Young Chess Masters Shine at the Franco-Nord-Ouest Chess Tournament

Supplied by Franco-Nord-Ouest…
Congratulations to the 110 young chess masters who met in Wawa on April 22 to take part in the second Franco-Nord-Ouest Chess Tournament. Wawa’s École Saint-Joseph took great pride in hosting this event that attracted francophone students from various Northwestern Ontario French Catholic and Public schools. Organizers thank school staff members and parents for supporting students in their passion for chess.

No less than 75 medals were distributed to participants. Below are the reults.

Grades 3 and 4 Category:

Teams:
1st place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Alexander Burnham, Quinn Laing, Reese Rousseau, Ethan Austin and Evelyn Stewart.
2nd place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Amelia Carruthers, Saige Dion, Madrix Bouchard, Céleste Fortier and Hana Nelson.
3rd place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa) – 2 teams tied.
” Mark Berthiaume-Christensen, Justin Overton-Blatensky, Madison Piper-Chiccarelli, Delaney Schumacher and Anjolie Bouchard.
” Izabelle Lévesque-Gagnon, Sébastien Chevrier, Joshua Black, Mya Rilley and Mathieu Lacroix-Côté.

Individual:
1st place: Aili Laird, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie).
2nd place: Alexander Burnham, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)
3rd place: Lauren Dickie, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie), Cooper Baronette-Moore, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa), Tucker Nadon, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie) and Emma-Jo-Beach, École Escalade (Wawa)

Grades 5 and 6 Category:

Teams:
1st place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Travis Terris, Kuper Fournier, Jimmy Poisson, Mathieu Lafrenière and Patrick Chevrier.
2nd place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Eben Leadbetter, Cole Smedts, Matthew Schumacher, Alain Scully and Sébastien Roberts.
3rd place: École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie): Quentin Ketterer, Alex Laird and Viviane Hamel.

Individual:
1st place: Quentin Ketterer, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie)
2nd place: Alex Laird, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie)
3rd place: Viviane Hamel, École Écho des Rapides (Sault Ste-Marie) and Mathieu Lafrenière, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)

Grades 7 and 8 Category:

Teams:
1st place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Spencer Terris, Dimitri Lévesque, Tyler Morden, Sunil Cotterill and Nicolas Lafrenière.
2nd place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Bradley Proulx, Travis Stewart-Gauthier, Jérika Lord and Talus Laing.
3rd place: École Saint-Joseph (Wawa): Bianca Forbes, Dominic Roberts, Jarred Domich, Seth Smedts and Démily Thibodeau-Bello.

Individual:
1st place: Tyler Morden, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa), Nicolas Lafrenière, École Saint-Joseph, Wawa) and Spencer Terris, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)
2nd place: Dimitri Lévesque, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)
3rd place: Sunil Cotterill, École Saint-Joseph, (Wawa)

Secondary school Category:

Teams:
1st place: École secondaire Saint-Joseph (Wawa): David Sabourin, Michael Lévesque, Kyle Mills, Connor Langille and Steven Poulin.
2nd place: École secondaire de l’Orée des Bois (Dubreuilville): Zayn Rancourt, Austin Pinard, Jean-Luc Maj, Alexa Rouleau and Nicola Bélanger.

Individual:
1st place: David Sabourin, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)
2nd place: Kyle Mills, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)
3rd place: Michael Lévesque, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa), Brandon Gagné, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa) and Connor Langille, École Saint-Joseph (Wawa)

Students from Wawa’s École Saint-Joseph have acquired a reputation for their passion for chess, a discipline that requires considerable strategizing in addition to memory and problem-solving skills. By hosting this friendly francophone tournament, the school is seeking to promote the game and help Northwestern Ontario youth to discover both this discipline and develop their chess skills.