Williams, Black shine… K6 Champions!
Benjamin Moon facing Justus Williams. Both scored 6/7 with two others, but Williams would go on to winon tiebreaks. Photo by Shaun Smith.
Atlanta hosted the Burt Lerner National Elementary Championships featuring players from kindergarten through 6th grade. There was only a couple of certainties… the tournament would draw thousands of players and among these would be a sizeable New York contingent. The New York contingent came saw and conquered as I.S. 318 dominated the proceedings.
Justus Williams (2068) and James Black, Jr. (2070) were the stars of the tournament with Williams winning the K-6 Individual Championship (6/7) and 4th overall in the Blitz Championship (10/12); Black won the K-6 Blitz Championship (10.5/12) and took 7th overall in the National Championship (5.5/7). There were 189 participants in the K-6 Section.
Scholastic All-American Josh Colas (2090) of White Plains, NY took 3rd in the Blitz and 16th in the Individuals. Colas was in the running, but lost to local favorite Benjamin Moon in the 6th round to fall out of contention.
There were more than 2000 participants coming from around the country.
Results: https://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2010/elem/?page=RESULTS
Issac Bareyev (left) and James Black, Jr. (right) enjoy the moment with teammate, Justus Williams, 2010 National Elementary Champion.
(National Elementary Champions, Blitz & Open)
Photos by Elizabeth Vicary.
Congratulation Justus!
Thank you josh for being a supportive friend and thank you Mr. Shabazz for your supportive words.
Congrads fellas! It was great to see you in action. Best of luck in the future.
Congratulations young brothers, hopefully I will be able to lose a couple games over the summer.
Congratulations James!!!!!!
Adia, ya hear brother Shabazz reporting there aint no Female Black Masters so whats really good? Adia, i have a cousin , Lester James ,he says sometimes u gotta take three steps back to get a runnin start, U know what i Mean. Besides if Justus gets too cute on the chessboard Um just gunna holla L-A-T-I- S- H- I- A !!! and he’s taken care of ,so Um not worried about him, Secret Formula. Adia, Kasparov is actually suggesting that me and shaka dont exist, Can u belive that , i think hes got to the highest level they were able to acheive with the traditional stuff, U know how much i care about what they talkin bout, Anyway, i saw some of the games on the U.S.C.F. site from the Nationals, Now Um finally realizin why the top guys been doin all this sneakin around on icc, and runnin, Thanks U.S.C.F. for being there as we struggled through the difficult times in chess, U know, They lookin at me but i aint build theses Libraries. PEACE.
Thanks again Daaim! In case you didn’t know…there is a nice complete story on Nationals on page 2/3 on uscf. They also posted 2 of Justus’ games.
correction, it’s page 4 now
I’m traveling right now. Won’t be able to see it for awhile. I’ve seen the preliminary reports.
Congrats Justus!!!!! The champ is finally hear .
I’m so proud of my little mookie!!! He’s a little weird though.As if he isn’t already busy with the demands of middle school, learning chinese and chess life….now he says he wants to be a Mason!!!! That’s hysterical! I think that would definitely make history. He’d be the first African American chinese speaking chess playing Mason. Hopefully there is a minimum age limit that he doesn’t qualify for. Lol. I’m going to do research about the Masons. Don’t know where he got this one from. Maybe 318 is behind this. I have to talk to John Galvin. Lol. Thanks everyone for your best wishes and congratulatory comments! Justus appreciated all of them.