The final two rounds of the 2023 K-12 Grade Level Championships in Orlando, Florida, this past weekend lived up to expectations as players of equal levels clashed head to head in over 2,400 games. On the top boards, there were over two dozen games in the final round in which both players were rated over 2000. But, as we know, it’s not the rating that determines the winner, and so it is now (after the tournament) that we can finally reveal the National Champions of each grade.
38 years ago in 1985, the first Denker Tournament of High School State Champions was held: a melting pot for strong chess players all over the nation. Since then, multiple other tournaments emerged like flowers in a blossoming garden, including the Barber Tournament for Middle School Champions, the Haring Tournament for Girls Champions, the Irwin Tournament for Senior Champions, the Rockefeller Tournament for Elementary Champions, and the Weeramantry tournament for Blitz Champions.