Four of the five Thurston chess teams competing in the state team tournament last weekend came back with trophies, including the State Championship title in the K-5th grade section, won by the team of Haoyang Tang, Leon Pescador, Krithika Swaminathan, and Isaac Balinski. Other teams were: Ashwin Fujii, David Vallem, Deniz Karabakal, and Graham Keep, winning 3rd Place in K-5; Natasha Kumar, Lorna Barron, Uswa Iqbal, and Caroline Elliott, winning 6th Place in the K-5 Reserve section; Daniel Yuan, Oliver Barron, Naveen Fujii, and Rohan Kumar winning 3rd Place in the K-3 section; and Shashank Swaminathan, Suzan Karabakal, Hasan Iqbal, and Leo Tunkle in K-3. Congratulations to everyone on their excellent effort, fantastic teamwork and impeccable sportsmanship throughout a very long day!

Medals were also awarded for top individual finishes at each board position. Deniz Karabakal and Leon Pescador won Gold with perfect 5 point scores. Graham Keep, Krithika Swaminathan, Daniel Yuan, Naveen Fujii, and Rohan Kumar won Silver with 4 or 4.5 points. Ashwin Fujii and Natasha Kumar won Bronze with 3.5 points.

Finally, congratulations on the State Championship won in the K-6 section by the Clague team that included Thurston alumni Jonathan Zhou, Lucy Yuan, and Chucky Daniels, and also to Coach Garrison, who had 12 teams out of his 18 win top prizes, including the State Championship in three of the four sections.