KSCC Tournament at Highland Middle School
Saturday Janurary 7, 2012

At the January 7th tournament at Highland Middle School, the Middletown Bull Dogs had their first tri-fecta. All three teams finished in first place (K-1, K-3, and K-5).

The K-1 team consisted of Julian Martindale, Nicholas McCleve, Joshua Harris, and Akhil Rokkam. Akhil once again won all 5 of his games to come in 1st place overall. Joshua Harris finished 4th overall. Julian and Nicholas contributed a crucial 3.5 points for the team to come in 1st place.

The K-3 team consisted of Carter Goodman, Pierce Horlander, Garrett Lee, Jack Skaggs, and Josh Whitney. Jack scored his first trophy with a 3rd place finish in the U400 section. Garrett came in 1st place in the U400 section, and Pierce finished in 10th place overall.

The K-5 team consisted of Sean Harris, Grant Horlander, Desmond Isaiah Robinson, and Xavier Martindale. Each K-5 player achieved a personal milestone in this tournament. Xavier won 4 games and finished in 3rd place overall (his highest finish to date). Grant came in 5th place overall with 3 wins and a draw. Desmond achieved a personal best in the K-5 division by winning 3 of his 5 games, and Sean got a taste of playing against 4th and 5th grade opponents. Desmond and Sean were in a massive 9-way tie for 6th place. On tie-breaks, Sean finished 9th and Desmond finished 11th overall.

Middletown is now the school to beat. I am tremendously proud of all our chess players, but I also know their best work is yet to come.

Keep thinking and keep playing!
Coach Kent

KSCC Tournament at Highland Middle School
Saturday November 19, 2011

K-1 Players: Luke Fultz, Joshua Harris, Nicholas McCleve, Akhil Rokkam
Results: TEAM 1st Place!, Individual: Luke came in 3rd in the Under 300 division, Nicholas finished 2nd in the Under 300 division, Joshua finished 3rd overall, and Akhil finished 2nd overall.

K-3 Players: Ethan Atwell, Sean Harris, Pierce Horlander, Garrett Lee, and Cadence Sison
Results: TEAM 1st Place!, Individual: Sean came in 3rd place overall. Ethan and Pierce tied for 11th just missing the trophy cut-offs.

K-5 Players: Nick Ely, Grant Horlander, Desmond Isaiah Robinson, Jayden Vaught
Results: TEAM 3rd Place!, Individual: Desmond came in 3rd place in the Under 500 division, Grant came in 6th place overall. Nick played in his first USCF rated tournament and won 2 out of 5 games (outstanding!).

Congratulations to all the players. They played fantastically!
Coach Kent

KSCC Tournament at Highland Middle School
Saturday October 22, 2011

Congratulations to the following Middletown players for playing in the October 23 KSCC tournament: Akhil Rokkam, Joshua Harris, Julian Martindale, Carter Goodman, Sean Harris, Pierce Horlander, Garrett Lee, Cadence Sison, Jack Skaggs, Grant Horlander, and Xavier Martindale.

Tournament Highlights:
K-1 Section:
Middletown Elementary finished in 1st place! All three K-1 players finished in the top 10! Julian Martindale had a personal best tournament finishing in 6th place. Joshua Harris came in 5th place with 3 wins out of 5, and Akhil Rokkam was 1st place overall with 4 wins and a draw! Great Job!
K-3 Section:
Middletown Elementary again finished in 1st place! Garrett Lee had an outstanding first tournament with 2 wins on the day! Cadence Sison made great progress with 2 draws. Carter Goodman had 2 wins for a solid return in his first tournament appearance this year. Jack Skaggs had a personal best of 2 wins and a draw. Pierce Horlander finished with 2 wins and 2 draws, and Sean Harris bested all of his opponents with 5 wins on the day and a 1st place overall finish. The field was more competitive at this tournament as it included some schools from Lexington. I am very pleased with the progress our team is making.
K-5 Section:
Grant Horlander and Xavier Martindale represented Middletown in the K-5 section with outstanding results. Grant tied for 7th place overall with 3 wins on the day, and Xavier came in 3rd place overall on tie-breaks with 4 wins. Great work!

Keep playing!
Coach Kent

Tournament at Highland Middle School
Saturday October 1, 2011

The Middletown Chess season started on Saturday, October 1 at Highland Middle School, and the bulldogs are off to a great start. Xavier Martindale represented the K-5 team with a 5th place overall finish. He is looking forward to having some teammates at the next tournament! The K-3 team was represented by Cadence Sison, Jack Skaggs, and Sean Harris. Cadence and Jack played their first tournament, and Jack had his first win! Sean had a perfect tournament with 5 wins on the day and a 1st place overall finish. The K-3 team tied for 3rd place. The K-1 team was represented by Akkil Rokkam, Joshua Harris, and Julian Martindale. Julian played his first tournament and had his first win (awesome!). Joshua and Akkil were on fire winning 3 out of their first 4 games. In a head to head match on the 5th game, Joshua pulled ahead to finish with 4 wins and the 2nd place overall trophy. Akkil took 3rd place overall. The dynamic trio finished in 1st place overall and set the stage for an outstanding year.

Greater Louisville Chess Classic
Saturday April 9, 2011

Congratulations to Grant Horlander, Sean Harris, Pierce Horlander, and Joshua Harris for an outstanding performance at "Sarah's Greater Louisville Chess Classic" on April 9, 2011. Joshua came in 1st place overall in the K-2 division. In the K-4 division, Sean came in 1st place and Grant came in 2nd on tie-breaks, and Pierce finished 4th place overall. Great job!
Did you see the size of that trophy!?!

KSCC Tournament at Shelby Campus
Saturday March 26, 2011

Joshua Harris and Akkil Rokkam played in the K-1 section. Akhil tied for 11th place overall, and Joshua tied for 7th overall and took the 1st place trophy for the Under 400 division. Great Job!

The K-3 team consisted of Aysha Puzhakkaraillath, Pierce Horlander, and Sean Harris. Aysha played in her first tournament, Pierce finished 6th place overall, Sean finished 2nd overall. The team finished 3rd place overall. Congratulations!

In the K-5 division, Xavier Martindale, Grant Horlander, and Flynn Metcalfe played for Middletown. Flynn tied for 16th, Grant finished in a 9-way tie for 6th place, and Xavier turned in his best performance all year finishing in a tie for 2nd place overall! The team also finished in 3rd place. Well done!

I am tremendously proud of the progress our players have demonstrated this year. For several players, this was their first year playing chess, and they have progressed from a beginning knowledge of the rules to taking one of the top 8 spots in their division in a very competitive regional tournament. Fantastic! I can't wait to see what they do next!

The moral of the story is "It is never too late to learn the game". Our last practice is Tuesday, April 19, so if you are curious, come join us in the library from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and get a jump start on next year.

If you don't play, but want to support the team. Please keep recharging your Middletown Chess Kroger Gift Card. Kroger donates 4% of the amount you add to the card. If you don't have one, contact me via email at kent.harris@telscreen.com. I will be happy to get you a blank card to use.

Stretch your brain, come play chess!
Coach Kent

KSCC Tournament
Saturday February 6, 2011

The K-1 Division represented by Carter Goodman, Zachary Stevens, Joshua Harris, and Akhil Rokkam finished 2nd place overall! Carter finished 7th place overall. In the Under 300 section, Joshua finished in 1st place and Zachary finished in 2nd place.

The K-3 Division represented by Sean Harris, Jacob Goldstein, Pierce Horlander, and Xavier Mueller finished 1st place overall! Sean had his first "perfect tournament" with 5 wins and a 1st place overall finish. Jacob and Pierce tied for 9th place overall, and Xavier came in 3rd place in the Under 400 section.

The K-5 Division represented by Kyle Fallon, Grant Horlander, Justin Sison, Flynn Metcalfe, Xavier Martindale, Desmond Isaiah Robinson, and Abby Goldstein came in 3rd place overall. Justin tied for 9th place overall. In the Under 500 section, Flynn came in 2nd place, and Xavier Martindale came in 3rd place.

Great Job!

Locust Grove Chess Tournament
Saturday December 4, 2010

The following players participated:
In K-1 : Joshua Harris
In K-3: Elizabeth Clay, Pierce Horlander, Sean Harris
In K-5: Kyle Fallon, Grant Horlander, Xavier Martindale

The K-3 team had a strong performance by Sean Harris (taking 2nd place overall with 4 wins and a draw), and crucial wins by Elizabeth and Pierce to earn 3rd place for the Middletown team.

The K-5 team struggled early with tough 1st round losses, but fought hard through the rest of the tournament. Although the team came up 2 wins short of a trophy, Kyle had a strong recovery for a 7th place finish, Xavier tied for 25th, and Grant tied for 27th.

Chess is a game that teaches perseverance. The victories you eventually achieve cannot be grasped without the hurdles of losses along the way.

Keep working hard team, we are proud of you!

KSCC Chess Tournament
Saturday October 23rd, 2010

The following Middletown Elementary Students participated:

In the K-1 Division: Lily Goldstein, Carter Goodman, Joshua Harris, and Zachary Stevens.
Carter Goodman tied for 4th place overall (finishing 7th on tie-breaks). Great Job!

In the K-3 Division: Ethan Atwell, Jacob Goldstein, Jacob Hamm, Sean Harris, and Pierce Horlander.
Sean Harris tied for 2nd place overall (finishing 3rd on tie-breaks), Jacob Goldstein and Jacob Hamm tied for 8th place overall (finishing 12th and 13th respectively).

In the K-5 Division: Abby Goldstein, Grant Horlander, Xavier Martindale, Kenneth Pooni, and Desmond Isaiah Robinson. Abby, Desmond, and Grant tied for 23rd, Xavier and Kenneth tied for 35th.

Congratulations to Lily, Joshua, Zachary, Pierce, Grant, and Xavier for participating in their first tournament!

Congratulations to the K-3 team for finishing 2nd place (just 1 pt shy of a tie for 1st)

Congratulations to the K-5 team for finishing in 6th place (just 0.5 pts from a tie for 4th)