Chess champions Daniel Dunning, Jack Mockler and Michael Brown. Courtesy photo

LAHS News:

Los Alamos High School was proudly represented recently by three players who went up against some of the best speed chess or “Blitz” players in the country in the K-12 Open section of the 2013 SuperNationals.

LAHS seniors Daniel Dunning, Jack Mockler and Michael Brown brought home the Blitz Trophy – the first such national team trophy in 20 years.

Blitz constrains each player to only five minutes to make all their moves or face losing on the lack of time. Many of the top high school teams brought more than a dozen players, with only the top four results counting toward the team’s total. Winning a national trophy with only a team of three is a significant accomplishment.

Every four years the best scholastic chess players in the country gather in Nashville, Tenn., at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, the largest non-casino hotel in the U.S., for days of intense competition with pride, trophies and college scholarships on the line.

The 2013 SuperNationals once again broke the record for the largest over-board chess event in history with more than 5,300 participants from 49 states and more than 1,300 schools.

The three LAHS chess champs said that they are each considering continuing their chess careers in some fashion at the university level next year.