On Saturday, May 3, 13 elementary and middle school students from the Lexington City Schools competed in the 2025 Southwest Virginia Championships chess tournament in Roanoke.
Three students from Waddell Elementary School, Graham Davis, Arham Hasan, and Henry Straub, played in the Beginners section of the tournament and finished in a three-way tie for first place, with three wins each (out of four rounds).
Six students from Waddell participated as a team in the K-5 section of the tournament, finishing in first place out of seven teams. The Bulldogs were led by Luca Favero, who finished in second overall with 3.5 points out of a possible 4, and Theo Buenafe and Caleb Rodocker, who each had three wins (finishing in fourth and seventh place, respectively). The rest of the players also played well, with two wins each (Arianna Hemmati, Benjamin Rajsky, and Henry Rahl).
Another Waddell student, fifth-grader Ahmad Hasan, opted to play in the more challenging K-8 section of the tournament, winning three games and finishing in sixth place overall.
Three students from Lylburn Downing Middle School participated as a team in the K-8 section of the tournament. Despite being short-handed (with several LDMS players at a band event for the day), the team did well, finishing in fifth place overall.
WADDELL students who competed in the Beginners section of the tournament included (from left to right) Henry Straub, Arham Hasan, and Graham Davis.
LDMS students who competed in the K-8 section the tournament included Lilianne King and Harry Loughhead (wearing their LDMS Chess Club t-shirts) and Theo Rahl (standing, on the left). Also pictured are Waddell students Henry Rahl (standing, in the middle) and Ahmad Hasan (standing, on the right).
