Bed-Stuy Students Finish Second in the Nation at the All-Girls National Chess Championships
Contact: Liz Baker, 646-902-4200 [email protected]
Bed-Stuy Students Finish Second in the Nation at the All-Girls National Chess Championships
Success Academy Bed-Stuy Middle School 8th grader Geah Jean Baptiste finishes fourth in the country, beating out dozens from famed chess schools such as Dalton and Chapin
NEW YORK, NY — Success Academy Bed-Stuy Middle School took second place in the Under 14 Division at the All-Girls National Chess Championship in Chicago this weekend. The team beat out eight competitor schools including Dalton and Chapin.
Success Academy’s highest performers this weekend were SA Bed-Stuy Middle School eighth grader Geah Jean Baptiste, who started playing chess in kindergarten at SA Bed-Stuy 1, finished fourth out of 61 players in her division, and eighth grader Jessica Hyatt who tied for seventh position.
Jessica is Success Academy’s highest-rated player and recently took first place at New York State Chess Championship. As a female and an African-American, Jessica’s performance defies the statistics: both groups are underrepresented in the game of chess. Jessica has experienced rapid growth in her playing since the fall, moving from a rating of 1538 to 1904, an increase of 369 points. She hopes to be the first African American female chess master and is currently ranked among the top ten black women chess players in the country.
SA Hudson Yards Middle School finished in third place in the Under 12 Division, beating eight competitor schools such as the Trinity School and Hunter College Elementary. The SA Washington Heights team tied for sixth place in the Under 10 Division, beating nine competitor schools.
“I’m thrilled with the team’s performance. Geah, in particular, played incredibly strong this weekend,” said SA Bed-Stuy Middle School Chess Teacher, Tyrell Harriott, who has taught chess to both Geah and Jessica since 2015. “Next up, Junior High Nationals!”
In two weeks, Success Academy will be sending two of the top three ranked teams to the 2019 National Junior High Championship in Grapevine, Texas. SA Hudson Yards Middle School and Bed-Stuy Middle School are currently first and third in the rankings going into the tournament.
***
ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public K-12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 47 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 17,000 students, primarily children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 74% receive free or reduced-price lunch, 94% are students of color, 16% have disabilities, and 8% are English language learners. Success Academy schools received more than 17,700 applications for 3,288 open seats for the 2018-19 academic year.
For more information about Success Academy, go to Successacademies.org and virtualtour.successacademies.
SA Bed-Stuy Middle School eighth grader Geah Jean Baptiste at the start of a chess round before going on to place fourth in Under 14 Division at All-Girls National Chess Championship in Chicago Sunday.
Share
