Competition Chess

The Chess Teams from Vidalia High School, J.R. Trippe Middle School, and Vidalia Heritage Academy have competed in local matches during this past week.

On January 24, J.R. Trippe hosted a chess match involving 20 players from the 3 schools. The J.R. Trippe team members won 18 games, lost 10 games, and had 1 draw, while the VHS team had 12 wins and 11 losses. Vidalia Heritage Academy sent its Elementary team, which won 6 games, had 15 losses, and 1 draw. The top individual player for the match was Sukamar Paidi, a Sophomore at VHS, who had 5 wins. VHS Freshman Liam MacGregor won 4 games, while Isaac Fontaine of VHA and J.R. Trippe's Ethan Hart also won 4 games each. On January 27, Vidalia High School hosted a 3-way chess match of VHA's Middle School team, J.R. Trippe's team, and VHS. Paidi and Landry Wheeler of VHS were both undefeated. The chess team from J.R. Trippe came in first while the VHA Middle School team finished in second place. Coach J.A. Youngblood conducted the two local matches, and he was pleased with the participation and camaraderie of the students from the three schools. He hopes that the young chess players will continue to participate in future matches.

Vidalia Heritage Academy will compete in the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools' State Chess Tournament on February 2, in Atlanta. Youngblood will direct an Invitational Chess Tournament on March 12, at Southeastern Technical College, teams from several surrounding counties will participate in this invitational competition.