In its second year, Bayside Academy's chess tournament had 80 players participating, creating a record for the now-annual event.

The event, held Jan. 24, has three divisions of play: Open for adults and advanced, older scholastic players; Scholastic Rated, for most scholastic players; and an Unrated division for younger, newer players. There were 18 players in the Open, 39 in the Scholastic Rated and 23 in the Unrated. Two large groups traveled from Crestview and Milton, Florida.

The Bayside Chess Team entered one player in the Open, eight in the Scholastic Rated and one in the Unrated, plus numerous new young players from Bayside who participated in our Development Team program, run by Bayside chess assistant coach and former Bayside player Kevin Nelson. On Saturday, Nelson ran the Unrated section during the tournament.

All of the 10 Bayside team members finished with strong records. Senior Colt Hancock went a perfect five wins and zero losses to win the Scholastic Rated section, and freshman Don Chen finished in third place with four wins and one loss.

Other competitors in the Scholastic Rated section were sophomore Burke Ramagosa with three wins, one loss and one draw; seventh grader Jeremy Ou, freshman Elias Blossom and seniors Boyce Magli and Evan Stafford all had three wins and two losses; and eighth grader Luke Freeman had two wins, two losses and one draw. Seventh grader Hart Wilson finished with three wins and two losses in the Unrated, and sophomore John Stephen Klimjack went 2–2 in the tough Open section.

For a complete cross-table of results, visit the US Chess Federation's site at https://ratings.uschess.org/event/202601140343?section=2.

The school thanked Chess Coach Paul Nager, team sponsors Amy Ramagosa and Kiandrea Blossom, and many parents for helping to make this event a success. The tournament was directed for the second year by Jerry MacDonald of Mississippi.

The Chess Team now prepares for the State Scholastic Tournament on March 7 in Huntsville.