K-5 team 3rd in State, K-12 team 7th in State

MCDS had two qualifying teams, K-5 & K-12, as well as an individual in the K-1, in the Florida State Scholastic Chess Championship held in Tampa this April. Upper School Coach Peter Konen & I travelled with the team and were proud of the accomplishments of the Miami Country Day School students.

The K-5 team of Elliot Starkman, James Srebnick, Grant Giovannetti, Filippo Sbroggio, Elliot Surnamer, Sean Finny, & Jackson Jimenez scored 16 points and brought back a 3rd Place trophy in a highly competitive section, finishing only 1.5 points out of 1st Place. Individual honors were earned by two Spartan players: Elliot Starkman won 5 of his 6 matches to finish in 5th Place overall, and James Srebnick performed over 500 points above his current rating to bring home a 9th Place individual trophy. I can still hear the roar from the Spartan team room when he came back from his final round match. These Spartans have worked hard this year and can reflect on a season full of improvement and successes.

 The K-12 team of Pascal Dafinis, Julian Schultz, David Gonzalez, Andre Harper-Rosenberg (6th grader joining the high school team), and Matthew Cohen finished in 7th Place. Dafinis, Schultz, & Gonzalez led the Spartan scoring with a score of 3.0/6.0. Dafinis had a remarkable game against a much higher-rated opponent and posted his game here. Pascal offers insightful ideas for discussion and shows how he was able to perform well against a player that tied for 8th Place in the tournament.

First-grader Chase Giovannetti represented MCDS in the K-1 section and earned a plus score. Chase qualified individually based on his exceptional performance at the South Regional held earlier in the year.