by Garth Meyer
The First Annual Kiwanis/Elks Lodge South Bay Chess Championships took place Sunday, Jan. 21 with 62 youth participants.
The limit was 50, ages 8-18, but organizers let them keep coming in to the Redondo Beach Elks Lodge #1378, including a six-and-a-half-year old boy whose mother assured officials that he could match up to the older kids.
“It went fantastic. We’re going for a hundred (participants) next year,” said John Gran, tournament director.
The competition was a round robin, each entrant in each of five levels playing each other once. Players earned a point for a win, zero for a loss and .5 for a draw (when neither got a checkmate).
Games were played on long tables in the Elks Club Lodge Room. No parents were allowed into the competition area.
Kids came from 32 different schools. The tournament was officiated by three officers of the Chess Palace, based in Garden Grove. Volunteers from RUHS Key Club also helped monitor games.
First, second and third place finishers in each category received trophies.
The six and half-year-old won 5 of his 11 matches.
The free event was sponsored by South Bay Credit Union and funded by a grant from Kiwanis International. The Elks provided food.
Former city councilman Gran is an Elks Lodge #1378 trustee and past president of Redondo Beach Kiwanis. ER
