ClaustMont 2013

Over 2,200 miles lie between Tennessee and the country of Columbia in South America. Thanks to chess.com, Chesskids from both areas can be connected. Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) in Nashville, Tennessee and Colegio Claustro Moderno (Modern Cloister School translated to English) in Bogota, Columbia have organized an annual, 4-board match between their two programs. The 2013 edition of this event was only the second year, but the fourth match. They have done two 'scrimmage' practice sessions and two official matches. They compete to see which school will get to display the ClaustMont Cup (Copa ClaustMont in Spanish) for the next year. 

Both programs use the organization of this match to honor admirable figures in their schools' histories. MBA lost its beloved debate coach Billy Tate last spring and both groups of boys competed in his memory. MBA has a lengthy resume of great debate accomplishments. The 2012 ClaustMont was in memorian of Juan Torres, an equally special philosophy teacher at Colegio Claustro Moderno. Both teachers are sorely missed, but their students continue their legacy by battling it out over the 64 squares. 

(The team from South America: Salomón Ortiz, Francisco Medellín and Milton Camargo)

MBA has come to the board the last two years as favorites and won both matches. Their team is considered a top-10 program in the country after their 10th place showing in the Championship K-9 section at the 2013 Super Nationals. However, Colegio Claustro Modern is not far behind. When word got out that MBA had hired a local chess master to train their team, the Colombian team also found a master teacher to come and work with their group of guys. Look for them to close the gap very soon. Here are some photos and games from this year's fun event. 

Vincent Zhang on the left calling his brother Alvin to find out why he is late to the match. Lucas Pao on the right at his console. Lucas, the highest rated player on the team, has recorded a top-25 finish at his last three US scholastic Nationals events. Vincent was a part of the top-10 MBA finish at Super Nationals last spring. Here is Lucas' board one victory in the match. We see the typical excitement that comes out of an opposite sides castling position. 

In the next game, Vincent hangs a piece early on to a very common queen fork tactic. However, black leaves his king in the center for too long and a discovered check gets the piece back. It is great how internet chess creates such exciting, power packed chess. 
Many thanks go out to Coach Mike Davidson for his role in organizing the match from the MBA end and Juan Carlos in Bogota. Also, much appreciation is showed to Daniel Paolicchi who operates the learning language computer lab and acts as the translator to proctor the match. We can't wait to see how these teams have progressed next season! 

(L to R: Vincent Zhang and Julian Habermann at their consoles during the internet match. MBA's learning language lab is perfect for this type of event.)