Elbridge Gale Elementary Receives Top Honors in Regional Chess Tournament
A group of Elbridge Gale Elementary students awoke early on a Saturday morning and made the concrete highway trek to the South West Miami Senior High School in Hialeah. The All-Star team participated in the Florida Scholastic Chess League’s 2012South Regional Chess Tournament that was recently held.
Over 40 schools were represented in this tournament and all public and private schools from Monroe, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Broward and Okeechobee counties were invited. Players representing every grade level from Kindergarten to 12th played chess in five divisions and competed both individually and for their respective team honors.
Their trip was made possible by hours of practice and tactical game-play coaching led by Mr. Antonis Loudaros, who is a remarkably dedicated math teacher and chess aficionado. His teaching career includes twenty-five years of promoting chess learning in schools, as a supplement to math and reasoning concepts. Mr. Loudaros was recognized at the event and presented a plaque for “Coach of the Year” by Elizabeth Tejada, Commissioner of the Florida Scholastic Chess League, www.FSCLchess.org.
Additionally, the Elbridge Gale teams were awarded 1st place trophies in three of the five team divisions. “It’s been quite some time since any one school has won all three divisions”, said Captain McCue, a chess parent whose sons led wins in two of the divisions.
These results reflect the efforts of Principal, Mrs. Pasterczyk and teachers at Elbridge Gale Elementary, who support a creative atmosphere for those interested in chess study and competition.
The schools’ Chess Academy includes over sixty students in grades K-5 with forty students being members of the USCF. Elbridge Gale Elementary is the first school to win K-1, K-3 and K-5, District and Regional Chess Championship team titles.
For more information contact Antonis Loudaros at (561) 422-9300 or via e-mail at antonis.loudaros@palmbeachschools.org.
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Public Affairs Contact: Natalia Arenas – (561) 357-7662 – natalia.arenas@palmbeachschools.org
