Journal staff
More than 200 students from a dozen local schools took part in the St. Clair District Catholic School Board’s 34th annual chess tournament this week, held at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Sarnia.
“Chess is a tremendous learning tool, which helps students to develop many skills, most especially how to focus on a task before them,” convenor and French teacher Chris Vaillant said, adding that students from area French language Catholic schools also participated.
A girls' category was also added to help encourage more female students to pick up the game, with both team and individual awards handed out – Gregory Hogan won top honours for the Overall Girls' Team, while École St-Thomas d'Aquin's Keira Hagan was named the Overall Girls' Individual winner.
The tournament has become so popular that a second event was added in Chatham, where about 90 students were expected to participate.
Here is a list of the winners:
Team results
Primary (Grades 1-3): École St-Thomas d'Aquin
Junior (Grades 4-6): St. Philip, Petrolia
Intermediate (Grades 7-8): St. Matthew, Sarnia
Overall Girls' Team: Gregory A. Hogan, Sarnia
Individual results:
GRADE 1-3
1st place, Rowan Spiller (École St-Thomas d'Aquin)
2nd place, Maitland Aarts (St. Peter Canisius)
3rd place, Luke Atkin-McGill (Holy Trinity)
GRADE 4
1st place, Wesley Bouck (École St-Thomas d'Aquin)
2nd place, Keira Hagan (École St-Thomas d'Aquin)
3rd place, Brayden Dumont (Holy Trinity)
GRADE 5
1st place, Jake Van Gorp (St. Peter Canisius)
2nd place, Gary Ethier-Verberne (St. Philip) & Nico Crombeen (Sacred Heart, Sarnia)
GRADE 6
1st place, Yaroslav Volodin (St. Matthew)
2nd place, Tomi O. (St. Michael)
3rd place, Marcus Lazcano (Holy Trinity)
GRADE 7
1st place, Josh Irving (Sacred Heart, Sarnia)
2nd place, Ace Zanoria (St. Matthew)
3rd place, Parker French (Saint-François-Xavier)