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First came the Region V Championship: facing off against stiff competition, a Bellaire chess team placed first at the Texas Chess Association Region V Scholastic Championship in early March. Region V covers a 26-county area of Texas. The team was led by senior Douglas Jin, and included Terry Wei, Stephanie Padley and Rony Puthenveetil.

Terry Wei and Douglas Jin review strategies with JV team member Stephanie Padley.

Near the end of March, at the state tournament at the McAllen Convention Center, the Bellaire Chess Team claimed another first place trophy in the 2009 Texas Scholastic Championship, their second state title in a row. The team was led by junior William Ong, the #1 player in the state, sophomore Jeff Feng, sophomore Matthew Michaelides and junior George Fan. In all, thirteen Bellaire students contributed to the title. The Texas Scholastic Championship draws more than 1,400 outstanding players each year from elementary to college level.

The team will go on to the supernational competition on April 3 and April 4 in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We’re facing some tough competition from some very high ranked players,” said team member Michael Mavronicles. “New York, Virginia, and Illinois are all sending great players. Last year we made it to the fourth spot. This year, we’ll just see what happens. The team is ready for anything.”

Shown with their trophies are Suragh Mallela, Suman Mangu, Janak Sheth, Lokin Casturi, Jeff Feng, Zhou (Joe) Fang, George Fan, Michael Mavronicles, Terry Wei, Matthew Michaelides, Ran Zhou, Stephanie Padley, Wolfgang Minskey and William Ong.