About 600 elementary students from 23 schools sat one Saturday at tables with checkered boards at Waterford School. They were silent except for an occasionally clicking of plastic.

After about 10 hours, 93 Waterford students erupted in cheers as they were announced the elementary school chess champions. In their back-to-back title, the chess enthusiasts scored 26 out of a possible 30 points.

“The team, we were elated, excited—and tired too,” Waterford coach Alexander Gustafsson said. “Chess is very competitive. It’s demanding physically, mentally, emotionally. It’s serious business. Winning it again, or staying on top to prove you’re a champion, that it’s not a fluke, is very difficult.”

American Preparatory Academy took second place with 23.5 points.

“The morning before the chess tournament started, I addressed our students and reminded them they all had worked hard. It’s a lot of sacrifice of time and energy for the kids and parents to be there all day and all the hours they put in before,” he said. “I was proud of them as I’ve watched them get their individual trophies. It was a great moment when we all held the team trophy.”

Waterford kindergartners swept the top three places. Grace Shang took first place, with Katie Gao and Daniel Beecher coming in second and third.

“We had a couple ties for first place in second and third grade,” Gustafsson said.

Second-grader Allen Chip Tonkin-Nemeth tied for first place and Bo Kang and Gidon Guo tied for first place in third grade.

“There was a four-way tie for first place, so they did a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker, which is something you don’t really have a lot of control over, is based on how well your opponent did,” he said, noting it is similar to sports’ RPI ranking.

After the tiebreaker, Allen took second place in second grade, while Bo was crowned champion in third grade and Gidon ended up third.

“These kids, they’re practicing an hour per day, six days per week, all year,” Gustafsson said, adding that he, as a candidate master player, also gives private lessons to about 25 students every week.

Chess is a required class for grades one through five at Waterford. About 70 students are in each grade.

“Most of them are brand new to chess so I teach them something and let them play,” he said, noting chess club is similar, but with more time than the 40-minute class period to answer questions. “Chess is good for operational thinking—if I do this, this happens—and that is the same thinking that’s used in mathematics and computer science. In chess, they learn to have a plan and when they have a move, to look for a better one. More than that, many social skills are built and learned like winning with grace, losing with grace and resiliency. Being resilient develops your character because no matter how good you are, you’re going to lose, and you need to learn how to cope with that. There’s a lot you can learn from chess and Waterford sees the value in that. They care about the kids enjoying it and building these skills.”

Before teaching at Waterford, Gustafsson taught at Challenger in Lehi, building that school’s chess culture.

“It took some time to train those kids so they could be good players and state champions,” he said. “Now it’s Waterford’s time. I don’t think it’s going to go away for a while.”

Before Gustafsson was hired at Waterford, he remembered seeing “a sea of kids all wearing the same shirt.” He learned they were from Waterford and was impressed with the number of students participating. 

“When I got hired on to Waterford, I said, ‘I love your enthusiasm, but let’s focus on getting better.’ The kids put in great effort and now they’re a strong team. I’m proud of them,” Gustafsson said, “Can we win a third time? I think we have good chances. It’s never a guarantee because there’s a lot of people who are hungry.” λ