Texas Chess Association’s 2019 Texas Girl’s State Championships were held on Saturday, October 5th, at the South Texas Academy for Medical Professions campus in Olmito, located just north of Brownsville. 156 participants participated in the one-day event. Girls as far away as Austin and Houston played. When the day was done there were new champions in each of the five divisions!

Five divisions had championships! In the Kinder -1st division the undefeated champion was Mia Ramirez from Garden Park Elementary, Brownsville. In the Primary division we had the first of two co-champions. Both had 4.5 points; Addison Gonzalez from NL Trevinio in Edinburg, and Sahithi Kommuri from Colony Meadows Elementary, Sugarland. In the Elementary division Sunny Zhang from Olmito Elementary, Olmito, won the outright title with a perfect score of 5 points! Co-champions were crowned in the Middle School division with Emily Ham from Morris Middle School in McAllen and Violette Uviedo from Manzano Middle School in Brownsville; both gaining 4.5 points.

In the High School division, Lauren Tovias from Harlingen South of Health Professions in Harlingen, was the outright winner with 4.5 points. Lauren also won the $3,000 scholarship which was graciously offered by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The high school senior plans on attending the university next fall and wants to be a future member of the UTRGV Collegiate National Championship team.

Many thanks to the beautiful school, the wonderful volunteers, the hard-working TD crew, and especially to Noemelch Lumang, who’s help was timely throughout the process.

Team Champions

  • High School- Veterans High School Brownsville.
  • Middle School- Manzano Middle School.
  • Elementary- Our Lady of Sorrows McAllen and Ben Brite Elementary Brownsville.
  • Primary- Our Lady of Sorrows McAllen.
  • Kinder-1- Garden Park Elementary Brownsville.

Individual Champions

  • High School- Lauren Tovias, 4.5/5.
  • Middle School- Emily Ham and Violette Uviedo (Co-Champions), 4.5/5.
  • Elementary- Sunny Zhang, 5.0/5.
  • Primary- Addison Gonzalez and Sahithi Kommuri (Co-Champions), 4.5/5.
  • Kinder-1- Mia Ramirez, 5.0/5.

Submitted by Chief Tournament Director Victor Bailey.