Lawton Public Schools hosts Regional Chess Championship

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - Lawton Public Schools hosted their 2nd southwest regional chess championship on Saturday, allowing kids from different high schools to come together for some competition.

There were around 25 kids from surrounding schools participating in the tournament.

Each team selected four players to represent their club and compete.

Jeff Elbert is the current sponsor for the Lawton High chess club and said the event has grown within the last year.

He also mentioned the benefits of a chess club.

“ I hope this inspires schools to get on board with creating chess clubs for our kids, you know there are correlations statistically between having an active chess club in your school and having higher test scores especially in mathematics so it’s a cool thing,” Elbert said.

Elbert also said a lot of the kids he taught to play are now beating him in the game!

Participants who place in the top three will receive a gift card and the champion will receive a brand new chess set.

Copyright 2023 KSWO. All rights reserved.