Nicollet chess team wins national championship

The Nicollet Middle School chess team brought home a national title after traveling to Orlando May 9-11 for the National Middle School Chess Supernationals. 

The Knights took home first place in the U1100 portion of the competition. They were led by Charlie Doll, who finished first individually, and Franklin Briceno, who took second place. Other medalists on the team were Austin Avery (13th place) and Torin Gherke (19th), along with team members Keiran Martin and Gabe Torgerud. 

Nicollet’s U600 team of Jonas Lane, Jose Avila, Jack Christman and Wayland Slinkard took second place at the competition. 

In the blitz competition, Gracin Mathews medaled, leading the Knights to another second place finish. 

The U700 team of Clayton Jenstad, Jon Hampon, Elijah Rosas, Mike Krasnakutski and Blake Bennet placed third. 

At the U900 level, Nicollet placed 6th behind Alex Rossow, who went undefeated and finished 11th individually. Miles Malundo medaled in the U900 division, finishing 24th place. Other team members are Dylan Torgerud and Hamza Kedir. 

At the U1200 level, Jon Nguyen placed 7th individually. 

“The kids were absolutely amazing in how they represented District 191,” said head coach Brian Ribnick. 

In all, 21 Nicollet students competed at the tournament. 

Ribnick receives national chess educator award

Chess in the Schools, a non-profit organization that promotes chess education for low-income youth, announced Nicollet Knights head coach Brian Ribnick as an Andy Lerner Award for Excellence in Chess Education winner. The award recognizes educators’ impact on the chess community and students, with alignment to Chess in the Schools’ mission and the values of youth enrichment through chess education. The award comes with a $10,000 prize and will be presented at a ceremony in New York this spring.