Southside Charter Academy attracts children for a competitive game of chess
The 2013 Onondaga City Scholastic Chess Championship brought together parents and children from schools throughout Syracuse and as far away as Buffalo on a recent rainy Sunday.
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The tournament was held Sunday, Nov. 17, in the gym of the Southside Charter Academy.
There were three age groups: kindergarten through fourth grade, kindergarten through sixth grade and kindergarten through 12th grade.
The event attracted more players than usual, according to Anton Ninno, who is the chess adviser at the Southside Charter Academy. He said that there were 63 contestants in total.
“I haven’t seen a tournament this big in 10 years,” Ninno said.
Increased publicity helped make the event more popular this year, which usually has a hard time being successful at a school with a poverty rate around 90 percent, Ninno said. Robert Nasiff, of Syracuse, served as the tournament director.
— All photos and text by Shannon Hazlitt, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications student
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