Columbus Scholastic Tournament Update

This last Saturday a Kansas Scholastic Chess Association tournament was held in Columbus, KS at the Columbus Unified High School. This was the first event put on by the KSCA that I have been to and I was extremely impressed with both the facilities and the turnout.

Tables were set up in the school hallways, with separate areas for the K-8 and 9-12 players with the cafeteria area set aside as the skittles room. From the standpoint of a parent/spectator, this layout seemed to work extremely well and was very beneficial for the players as games were completed the players could converse without the  worry of disturbing games in progress. Pairings were completed quickly and everything seemed to go very smoothly, with the tournament actually finishing almost an hour sooner than scheduled.

As I mentioned, the turnout was excellent. There were 39 students in the K-8 division and 58 in the 9-12 division. There was only one player from Joplin and the Joplin chess club. Devon Stahl received a 4th place medal in the K-8 division, with 4.5 points out of 6.0.

I would like to thank the KSCA, the Columbus High School, Buddy Derfelt and the other TDs, and all the students and sponsors for their extreme hospitality and for a great tournament. Hopefully we will be able to make future tournaments and can get some more SW Missouri students involved.