The Greene School at the 2023 National Elementary Championship

This special guest post was written by NM Bryan Tillis, chess team coach at The Greene School, whose students recently had great success at the 2023 National Elementary Championship. Read on to discover how Legend Smith, Rowan Slifer, Hendrix Smith, and Theodore Soylemez became Blitz champions in their age group!

The 2023 National Elementary Championships was a memorable weekend for our young team from The Greene School in West Palm Beach, Florida. I wanted to take a minute to recognize their hard work and success. Full credit goes to the US Chess staff who put on a wonderful event on Mother’s Day weekend at a great location, the Baltimore Convention Center.

With the stadium being directly across the street from the playing venue, it provided players the opportunity to catch live baseball action at the Baltimore Orioles.

It was a dream to win a section at nationals, and our opportunity came during the Blitz event.

Chess players Legend Smith, Rowan Slifer, Hendrix Smith, Theodore Soylemez, and coach.)

The team who won the 2023 National Blitz K-3 Championship left to right: Legend Smith, Rowan Slifer, Hendrix Smith, Theodore Soylemez, and coach.

The students' dedication to chess is impressive. At just ages 7 and 8 years old, these four boys are part of the Palm Beach Chess morning program that meets at 7 a.m. five days a week before the school day begins. Here is a sample of one of our recent lessons on thinking outside the box:

WFM Vladlena Ciubarra teaching a chess lesson.

Assistant Coach WFM Vladlena Ciubarra using Chess.com to present a beautiful tactic that engines struggle with: 

Teddy Soylemez

Teddy earned a medal individually for his result, with this being his favorite game from the event:

One of the most important ingredients to a chess team is having supportive parents that make it all possible. Happy belated Mother’s Day to the chess moms, especially my mother. I would not be doing what I do today without her dedication, love, and support taking me to countless tournaments.

We hope you enjoyed this insight into the lives of junior chess champions. Thanks to Bryan for writing this guest post, and congratulations to The Greene School for their amazing performance!