The Trinity Lower School Chess Team ended its 2021 season with a 42-18 win over Midland Christian. That win finished an undefeated season for the fourth through sixth grade Chargers.

The Chargers were led by one of the best captains in their long history, sixth grader Jordan Kaczor. Jordan took the matches seriously, worked to get better, and was a perfect leader and role model for the younger players. He also backed up his position with a great season. Playing on board one meant Jordan had to play the best players on every opposing team. With no easy games to rest on, Jordan finished the season with 12 wins, no losses and no draws.

Jordan was part of four sixth graders who occupied boards one through four and dominated the other teams' top players. Jacob Kaczor finished with a record of 11-1-0, Brad Scharbauer was 7-2, and Mateo Gil was 10-1. With 40 wins and three losses from the top four, the rest of the Trinity team always had a big advantage.

The second big reason for Trinity's undefeated season was a powerful group of fourth graders. Katie Li (8-0-3) led the fourth graders, but she was only one of many strong players. Jervin Ewusie (8-3-0), Grant Levea (7-1), Tesher Scharbauer (5-1), and John Gripp (5-1) all had very positive scores playing on the middle boards.

They will all move up to higher boards and stiffer competition next season. 

Also moving up next year will be this year's top sixth grader, Charlie LaFarelle, who finished the season at 10-1-0, mostly at board five. Charlie looks like the favorite to step up to board one next season, which will mean taking on the toughest competition and a leadership role on everyone's favorite team. Among fifth graders, the Chargers will look to Kasen Shepherd (9-1-2) and Rishi Ravuri (8-0-2) to carry the load on the upper boards when they play next year as sixth graders.

It's always an exciting match when the Chargers make the long drive to Greenwood, and this year's match was heightened by Greenwood's top board Brayden Torres who came into the match undefeated. The result was less a battle than expected as the Chargers won 21-5, and Jordan, Jacob and Brad each were able to defeat Brayden. But the Greenwood star would later get his revenge.

The Chargers' last game against Midland Christian was rescheduled due to ice and power outages, but it was rescheduled on a day that Brad couldn't play, and there was a fourth grade birthday party that took a whole group of the best fourth graders out of the lineup. In the end, the match was a clear 42-18 win.

After the season, the best six players from each school played for the Midland City Championship. The Charger team was Jordan, Jacob, Brad, Mateo, Charlie and Katie. At the end of round one, Trinity had six points out of a possible six, and they had 11 of a possible 12 after two rounds, but in the third round, the Chargers faltered, winning only two of six games. That set up the exciting last round. There were only two undefeated players, Trinity's Brad and Greenwood's Brayden. Brayden beat two of Trinity's best players getting to the final round and Brad had his best day, winning one game with a beautiful queen and king and rook fork. It was an extremely stressful final for the City championship that went right down to the final seconds, but in the end, Brayden had his revenge, winning the game when he had ten seconds left on his clock. Jordan finished second, Brad was third, and Charlie was fourth. Katie also finished 3-1 but didn't get a trophy because of tie-breakers. Trinity won the team trophy with 16.5 points. Greenwood was second with 14, Hillander was third with 13, Permian Classical was fourth with 9 and Midland Christian was fifth with 7.5.

So ends the Lower School chess team's season. Now it's the chance for the Upper School team to start their season and get ready for an anticipated huge matchup against Lee High, a team they beat by just one point last year and that is reportedly much better this year.