Gainesville schools dominate 2025 Florida chess championships

Mar 21, 2025 4:30 pm
Oak Hall's K-8 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, earning 12 points total. Courtesy Tim Tusing
Oak Hall's K-8 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, earning 12 points total.
Courtesy Tim Tusing

Gainesville students sliced through the competition at the 2025 Florida State Scholastic Chess Championships, with Oak Hall School, the Frazer School and Queen of Peace Catholic Academy winning seven of the eight team championships.  

Oak Hall led the way with four first-place victories for the K-8, K-5, K-3 and K-1 sections. The Frazer School won the K-12 section and the K-8 Under 1000 section while Queen of Peace took the K-3 Under 600 and a second-place finish in the K-1 section. 

For the K-5 Under 600 section, the Frazer School earned second and Oak Hall got third.  

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International Master Bach Ngo, a Frazer School student, won the K-12 Individual Champion title with a perfect five out of five performance. Fellow students Abhiram Pothuri and Jerry Yoa earned third and fifth for the individual championship while Eastside High School’s Nate Niegler got seventh place.  

For the K-5 championship, Sophie Li, who earned her Women’s FIDE Master title in 2024, led the way for Oak Hall and got 2nd place individually. Four other Eagles joined her in the top 10, including Aakash Jani in third, Damian Alexander in fourth, Addison Baumstark in sixth and James McDonald in ninth. 

In the K-1 championship, eight Gainesville students packed into the top 10 individual places, including six Oak Hall students and a student each from Queen of Peace and Millhopper Montessori School.   

Gainesville students in the top 10 individual places for the K-1 section 

  • Suraj Jani in 2nd for Oak Hall 
  • Harry McLellan in 4th for Oak Hall 
  • Hayden Webb in 5th for Oak Hall 
  • Alexander Petrovic-Wang in 6th for Millhopper Montessori School   
  • Bradd Mckey in 7th for Queen of Peace 
  • Levi Merkel in 8th for Oak Hall 
  • Natalie Roth in 9th for Oak Hall 
  • Leon Wu in 10th for Oak Hall 

In December, Oak Hall and the Frazer School brought three national chess championships back to Gainesville.  

Oak Hall's K-5 team dominated at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, winning by 11 points. Courtesy Tim Tusing
Courtesy Tim Tusing Oak Hall’s K-5 team dominated at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, winning by 11 points.
Oak Hall's K-3 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, with a six-point margin to second place. Courtesy Tim Tusing
Courtesy Tim Tusing Oak Hall’s K-3 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, with a six-point margin to second place.
Oak Hall's K-1 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, helping Gainesville schools sweep 7 of the 8 team championships. Courtesy Tim Tusing
Courtesy Tim Tusing Oak Hall’s K-1 team won at the Florida State Scholastic Championships, helping Gainesville schools sweep 7 of the 8 team championships.
Oak Hall's K-5 Under 700 team earned third place at the Florida State Scholastic Championships. Courtesy Tim Tusing
Courtesy Tim Tusing Oak Hall’s K-5 Under 700 team earned third place at the Florida State Scholastic Championships.

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  • Seth Johnson

    Seth Johnson is a Mainstreet Daily News reporter based in Gainesville. He earned a degree in journalism and mass communication and served as editor-in-chief of his school newspaper. Seth is a bookworm and chess nerd, but he tempers these activities by playing sports and biking.

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Ragnar Lothbrook

Public school students???¿

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Anon

No, all private except the one from Eastside HS.

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