Mansfield Chess Team Hosts Tournament

Last Thursday, the Mansfield Junior High and Senior High Chess Team gathered together to participate in the second annual Mansfield Tiger Chess Tournament. The Tigers competed against teams from Booneville, Magazine, Danville, Lavaca, and Mountainburg. There was at the maximum teams of ten competing for either a first place or second place trophy. On top of the team trophies, players could win individual awards for top three players in their division. Players competed in five games earning one point for a victory, half a point for a draw, and no point for a loss. At the end of five rounds we determined a winner. Players point totals were added together to determine team places.
This year Mansfield brought one full Junior High team and a few extras to compete in the tournament, including five new comers to the game of chess. New comers to the team were led in points by Travis Martin and Nathaniel Sartin with 3 points. Other new comers were Nathaniel Elmore 2 points, Courtney Cheeseman 1 point, and Mykinzi Morgan. Front runner for the Junior High team was 8^th grader Zayne Dugan. He was undefeated going into the final match were he lost to the tournament champion. Zayne made Mansfield proud and helped lead the Tigers to a half point victory over Booneville to win first place in the tournament. Four other players played very well Enny Vouthy, Joey Flynt, Reegan Emery and Ethan Streets with 3 points.  Other players that competed were graders Lillian Buccella 2 points, Peyton Martin 2 points, Kaitlin Peterson 1 point, Seth Johnston 1 point, and Katelyn Salmeron 1 point. Congratulations to the Junior High Tigers Chess Team for winning the tournament!
The Senior High competed in the tournament as well. The team was led by 10^th grader Jet Scoma with 3 points. Jet competed well but not as well as he had hoped. He said he was off his game a bit this tournament and plans on turning it around next time. Other competitors were Dillon Hines with 1 point, new comer Judson Weaver with 1 point, and Devon Pyles with 2 points.
Senior Devon Pyles competed in his final out-of-school tournament of his high school career. I can’t speak highly enough of Devon’s character said Coach Joshua Bryan. He has been the vocal leader and role model of the team for a few years now. Devon plans on enlisting in the armed forces out of high school which speaks volumes of this young man’s character. I have truly enjoyed getting to see him mature and couldn’t be prouder of him. I wish him the best and look forward to seeing where his future plans lead him.
Congratulations to both teams as they look towards their in school tournament at the end of the year to see who will be crowned Junior High and Senior High champion of the year.
The Chess Team also wanted to extend a special thank you to Fellowship Baptist Church in Witcherville, AR for allowing us to host the tournament there again this year. Thank You Again!