Arlington School & Family Magazine March/April 2018 | Page 32

Thornton’s Chess Pipeline
By Kenneth Perkins
The Thornton Elementary chess team
continues to do what it does quite a bit of
these days: win.
Thornton’s fourth- through sixth-
grade team captured first place for its
divisional section recently during the
highly-competitive Ridglea Hills Chess
Tournament in Fort Worth.
Emilo B. was second in the entire
tournament while Andrik L. placed fourth
and Julio S. was fifth, also receiving
individual trophies.
Thornton’s kindergarten through third-
grade team played well enough to secure a second place team trophy for their section.
There were other AISD honors as well. The Carter Junior High team earned first place for the middle school/high
school division. Kimberly M. won a second-place individual trophy for her section while a number of Carter players
did well enough to raise the team to the high finish.
Thornton chess coach Andrew Walley said what made the Carter success even sweeter was that Carter’s team is
comprised of seven former Thornton Chess Club students who are now seventh graders at Carter.
Ridglea Hills Chess Tournament is a tough one because it is open to all public, private and charter schools in North
Texas. Students have to play through five rounds to determine the winners. Individual and team trophies are awarded
in each of three sections: unrated and rated lower elementary (kindergarten through third grade), upper elementary
(fourth through sixth grade), and middle and high school.
Walley was thrilled with the finish, partly because he
constantly sees how the chess play of his students is
clearly teaching them concentration, focus and even
empathy since the only way to succeed is to see the
board from an opponent’s perspective.
Thornton’s win was an impressive one.
“Both of the first-place winning teams trailed other
schools before coming from behind in the late matches
of the tournament to secure their first-place finishes,”
Walley said. “We were quite proud of them doing that.
They didn’t give up.”
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