Local middle school wins National Chess Championship
The nation has a new middle school chess team champion — and they’re right here from El Paso.
The Henderson Middle School chess team competed in Kentucky over the weekend at the National Junior High Championship — winning first place in the Middle School Division. This is the first time a team from El Paso has won the National Championship.
In 2013, Henderson’s Chess Team received a first place in the Texas Scholastic Chess Tournament. In 2014, they came in second, but went to nationals in Georgia and returned 19th out of 46 teams.
In 2015, they did it again. They won the Texas Scholastic Chess Championships in McAllen, making them the best middle-school chess team in the state.
The victory earned the team a spot in the National Junior High Championships in Louisville, Kentucky on April 24. To get there, though, students and coaches had to quickly raise money to get to the championship. They held three fundraisers to help the team.
What is unique about this year’s team is that for the most part, they are sixth graders and they have been playing together for less than a year. The organization is only 2 years old.
The Henderson Chess Team is made up of students ages 12 or younger. Despite their youth, the students performed at an exemplary level in individual competition at the state championship.
Leonardo Gonzalez earned first place and Brandon Caballero earned second place at state. Seven other Hornets placed among the top 21 players in Texas. They are: Lirio Gomez, Christopher Carmona, Pedro Escobar, Eduardo Retana, Jose Venegas, Steven Mejia and Manny Tejeda.
