Many of you know I am the President of the Hawaii Chess Federation and I run a program called "Chess in the Schools."

In the last year some of our students from Hawaii have done us proud.  We have the 9^th Grade National Champion out of our chess club in Mililani and this month we had the our first team victory in national competition.  My partner in crime Guy Ontai along with our State Open Champion Cornelius Rubsamen trained them for the event.

Below is the Press Release I sent out that was picked up by the local newspaper.

For Immediate Release

December 16, 2006

Hawaii Chess Federation

P.O. Box 893636 • Mililani, HI  96789

Contact:  Randy Prothero  (808) 384-5645  gambit7@hawaii.rr.com

Kamehameha Schools Win K-6 Blitz Tournament at the 2006 National K-12 / Collegiate Championship  

            State Champion Kamehameha Elementary School Chess Team competed at the 2006 National K-12/ Collegiate Championship and took first place in the K-6 Blitz Team Tournament.  Team members included 6^th graders Tristan Kaonohi, Likeke Aipa, and 5^th grader Nathaniel Brown.  They had several east coast teams following close behind.   

The team also won several individual trophies during the Blitz event led by an 8^th place overall finish by 6^th grader Tristan Kaonohi.

This was their second time to compete in a national scholastic event.  Over 1500 elementary school children competed at the Nationals conducted December 8-10, 2006 at Disney's Coronado Springs resort in Lake Buena Vista Florida.

            Also competing from Hawaii; William Chen, 7^th grader from Punahou School and  (Blaise) Kapena Lum, 6^th grader from Maryknoll School.  Who also had strong showing in the individual events.

            1,540 players representing 40 states were represented at the 2006 National K-12 / Collegiate Championship

The Kamehameha Elementary Chess Team will continue to train hard.   They are planning to compete in possibly three national events in 2007.  Volunteer coaches Guy Ontai (State Scholastic Chess Director), Cornelius Rubsamen (Current State Adult Champion) are already setting an aggressive training schedule.

Results from the 2006 National K-12/ Collegiate Championship.

Individual:  http://www.alchess.com/chess/06/k12/?page=STANDINGS&xsection=

Team:  http://www.alchess.com/chess/06/k12/?page=TEAM&xsection=

Local schedule and additional information at the Hawaii Chess Federation's home page, http://www.hawaiichess.org/.

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The Hawaii Chess Federation is the state affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, the governing body of chess in the United States.