Alabama Chess Federation, Inc.

A scene from the 52-participant All-Girls State Championship 2020. | Image: Scott Wilhelm

ASSCC 2020 Cancelled

March 29, 2020 - The Alabama Chess Federation must announce that the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Tournament has been canceled for the 2019-20 scholastic year. Due to recent announcements from the state superintendent and Governor, surrounding school closures through the end of the year, the Scholastic Championships will not have a location to meet. Details about how Denker, Barber, and Rockefeller nominees will be decided will be announced in the coming few weeks after the ACF's next board meeting.

Thank you all for understanding, and the Alabama Chess Federation encourages each person to exercise proper hygiene and due care to keep this spring season a healthy and happy one for your family and loved ones.

Wang Wins All Girls Championship Ahead of Record-Setting Competition

February 26, 2020 - 52 girls competed in the 3rd annual Alabama All-Girls State Chess Championship on February 22nd in Madison. The girls competed across three age sections: high school (K-12), middle school (K-6), and primary (K-3) sections. After taking a half-point bye in the first round, Constance Wang, 9th grade, finished with 3.5/4 to take clear first place in the championship section. In the final round, Wang defeated defending champion and top seeded Sarvagna Velidandla to take her first All-Girls state title. Pending approval by the Alabama State Chess board in April, Wang will be nominated to be the Alabama representative to the Ruth Haring All Girls National Championship.

Champions seem to run in the Wang blood as Caroline Wang, 6th grade and Constance's sister, won outright the K-6 section with a perfect score of 5.0/5. Top seeded Nirvana Rajbhandari had a great tournament scoring 4.0/5, but in the 3rd round was taken down by the young up-and-coming Advitiya Kana who Wang subsequently conquered leading to her clear title. In the K-3 section, three co-champions were crowned with scores of 4.0/5: Samsara Rajbhandari, 3rd grade, Emma Kuang, 3rd grade, and Annabelle Hsu, kindergarten. Both Rajbhandari and Kuang were among the favorites heading into the tournament, with Rajbhandari leading in the final round with 4.0/4. With Hsu's final round upset victory leading to the three-way tie for first, Hsu became one of the youngest ever champions in an Alabama state chess championship section of any kind.

Team awards were also given out with Bob Jones High School (Madison) winning the K-12 section, Discovery Middle School (Madison) taking the K-6 section crown, and Rainbow Elementary School (Madison) taking first in the K-3 section. The state of Alabama looks forward to the brilliant chess produced by each of these champions as they all continue to improve, and especially looks forward to the continued growth of all women's chess in Alabama in the years to come.

For tournament final standings, pairings, and team results, follow this link to the Madison City Chess League's website.

Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championships - UPDATED

Jonathan Rasberry

Alabama Chess Federation President

Alabama All Girls Championship to be held in Madison, AL

January 3, 2020 - The girl-power chess factor is often overlooked in competition chess as nearly all recreational chess players are male. However, once a year, Alabama celebrates its girl-power with the women's only - Alabama All Girls State Chess Championship! Consisting of three rated section based on grade, this unique tournament will give the girls of Alabama chess a chance to square off against one another for individual trophies, school awards, and bragging rights. The top finisher in the K-12 section (discretionary tie-breaks used by the ACF if deemed necessary in the case of co-champions) will receive a bid to compete at the WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions to be held in August in St. Louis! For more information, visit this page at Madisonchess.com.

Photo Credits: 2017 Scott Wilhelm

2018 Scholastic Chess Championships

All Girls State Chess Championship

April 28, 2018 - Madison - In the first All Girls State Chess Championship 46 girls competed in three sections. Sarvagna Velidandla (pictured left above) took first competing in the K-12 section with 4.5/5.0 to become the 2018 Alabama Girls Champion. Nirvana Rajbhandari took first in the K-6 section with a perfect 5.0 score. Laya Gowder won the K-3 section scoring 4.5/5.0 points. More pictures and key game analysis from Rasberrychess.

Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championships Results

March 27, 2018 - Mobile - Congratulations to the 2018 Team and Individual Champions! Check out former ASSCC champion Jonathan Rasberry's in-depth reports on the latest championship action:

Madison City Schools and Chess Kids Nation continue Team dominance.

Kapil Nathan and Om Badhe Win Individual Top Honors.

A Closer Look at Madison City Schools' Chess Program

As the latest tournament results show, Madison City Schools have established themselves as powerhouses in competitive chess. Ranae Bartlett provides a glimpse into Madison City School's investment in chess education in this article from ChessKid.com.

ASSCC Crosstables

Technical Note: Crosstable updates by the USCF on Tuesday, April 3 may result in minor adjustments for some players.

ASSCC Team Crosstable

ASSCC Individual Championship Crosstable

Individual Championship History

	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Open	Kapil Nathan	Rochelle Wu	Jay-El Shepherd II	Jonathan Rasberry, Vikhram Balagee	Stephen Adams	Stephen Adams
Jr. High*	Om Badhe	Sijing Wu	Arden Marken	Logan Mercer, Arden Marken	Arden Marken, Samuel Sands	Alexander Lay, Ethan Hugh Smith
Elementary*	Geon Park	Sarvagna Velidandla, Constance Wang	Rochelle Wu	Mohak Agarwalla, Benjamin Kennedy	David Xu Luo	Arden Marken
Primary	Aaditya Saxena	Xavier Bruni	Geon Park	Rochelle Wu	Siddharth Doppalapudi, Sarvagna Velidandla	James Hongjie Shi

Team Championship History

Madison City schools continued their dominances sweeping the top school team places. Chess Kids Nation swept the club team titles.

Section	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
Open	School: Bob Jones High School; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Indian Springs School, Bayside Academy; Club: Madison City Chess League	Indian Springs School	School: Bayside Academy; Club: Chess Kids NationSchool	Bayside Academy, UMS-Wright; Club: Caesar Chess
Jr. High	School: Discovery Middle School; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Discovery Middle School; Club: Madison City Chess League	School: Discovery Middle School; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Discovery Middle School; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Bumpus Middle School; Club: Chess Kids Nation
Elementary	School: Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	Rainbow Elementary; Club: Madison City Chess League, Freedom Chess Academy
Primary	School - Rainbow Elementary Club - ChessKidsNation	Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	Rainbow Elementary; Club: Chess Kids Nation	School: Vestavia East; Club: Freedom Chess Academy, Chess Kids Nation	School: Vestavia East; Club: Magic City U

2017 Events

Chess action at the 46th annual Mobile-Baldwin County Chess League's final match of the season.

Alabama State Scholastic Championships

Wu! Wu! What a Tournament! / National Tournament Nominees

March 16, 2017 (updated 6/24/2017)- Madison City, AL - Rochelle Wu and Sijing Wu took top honors in the 2017 Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship. Rochelle won clear first competing in the K-12 open section to become the Alabama 2017 Scholastic Champion. Older brother Sijing took clear first in his section to become the Alabama K-8 champion and earned ACF's nomination to the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions.

Three high school players tied for second in the open section behind Rochelle. They were Kenneth Jiao, Stephen Chen, and Vikhram Balagee. 6/24/2017 [Update: In a June 11 round-robin playoff between the three players, Vikhram Balagee won both of his first two games to earn the Denker High School Tournament of Champions nomination for Alabama.] Rochelle has been nominated as Alabama's National Girls Invitational Tournament (NGIT) representative.

In the Elementary Section Sarvagna Velidandla (1st-place trophy winner on tie-breaks) and Constance Wang are the 2017 Elementary School state co-champions. [6/24/2017 Update: In a head-to-head post-tournament playoff, Sarvagna Velidandla won the role of NGIT alternate.] Xavier Bruni is the 2017 Primary School Alabama champion.

In the Open (under 1000) section Hugh James Mitchell, Rachel Ehrman, and Mathew Lash tied for top honors. There was a five-way tie for the top in the Jr. High under 800 section between Jacob Asrin, Hesha Shikhtholth, Luke Saurman, Jr., Jacob Holland, and Claire Jun. Catrina Holschen won the Elementary (under 600) section.

Team Championship Results

March 16, 2017 - Madison City, AL - In the team competition on March 12, the following are the 2017 champions:

School: Indian Springs School, Bayside Academy [co-champions]
Club: Madison City Chess League

School: Discovery Middle School
Club: Madison City Chess League

School: Rainbow Elementary
Club: Chess Kids Nation

School: Rainbow Elementary
Club: Chess Kids Nation

Mobile-Baldwin County Chess League Concludes Its 46th Year

January 12, 2017 - Mobile - The Mobile-Baldwin County Chess League holds the distinction of being the longest continually operating scholastic chess league in the state, starting its first season during the 1970/71 school year.

The league holds four matches between September and January when all the local teams competing meet at one of the area schools. 2 games are played at each match for an 8-game season. The current format has 3 divisions of play, each competing for their own trophies: Varsity A for the best High School teams; Junior Varsity for 9th grade and up, B & C teams; and a Junior Division for 8th grade and under.

The final match of this season was played on January 12 at the Alabama School of Math and Science (ASMS). The follow teams and individuals received awards.

Junior Varsity (grades 9 and over, B & C teams)
- 1st place: UMS-Wright. [Photo right with Coach Paul Nager holding trophy]
- 2nd place: Alabama School of Mathematics & Science
- 3rd place: Alma Bryant
Junior Division (grades 8 and under)
- 1st place: Bayside Academy
- 2nd place: UMS-Wright
- 3rd place: WJ Carroll Intermediate [Note: This is only WJ Carroll's second year of participation. They are also in their second year as a participant in the Alabama Chess in Schools initiative.]

The Varsity (top high school teams)
- 1st place: Bayside Academy [Photo right]
- 2nd place: Alabama School of Mathematics & Science
- 3rd place: Daphne High

Senior Steven Chen of Bayside Academy won the Paul Morphy award as the Top Varsity A Team 1st Board player.

The Lars Britt Award went to Garrett Li of UMS-Wright as the Player of the Year in the Junior Division.

Timothy Yahr (photo center)of Fairhope High School took over directing the league this year from Jonathan Ling (photo left) of Daphne who stepped down after several years. Kevin Dolbeare (photo right), chess coach for the Alabama School of Mathematics & Science was the host for the final match which feature an awesome pep rally complete with pre-game cheerleaders and cheers for the chess teams. Some 100 + players participated in the final match.

Rochelle Wu wins Gold at World Cadets International Competition

October 30, 2016 - After winning Alabama's 2016 Elementary School Champion, Rochelle Wu is making her presence known in national and international competition. After taking third in the National Girls Invitational Tournament of Champions in August (first among girls under 13), Rochelle earned a gold medal in the Girls Under 10 section this week at the World Cadets in Batumi, Georgia. Click here for a US Chess Federation newsflash and one of Rochelle's games.

Alabama Scholastic Nominees for National Invitational Tournaments

April 21, 2016 - The ACF Executive Board has selected the following nominees to represent Alabama in a set of simultaneous national tournaments during the 2016 US Open taking place from July 30 to August 2 in Indianapolis.

Jay-El Shepherd (left) will represent Alabama at the 2016 Denker Tournament of High School Champions. Jay-El pulled out a narrow victory over Kenneth Jiao in the 2016 Alabama State Scholastic Championship (ASSCC).

ASSCC K-8 Champion Arden Markin (right) will make his second trip to the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. Arden will be the first Barber representative from Alabama this century to take a 2000+ rating into the Barber. However Arden wasn't the first Alabama K-8 player to achieve the expert level. Sijing Wu hit 2022 in February of this year, but Arden won their head-to-head match-up during the ASSCC to top 2000.

The Wu family will not miss out on the US Open events. ASSCC K-6 state champion Rochelle Wu repeats as the ACF's nominee to the National Girls Invitation Tournament. Only in the 4th grade and with a 1958 rating, Rochelle too is flirting with the 2000 rating mark. In addition to her NGIT nomination, Rochelle will be the official representative of the US Chess Federation in the U10G section at the 2016 World Cadet Chess Championship.

Alabama Chess in Schools

New Schools Join ACIS Initiative Pilot

March 12, 2016 - Fifteen new schools from four new school districts have been accepted into the ACIS pilot program. The newly accepted schools are:

Birmingham City Schools (new): Booker T Washington K-8
Chambers County: Eastside Elementary, John P Powell Middle, LaFayette High
Eufaula City School System (new): Eufaula Primary, Eufaula Elementary, Admiral Moorer Middle, Eufaula High
Jasper City Schools (new): Memorial Park Elementary, Maddox Middle, Walker High
Montgomery City Schools (new): Davis Elementary, E D Nixon Elementary, Bellingrath Middle, Sidney Lanier High

The new schools join 12 of the 14 of the original ACIS pilot schools that are continuing or expanding their current ACIS programs. The 14 original schools include:

Mobile County: Clark-Shaw Magnet Middle, Collier Elementary, Taylor-White Elementary; O'Rourke Elementary is dropping out.
Shelby County: Montevallo Elementary (3-4), Montevallo Middle
Butler County: W.O. Parmer K-2, Greenville Elementary, Greenville Middle
Chambers County: Huguley Elementary, W F Burns Middle
Ballwin County: W.J. Carroll Intermediate, Daphne Elementary
Pelham City Schools: Pelham Elementary

**ACIS Pilot Growth Plan**
# of Participating:	2015-2016	2016-2017
School Districts	6	10
Schools	14	27
Teachers	42	74
Students	1,500	2,750

Representatives from each current and new school will meet for an Orientation program in Montgomery on March 24. Training of the teachers who will be teaching chess will be offered during the weeks of June 20 and June 27. New teachers will register for four days of training (Monday-Thursday). Returning teachers who have already taken the introductory course will receive two days of training on Thursday and Friday on one of those two weeks.

In addition to training, ACIS schools receive chess supplies and internet-based training licenses for each student.

The program is administered by the Alabama State Department of Education in partnership with the Alabama Chess Federation.

ACIS Abroad

January 16, 2016 - The ACIS Initiative is drawing national and international interest. Jerry Nash (pictured right), the program's architect and consultant, gave two presentations at a London Chess in Schools conference discussing some of the unique aspects of ACIS.

ACIS Chess Teachers Check In

January 16, 2016 - Participants from each of the year 1 pilot checked in via teleconference in December to report the status of their programs. 12 of the 14 schools had positive reports. Most of the setbacks reported were related to loss of trained personnel or delays due to unanticipated administrative obstacles. Teacher and student enthusiasm remains high. 12 of 14 new schools is a great win percentage for the first year of the program. For more on the nation's first state-side, teacher-driven CIS initiative read ACIS Teaches Educators Chess is More Than a Game on page 6 of Alabama Education News, Sept. 2015.

Nancy Johnson Joins ACF as Chess in Schools Liaison

January 16, 2016 - The ACF Executive Board unanimously invited Nancy Johnson to serve as ACF Chess in Schools Liaison. Nancy recently retired from the Alabama State Department of Education where she was the ACIS lead. We are delighted that she has accepted and now joins ACF to build upon the great work so far. Nancy's replacement at ALSDE is expected to be named soon.

Sharing CIS Best Practices

January 16, 2016 - While ACIS is primarily focused on chess in Alabama schools, we also monitor other CIS initiatives in the US and abroad. We believe the ACIS is innovative and may be a model for other states or communities.

ACF President Neil Dietsch released a 4-part series of papers titled Scaling up Chess in Schools. This in-depth series targets leaders in the education, chess, or public sectors considering a chess in schools program that spans multiple schools.

Part 1 - Opportunities & Challenges of Multi-site CIS*
Part 2 - Multi-site CIS in practice [Globally**, nationally, and in Alabama]
Part 3 - Lessons from the ACIS Trenches
Part 4 - Designing and Managing Your CIS Project

*Part 1 draws on ACIS Consultant Jerry Nash's 2008 paper: Coordinating the Five Communities.

** May 3, 2016 - Click here for an important update from the European Chess Union on the state of chess in schools in Europe.

Changes for the 2016 Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship

September 1, 2015 - Each year the ACF Executive Board assesses the past Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship and conducts a lessons learned session to improve future tournaments. A number of changes are expected for the March 2016 ASSCC in Birmingham. The exact date and facility are expected to be announced shortly. In the mean time, ACF is publishing a list for parents and coaches of the changes planned with respect to fees, team rooms, notation, sections, and nominations for national invitational tournaments.

ASSCC Changes for 2016
Scholastic VP Gerald Larson discusses issues leading to the proposed changes.

Rochelle Wu Invited to Compete in World Youth Chess Championships in 2015

June 10, 2015 - The state's K-3 Champion Rochelle Wu has once again been invited to compete in the World Youth Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece, from October 24 to November 5, 2015. Last year Rochelle tied for third place with four other competitors at the World Youth Chess Championship - Girls U8 in Durban, South Africa. She scored 8 points out of 11 against a strong field of 51 competitors.

Before taking on international competitors in her own gender/age group classification, Rochelle will be competing in August against tough national competition as Alabama's nominee to the National Girls Invitational Tournament.