Tristan Francis (left) is moments away from moving his pawn during a match against Julien Anderson.
There is a new Medical Lake Middle School chess champion and his name is Tristan Francis.
Francis won the school's annual chess tournament after he defeated Jeffrey Bailey in the championship match. The tournament was held at the middle school on May 11. Due to time constraints, Francis and Bailey had their final match the next day after school.
During their match, Francis tricked Bailey into putting his queen in the way of Francis' bishop.
"From there, I took his pieces out one by one," Francis said. He trapped Bailey's king in the corner for the checkmate.
Paul Ryan, adviser to the middle school's chess club, holds the tournament every year as a way to finish the season. He invites his students, along with anyone in the community to compete in the event. This year's tournament had 11 participants, with most of them participating in the club.
Ryan said this year's sixth-graders were some of the best players he has had at that grade level, while the seventh- and eighth-graders were good, but also "some of the rowdiest kids" he had.
"I had someone beat me this year, which doesn't happen very much," Ryan said.
That student was Joshua Wagner, who was the 2016 eighth-grade and under division champion.
Francis went 3-0 on his way to the finals, including wins against Julien Anderson, Wagner and Jake Olmstead.
Bailey won his first two matches before he lost to Olmstead in the semifinals. He won his next three matches in the consolation bracket. Olmstead forfeited their rematch, allowing Bailey to advance to the championship round against Francis.
"Jeff has improved so much and Tristan has always been good," Ryan said. "When you play against better people, you learn a lot more."
Besides playing in the club, Francis learned how to play chess from his grandfather and describes his strategy as "straight offense." While chess is a thinking game, Francis also likes to talk during his matches in hopes of throwing his opponents off their game.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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