The National Middle School Championship has over 1,250 players. Franc Guadalupe, Chief Tournament Director, says 1,260 players registered. Bill Buklis, Chief Tournament Director for the backroom (computer area), calculates that, taking out no-shows, the final player count is 1,251. After the fifth round, Saturday night, perfect scores remain in all but one section.
An impressive 1,247 players crowded the pairing sheets at the start of the 2023 National Middle School (K-8) Championship in Round Rock, TX, taking place April 21 through 23. It’s true that everything is bigger in Texas, with this year's total number of participants eclipsing last year’s total of 945 kids playing in Grapevine, TX. The turnout is just short of the 2019 edition’s 1,287 players also in Grapevine, TX. So, on second thought, the only thing that's bigger than Texas is, well, more Texas!
Stefan Löffler was involved as a facilitator at the 2023 London Chess Conference. He was the founding director of the conference in 2013 and used to be in charge of the programme until 2019. Here he reports from a breakthrough edition which established how chess enhances 21st century skills, interest in STEM subjects and even pre-school education. | Pictured: Rita Atkins, John Foley and Dana Reizniece-Osola | Photo: John Yip