Cherokee Bend student places in chess tournament

Cherokee Bend fifth grader Riley Smith placed second in his division at the 2012 Alabama Chess Championship held in Decatur in September. He played in the Scholastic division, which is for grades kindergarten through sixth grades, and was the only student from Mountain Brook to play in the statewide tournament.

Riley started playing chess in third grade at The Knight School, an after school program taught by Dr. David Brooks, PhD. at each of the Mountain Brook elementary schools. Riley’s first tournament was a state tournament this past May, and then he went on to compete against 2,200 children in the United States Chess Federation National Scholastic in Nashville.

Riley and fellow Mountain Brook student Samson Sands now play chess with ChessKidsNation, whose teacher, Balagee Govindan, offers a class on Monday evenings at the Emmett O’Neal Library for kids interested in learning about chess and those interested in advancing their game.