Spotlight On New York City ChessKid Champion!

ChessKid occasionally spotlights the successes of ChessKids in their over-the-board tournaments and today we bring you the story of a young champion from the Big Apple!

Eight-year-old Chesskid.com enthusiast, Leo Berkson, placed first in the 2019 Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championship [Primary Under-1000 section] last month. The tournament was held at the Brooklyn Marriott on January 6th, 2019.

Leo Berkson, 2019 New York City champion and avid ChessKid! Photo: Daniella Berkson. 

Leo is a third grader at P.S.166 on the Upper West Side in New York City and plays on the school's chess team, the Manhattan Knights. Now in its 19th year, the Manhattan Knights boast consistent top honors in all levels of tournament play. At the 2018 U.S. Chess Federation’s National Elementary Championships in Nashville, Tennessee, they placed 3rd in the K-5 Championship section, 1st in the K-6 U1400 section, 6th in the K-5 U1200 section and 4th in the K-5 U900 section.

At the recent city tournament, the team competed against more than 1500 children from public and private schools throughout the entire New York City metropolitan area to earn the following team standings:

Here's one of Leo's best games from the tournament!

Leo started playing chess in kindergarten at P.S.166. The team credits its incredible success to its outstanding coaches, including National Master Raul Marquez, Jonathan Corbblah (aka "Mousetrap" on Chesskid.com -- check out his videos here), and Grandmaster Irina Krush, who have all helped to grow the program into what it is today.

The P.S. 166 Manhattan Knights and their many awards after the 2018 National Elementary Championships. Raul Marquez is top left on back row, Irina Krush is middle of back row, and Jonathan Corbblah is tallest one top right. Photo: Daniella Berkson.

Many kids on the team hone their skills by using the Chesskid.com website and app, and Leo uses the site a lot to get ready for his big events.