The “Big Dog” Mini-Scholastic Chess Extravaganza was held in Rapid City at South Canyon Elementary on January 21st. The 3 round mini tournament was part of a series of Rapid City scholastic tournaments organized by Randy Christensen.  There were twenty-nine chess players and all games were rated by the US Chess Federation.In the K-12 section Keanan Richter of South Middle School won with a perfect score of three in three games. On tie breaks Connor Bernard won second and Brian Updike took third both with a score of two. Savannan Reiss and Nick Lust also had a fine tournament winning two out of three of their games.
In the K-5 section Isaiah Morin-Baxter won all three of his games for the clear first place win. Dalton Eckman won second place and Alexis Crumb won third on tie breaks both with a score of two. Nathan Eldridge and Nate Allen also won two out of three of their games.
In the K-3 section Dylan Chase from South Canyon takes first place on tie breaks with a score of 2.5 of 3 games. Leo Flynn of Corral Elementary took second place by drawing his first game with Dylan Chase and winning the other two. Jocelyn Konechne of South Cannon Elementary won third place and Pedro de la Rosa also of South Cannon won forth.
The tournament was directed by Mark Derby.  Jerry John Casteel assisted with setting up and directing.
To see some photos <click here> If you took photos please forward them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Games can be seen at: www.sdchess.org/chess_games/039_game_of_the_week/index.htm