Blazers take state chess championship

Two Blair sophomores tied for first place at the Maryland High School Chess Championship on Sunday, February 2.

Three competitors won first place in the tournament.

Daniel Aisen and Eric Ma were the two Blazers who won. Both Aisen and Ma earned cumulative scores of 4.5 for the five rounds in which they competed– four wins, one stalemate.

The national tournament will be held in Ohio in less than a month. Ma was selected to compete in this tournament as the representative from the state of Maryland.

Four Blazers in total competed in the championship, which was held in Severne Park, Maryland. The championship brought together about fifty of Maryland's best high school chess players.

Although the victories of these Blazers were unaffiliated with Blair's chess team, the team itself is amassing significant successes this season. "We usually have weekly matches against other schools," said chess team sponsor Leslie Van, "and we are still undefeated."

Due to their triumphant record, five members of the chess team will accompany Ma and compete in the national tournament in Ohio as a team.