Mt. Pleasant elementary school students collect awards at chess championships

Sandra Davis brought home a trophy, and Abigail West, Hanna O?Donnell, Sean Farley and Abigail Perry each garnered a medal as seven Mt. Pleasant elementary school students attended the Scholastic Chess Open Championships March 28 in Coralville.

Students participating included Davis, Harlan Elementary, third grade; West, Harlan Elementary, fifth grade; O?Donnell, Harlan Elementary, fifth grade; Farley, Van Allen Elementary, third grade; Will Wixom, Harlan Elementary, fifth grade; and Aiden Adams, Harlan Elementary, fifth grade.

The event was divided into four separate categories of lower-elementary, upper-elementary, middle school and high school. Each of these categories was then divided into subcategories based on ratings from the United States Chess Foundation.

If a student was playing for the first time, they were placed in the ?unrated category? of the tournament. Students played five rounds and were each allotted one hour per game.

Depending on the results from each previous round, students were then paired accordingly in the next round.

Davis won her category within lower-elementary students who had a rating of under 200. West, O?Donnell, Farley and Perry each received medals for participating in their first rated tournament.