Chess Team

Trinity once again offers the Trinity Chess Team for our students led by Chess Expert, Jay Stallings, director of the California Youth Chess League.

“Chess is a great game, “ says Coach Jay. ”You can play your entire life. It brings together people from all different walks of life, but my favorite thing about chess is seeing grandparents playing with their grandchildren. It’s the only thing that my children remember doing with my late father.”

Coach Jay is a titled player (Expert), with 14 years of chess-teaching experience. In 2005, he took Meadows Elementary to the SuperNationals in Nashville, TN where they finished as the top public K-6 School in the nation (tied for 2nd overall).

In Trinity’s first year of chess, the team caused quite a stir among the Southern California Chess Community. After finishing 2nd in the K-1st Grade Kern County Chess Championships in Bakersfield, Trinity took a bigger team to Ventura for the 2008 Western States Chess Championships and won the title of K-1st Grade Team Champs! Students will have the opportunity to play in numerous tournaments. These tournaments have divisions for beginners, so nobody is excluded!

Returning Trinity Chess Team members will continue where they left off – getting into more advanced strategies such as specific opening plans, common checkmate patterns, and tricks and traps in the endgame. New students will start from scratch, but have the opportunity to move at their own pace. Players from Beginner to Expert are welcome! We have 4 levels of lesson books, and many supplemental books as well.

Research has shown amazing things regarding the benefits of chess. Students who learn and play chess have markedly improved test scores in Math and English. Of course, they also gain confidence in problem-solving, learn the value of patient study, and realize that hasty decisions often yield poor results.

Chess will be offered once this Fall, and once in the Spring this year. The Fall classes will be held on Wednesdays, from 3-4:15pm beginning October 29th and continuing for 7 weeks, ending on December 17th. Flyers will come home during September.

If you are interested in the Trinity Chess Team, contact Coach Jay at coachjay@cycl.org. You can also visit his website for the California Youth Chess League.