Justin Chen, Keturah Gadson and Nathan Phan. The team finished second in their division with a score of 26 points. Margaret and Stephen were each part of a nine-way tie for third place with their score of 7.0/9.0. The K-6 team took first place in the blitz competition.
Despite playing with only three students, the K-3 team managed to finish in ninth place out of 24 teams in their division. Jason Zhou, Torin Hylan and Jason Ding posted a combined score of 16 points.
Tony Rich, executive director of the CCSCSL, said he was impressed with the results.
"We've seen great improvement in all of our scholastic players since the club has been open, and we are particularly proud of the scores the students posted at the national Youth Action tournament," Rich said.
The lone representative for the CCSCSL in the K-12 division was Henry Cao, who finished with a score of 4.0/9.0. Members of the K-9 team joined Henry in the K-12 blitz division to take second place.
