On Saturday, April 28, Alessandro Monteros, Jordan Taramae, Jesse Cervantes, Jon Ancona, and Brandon Thornton - five members of our very own John Muir chess club-competed in the Southern California Invitational High School Chess Tournament, held at Temple City High School. Among the various other schools represented were South Pasadena, Maranatha, and of course the home team, Temple City.

Competition got off to a rough start in the first round, but by the end of the third round all of our players had won two of their three games. The team finished the fourth and final round of regular play with an overall record of 14-6, almost a 3-1 average!

After the playoff for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes was completed, it was announced that there was a tie for the 1st place team prize between the host, Temple City and – you guessed it - John Muir! After a brief discussion, our team decided that it would be best to have a three on three match-up: our three best players against theirs (which happened to be their only three). The team that had 2 or more victories would be crowned winners, and after a quick random pairing of opponents, the teams squared off.

It was a tough fight, but Temple City narrowly prevailed by scraping out 2 wins (must be home-court advantage) and the Mustangs had to settle for the silver. Any member of our team - especially captain Brandon Thornton - will tell you we had the stronger squad and that we should’ve won; the team was just a couple bad moves away from winning. However, despite the initial feelings of frustration, it was definitely a successful tournament; we still beat out South Pasadena, Maranatha, and George Washington Prep (among others). Maybe next time we’ll bring home the gold. Do you know when Muir last brought home a chess trophy? I didn’t think so.

Thanks to its coaches, Mr. Maldonado (who took the team to the tournament on Saturday) and Mr. Landreth, the club is flourishing. Saturday was a great day for Muir but it’s only the beginning; the John Muir Chess team is around to stay, and that’s not the last trophy it’s going to get!