Bothell Kindergarten team takes chess title

It's a trophy fit for a king. Or maybe a queen.

And at roughly 4 feet tall, the faux-marble, red, white and blue award — topped by a winged and victorious gold figurine — is taller than half its six owners.

It's all part of the glory of being national chess champions, Heritage Christian School students have learned. The Bothell school's youngest team — part of the 48-player after-school chess program — took first place in the kindergarten category of the 2002 National Elementary Chess Championships held April 25-28 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

About 2,130 preschool-through-sixth-grade students sat down at more than 1,000 chessboards to play, said Randy Nading, a chess coach and business manager for the private school.

The tournament room was huge, Nading said. "You can't even see across it." Even weirder — for a room full of little kids — it was quiet. "They're all very intent on winning those games," he said.

The U.S. Chess Federation-sponsored event drew 520 teams from New York to California. With 810 entrants, Washington sent the most students.

Tournament finishes Other Seattle-area school chess teams also placed high at the tournament. In the kindergarten category (with 73 teams): Bryant Elementary School in Seattle placed seventh, and The Evergreen School in Shoreline was eighth. In the K-3 Under 800 category (with 181 teams): The Evergreen School placed third, TOPS at Seward School in Seattle placed fourth, Villa Academy in Seattle placed fifth, and Bothell's Heritage Christian was sixth. In the K-5 championship category (with 182 teams): Lowell Elementary School of Seattle placed eighth. In the K-6 Under 900 category (with 228 teams): Heritage Christian placed fourth. Participation in the Under 800 and Under 900 categories is based on students' calculated ratings from previous tournaments. For more information, visit the U.S. Chess Federation's site.

That kind of competition might make a kid nervous. But the kindergarten team — Brevin Anderson, Andrew Brodsky, Kristen Maggs, Sydney Parker, Tiana Shuford and Cameron Leathers — was not intimated, bringing home first place for overall high score. Tomorrow, the whole school will share the victory at an assembly in the team's honor.

Five Heritage chess players, including Andrew and Kristen, also hauled home personal hardware from the national tournament. The school's four other teams, competing in categories based on grade level and previous tournament-performance ratings, also did well — one placing fourth out of 228 teams, another sixth out of 181 teams.

The kids had practiced every Monday after school since October, said kindergarten-team coach Jonathan Leathers. "Some of them are really motivated," Leathers said. "Some of the kids, they bring chessboards to school, and they sit on benches and play — it's like, 'Go play ball or something!' "

There were tense moments at the national tournament, Leathers said. Parents — some peering through binoculars — paced the sidelines, craning to follow their kids' moves in each of their seven weekend games.

In one match, Kristen, 6, went up against a highly rated player. "She was so scared, and she did not want to play him," Leathers said. Her Heritage fan club — about 150 feet away — could barely make out what was happening at Kristen's table.

"Then you could see him moving his king, and you could see her move forward," Leathers said. Then the opponent waved his hand, usually a gesture of victory. But it was Kristen who won. "We couldn't believe it."

The boy was a good sport, Leathers said. But some kids shed tears over losing.

His son Cameron, a player on the winning kindergarten team, is the only preschooler. But he beat a fourth-grade opponent at a tournament this season, and the older kid lost it.

But that's not the 5-year-old's biggest triumph. "I beat my dad," the chess whiz said. "I took his queen. He didn't cry."

Paysha Stockton can be reached at 206- 464-2752 or pstockton@seattletimes.com.