May 11, 2016 2 min read Education

Take That, Kasparov! PS/MS 282 Students Take Home National Chess Championship

PS/MS 282 National Chess Champions — [L-R front:] Toshinori Underwood, Dakota Amar, Eleanor Hamilton, Ben Prelvukaj, Elijah Patterson, Theophilia Meloney. [L-R back:] Coach Juan Tica, Ben Gordon, Gregory J. C. Senat, John Steddin, Jake Van de Kieft, Cameron Anderson, Isaac Cohen, Amelia Hamilton, Raven Marshall, Assistant Coach David Gordon. (Photo Credit: Jeremy Amar)

Nashville, Tennessee should have known when Brooklyn came to town.

Our very own PS/MS 282 Royal Panthers Chess Team picked up the first place trophy at the National Chess Championship for Kindergarten – 5th grade for U900 chess players, which completed competition on Sunday, May 8.

The section of tough competition involved 69 schools and 454 kids throughout the country.

“Our kids and their families worked really hard for this win. They’ve spent countless hours studying opening positions and playing against each other, hosting and participating in local chess tournaments,” says parent and team co-coach David Gordon. “And our chess families are spending time and effort fundraising for the team and supporting their kids in learning chess.”

PS/MS 282 (180 6th Avenue between Berkeley and Lincoln Places) has a diverse student body made up of Pre-K – eighth graders who live throughout Brooklyn. The school has a robust chess program, providing classes during the day as well as part of an after-school program. Gordon tell us that there is an open policy for any students who choose to play in the tournament.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our Chess students,” says 282 Principal Rashan Hoke. “Chess has a proud history at our school and is a great example of 282’s focus on experiential learning – using engaging experiences to build lifelong learning skills into our kids.

And those skills were very much on hand during the three-day tournament.

In addition to the first place team win, student Gregory J. C. Senat won 7 out of 7 matches and the K-5 U900 national championship. Gregory and teammates Isaac Cohen, Eleanor Hamilton, and Ben Gordon all finished in the top 20 to secure the win. Team member Toshinori Underwood won a trophy for 6th place in the blitz tournament, and team member Ben Gordon and his father, co-coach David Gordon, finished in first place in the father/player tournament.

This isn’t the first example of the Royal Panthers’ success. The team had an impressive run at the New York State Championships back in 2014.

David Gordon explains that while chess is certainly about strategy, “the other part is the mental space that the kids have to live in, the pressure. In the last couple of rounds, they had a bond between them, they helped each other. There was an incredible amount of presence of mind and awareness.”

There’s other great news coming out of PS/MS 282 as of late. “Our girls Rugby team just won city championships and our co-ed team runner up. Park Slope 282 has both brains and brawn,” says Principal Hoke.

Congrats to the teams, students, faculty, parents, and administration!