Checkmate
The Belen Jesuit Chess Team has had a stellar year, winning 1st place team and 1st place individual in 4 local tournaments. The local tournaments have also garnered the team 5 other trophies. Belen achieved 1st place team in the four-tournament cycle of the Miami Country Day School Grand Prix. The South Florida cycle of competition was crowned by Belen winning 1st place team in the Open division of the Regional Championship, and 2nd place team and individual in the Under 1000 division of the Regional Championship.
This has been a year of new accomplishments for the Chess Wolverines, with the team earning its first-ever trophy in the extremely difficult Open division of the State Championship; the Wolverines came in 2nd, against a field of much more highly rated players.
Belen Jesuit concluded the 2017-2018 season by winning its first national team trophy, coming in 7th out of 42 teams in the Under 1600 division of the US High School Championship, and Captain Justin Izquierdo winning a trophy for placing 16th out of 244 individuals in the same division.
Brandon Vila achieved two personal best performances: a perfect score in a tournament, as well as first place individual in a tournament with a classical time control.
Carlos Ariza achieved a new personal best, and achieved 1st place individual in a tournament division for the first time.
After achieving several new personal best scores throughout the year, Aidan Pevida won 1st place individual in the Miami Country Day Grand Prix series and achieved a positive score at Nationals - all in his first year as a chess competitor.
New personal best scores were achieved throughout the year by Daniel Corrada, Jonathan Gomez, Rafael Llaneza, Matthew Johnson, and Jack McClintock throughout their first year as chess competitors. Maximus Garcia achieved a new personal best tournament performance.
Personal best ELO ratings were achieved by Miguel Lombardi, and Luke Swisstack. Captain Justin Izquierdo graduates with a rating of 1573, making him the highest-rated Wolverine in the team's recorded history.
Congratulations to the Belen Jesuit Chess Team for a year of ground-breaking accomplishments!
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.