Ridgecrest Elementary’s chess team is proving a force to be reckoned with, earning top honors in state tournaments.

At the Utah State Elementary Chess Tournament this spring, Ridgecrest’s Chess Champs secured fourth place overall—the best finish among public elementary schools and just half a point from second. Standout grade-level performances included second-grader Beckham Rawle taking first, his first-grade brother Max placing sixth, fifth-grader Bronson Karr finishing ninth, first-grader Flint Pugh at 11th.

Soon after, 10 Ridgecrest players competed in the PowerChess State Elementary Tournament and placed second—again, only half a point from first. Beckham won the K-3 section, and Max tied for first in K-1. 

Bronson is a consistent competitor.

“I learned how to play the summer after second grade against my brother, and I loved it,” he said. “But Logan destroyed me every single time. So, I decided to learn how to play the game well. Once I started beating him consistently, he stopped playing. Actually, he’s doing other things in his life. I play on chess.com, but I like playing against other kids at school; it’s much more fun.”

Bronson trains with an online coach and practices several hours daily.

“I practice lots of openings. My favorite is King’s Indian. It's defensive, so they have control, but when they make one wrong move, I can just start attacking them and destroy the whole position,” he said. 

Mistakes still happen.

“At state, I blundered one game because I miscalculated, and then against another person, I made a mistake with my pawn. Still, I got ninth, so that's pretty decent,” Bronson said.

He skipped the PowerChess event to train for competitive downhill skiing, where he earlier won his age group at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard intermountain division championships.

“I want to become an Olympic skier and I want to become a chess master: I'm just going to try my hardest and work as hard as I can,” Bronson said.

Next he will join his teammates, the Rawle brothers, at nationals.

“Chess is a calming sport; I just think about all the moves. My focus is on beating everyone, but also having a good time,” Bronson said.

Fifth-grader Safron Schneider, who has played Bronson, knows his competitiveness: “Bronson has good strategies; he thinks moves ahead.”

She also competed at state.

“I was nervous, but I was also super excited, because I love doing tournaments,” Safron said. “I scored better at state than I did last year. It’s fun because more of us went to the tournament and celebrated together.” λ