The 48th annual New York State Scholastic Chess Championship was held in Saratoga Springs Feb. 28 through March 1. More than 1,000 scholastic chess players battled for the much coveted state champion title.
Wesley Wang of Jericho’s Jackson Elementary School competed in the Elementary Division (K-6), which attracted 200 players. After two days and six rounds of intense battling, Wang became the 2015 New York State Champion in the Elementary (K-6) Division—four years after he won the 2011 state championship in the K-1 division.
The young chess ace started playing at age of five and has been coached by International Grandmaster Gennady Sagalchik. In September 2014. he represented the U.S. and went to South Africa to compete in 2014 World Youth Chess Championship. According to U.S. Chess Federation’s Top 100 List, he is currently ranked no. 4 in the 10-year-old age group in the nation.
In the same tournament, four ninth-graders, Warren Wang, Oliver Liu, Brian Fong and Matt Tschetter represented Jericho High School and competed in the Junior High School Championship Division and were placed sixth in the division. Wang’s brother, Warren Wang, also a strong competitive player, won the no. 7 individual trophy in Junior High School Division.
