Chess Club

2023-2024 Chairs: Emily Liu, Thu-An Lai, and Anutham Adusumilli

Medina Elementary has one of the largest, most award-winning Chess clubs in the Northwest! For the 2023-2024 school year, Chess Club will keep having in-person classes on Wednesdays. Registration only opens in September, for the club sessions from Oct. 2023 to mid May 2024. This year's registration will start on September 18th and sessions start on October 4th. Please stay tuned to our announcement on PTA Byte Newsletters. Get your questions ready and meet us on the 8/31 Back to School Day!

This year the 2024 National Elementary (K-6) Championship will be held in Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center (400 North High Street, Columbus, OH, 43215).

We are calling for full time volunteers! If you are interested in being a parent volunteer, please contact chessclub@medinapta.org.

Chess Info Night

Chess Information Night is on Thursday, September 14th, 6:30-7:30pm at Medina Elementary after Ice Cream Social.

Coach Dr. Leo will be talking about the role of chess in education and our great Medina Chess club. Come learn about our club and what we’re all about. Light refreshments will be included.

Please note kids are welcome

Registration

Registration opens: Monday, September 18, 2023 at 8:30am.

This Registration is for the school year 2023-2024.

We have different levels for K-5 kids: Beginner, Beginner to Intermediate, Intermediate, Intermediate to Advanced, Advanced (Grade 4-5 only).

How to Register: Medina Chess Club is for PTA members Only. Please purchase/renew your PTA annual membership before registration day. Otherwise you cannot find the registration form on 9/18. Find the Chess Club registration form in My Family's Forms/Paperwork once registration opens. Complete the form and payment. You can choose to send a check. If the spots you want are all sold out, please join the waitlist.

If you need financial assistance to pay the club fee, please choose the "pay by check" option when checking out, so your registration will not be delayed. Then, contact our counselor Ms. Geck (gecke@bsd405.org) to initiate the process.

IMPORTANT: To register, you must agree to all Chess Club policies on the registration form. Read the policies.

Cost: $450 for regular class, $550 for 4th/5th grades advanced 1.5 hours class (Fee covers coach's fees. )

Club Meetings

Chess Club meets Wednesdays 12:30-1:30pm (12:30-2:00pm for the grade 4-5th advanced class).

Chess Club meeting dates:

Month	Dates
October	4, 11, 18, 25
November	1, 8, 15 (No session on 11/22)
December	6 (No sessions over Winter Break)
January	3, 10, 17, 24, 31
February	7, 14, 28 (No sessions in Mid-Winter Break)
March	6, 13, 20, 27
April	3, 17, 24 (No sessions in Spring Break)
May	1, 8, 15

All dates are tentative. If we must cancel a Chess Club session, we will email parents with as much notice as possible.

Please email chessclub@medinapta.org if your child will not be able to attend a session.

TOURNAMENTS

We have 2 tournaments every year, our largest Medina All City will be held February 3, 2024 and Queen’s Quest an all girls tournament, March 3, 2024.

If your child has earned 3 points or more in a qualifying tournament including Medina All City or Queen's Quest they are qualified to play at Washington State Tournament (Date TBA). Our school has a strong presence every year at the State Tournament.

If interested, there are other qualifier tournaments that your child can participate in order to qualify for state:

https://chessreg.com/wsecc

2023 Washington State Chess Tournament

The 2023 Washington State Chess Championship Tournament was held on April 29th in Tacoma. We have more than 50 kids participating. Team Medina earned 3rd place (K-6 Section) in a very close competition. Congratulations!

2023 Medina All City Tournament

2023 Medina All City was held on March 26th. It was a big success with 250 participants from 66 schools. Medina got 1st place in Team award.

2023 All Girls Queen’s Quest Chess Tournament

2023 All Girls Queen’s Quest Chess Tournament was held on 1/28/23 at Medina Elementary. 118 chess players attended this event including 26 girls from our school.

Susan Polgar Foundation National Open

The 17th SPFNO chess tournament was held in Bellevue on October 22-23, 2022. More than 30 Medina students participated in this great event! Medina Team won 1st place in K-3 group and 4th place in 4-12 group. Congratulations!

National Elementary Championship
The National Elementary (K-6) Championship Chess Tournament was held in Columbus, Ohio on May 13-15, 2022.

The Medina Elementary chess team, represented by Ted W, Michael X, Ares W, and Michael Z, scored 17.5 points in the 7-round tournament and won third place in the K-3 championship section! Congratulations!

Washington State Chess Tournament

The Washington State Championship Chess Tournament was held in Tacoma on April 30, 2022.

The Medina Elementary team placed 2nd in the grade 1-3 section and 1st the grade 4-6 section! Congratulations!

Medina Elementary was represented by: David P, Liana B, Vijay U, Adrina B, Aida E, Aiden W, Ananya T, Daniel D, Ethan W, Harry P, Kavir A, Owen Y, Pari G, Sakash A, Ted W, Alexander T, Christian L, Derek W, Jamie H, Michael X, Michael Z, William H, Aaron Z, Alison D, Bogdan G, Derek W, Derrick S, Sanjay U, Vivaan M, Yiheng Y, Daniel P, Emily H, Haoyun Z, Michelle Z.

Presidential Scholastic Chess Tournament

The Presidential Scholastic Chess Tournament was held on February 21, 2022 at the Redmond Marriott. 8 students from Medina Elementary played in this tournament and helped our school win the 1st place team trophy. They are Ares W, Sanjay U, Ethan Z, Emily H, Victor F, Vijay U, Ananya T, and Brian H. Congratulations!

Susan Polgar Foundation National Open

The Susan Polgar Foundation National Open chess tournament was held in Seattle on October 2-3, 2021. Medina Elementary was represented by Michelle Z, Ted W, Sanjay U, Michael X, Aaron Z, Michael Z, Ares W, Starling C, Sakash A, and Francesca S.

The school team score was calculated from the top 4 scoring players with Michelle contributing 6 points!.

Ted had 5 points, Sanjay had 4 points. Both Michael and Aaron had 3 points.

Medina Elementary won 1st place as a team! Congratulations!

Policies

FEES: I agree to pay all fees by Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

ELIGIBILITY: Our afterschool clubs (including Chess Club) are ONLY for CURRENT-ENROLLED Medina students with ACTIVE Medina PTA membership. You must enrolled with Medina Elementary school at the time attending the club and have a valid Medina PTA family or individual membership for the 2023-2024 school year. You agree that if your kid is not currently enrolled with Medina Elementary school OR do not purchase PTA membership by the first class, your child will be withdrawn from Medina Chess Club with no refund.

REFUNDS: I agree to the following refund policy: If parents decide to withdraw from a class after registering for the class and before the first class starts, a 5% tuition process fee will be charged. If parents decide to withdraw from the class after the first class starts but before second class, a 10% tuition process fee will be charged. After second class, there'll be no refunds.

PICK-UP: Our parent classroom volunteers are required to stay until the last child is picked up from class. Please respect our volunteers’ time by picking your child up promptly at 1:25 (pick up for Advanced class is 1:55). If you wish to permit your child to sign him/herself out from class and walk/bike home, you must complete the Medina Elementary Chess Club Permission Slip to Walk/Bike Home found on our website, medinapta.org, and return it to our Chess Club Co-Chairs.

BEHAVIOR: Parents and students are expected to behave respectfully to each other, their coaches, and anyone associated with Medina PTA and the Chess Club. If we feel you or your student’s behavior is disruptive, or you or your student are consistently disrespectful, we reserve the right to withdraw your student (after sufficient warnings) with no refunds.

ABSENCES: If my child will not be at chess club, I will email chessclub@medinapta.org prior to that day’s chess class start time. I understand that two unexcused absences may result in removal of my student from the club without refund.

SAFETY: You agree to follow, and instruct your child to follow, all Bellevue School District, Medina Elementary, and Medina PTA safety protocols, including hand hygiene, assigned seating, distancing, masking, and staying home when sick. If you or your child do not follow safety protocols, we reserve the right to withdraw your child (with sufficient warnings) with no refunds.

2021-2022 RECAP

This year was both challenging and rewarding. The return to in-person sessions would not have been possible without the hard work of our coaches and volunteers! We successfully held two state-wide online Tournaments: Medina All-City and Queen's Quest. Our students did an amazing job in multiple other tournaments. The Medina Elementary team placed 2nd in the grade 1-3 group at the 2022 Washington State Chess Championship and won 1st in the grade 4-6 group. At the National Chess Championship, our students placed 3rd in the grade 1-3 group. Throughout the year, the kids learned to play chess, built friendships and enjoyed several fun club activities.

2020-2021 RECAP

We appreciate everyone's patience with last year's virtual chess sessions.

ChessKid was a great way to play with friends in a safe online environment.

2019-2020 RECAP

Congratulations to all the students that participated in the first ever online Washington State Chess Championship Tournament in May. Medina Elementary took FIRST PLACE in the 1st-3rd grade and 4th-6th grade team awards. We want to thank you and your children for another great year of the Medina Chess Club!