Coquille Chess players with trophies back row Devin Johnson, Stephen Mast, Seth Perkinsfront row Kaitlyn Davidson, Hailey Riley, Jessi Ross, Josiah Perkins, Sarai Perkins (by Nancy Keller)

Coquille wins 4 trophies at  United States Chess  Federation Supernationals  Tournament  Despite being outside  during a tornado warning,  torrential flash flood rains  and playing chess in  drenched clothing, the  Coquille Chess players  racked up a few more trophies  to add to their collection.

During April 2nd  through April 5th were four  days of intense battles with  5000 scholastic players from  all over the nation in  Nashville, Tennessee. When  the dust settled after seven  games lasting up to four  hours each, Josiah Perkins  had won 11th place in the  K-3 division and Jessi Ross  had won 12th place in the  K-12 division. Both lost  only a single game. Josiah  lost to the first place winner  in his division, but unfortunately,  a minute strategic  mistake cost Josiah the  game

Tie breakers put him  at 11th place after that single  mistake. Coquille High  School Team scored 11th  place in the K-12 team division  despite being a young  team of 9th and 10th grade  players. Jessi Ross, Seth  Perkins, Tasha Keller and  Stephen Mast played some  intense games. Stephen  played some games over 3  hours. Prior to the main  event, there were 12 games  of Blitz tournament chess  using the new chess clocks  partially funded by Coquille  Rotary.

The clocks had a  workout during the 5 minute  chess games that required  quick thinking and a quick  tap of the clock when the  move was completed. Devin  Johnson won first place in  the K-9 U1000 division  showing his quick thinking  skills.  The tournament was held  at the Gaylord Opryland  Resort which has over 2000  rooms and three giant atriums  containing lovely gardens  and waterfalls. The  size did cause problems in  groups getting lost as they  tried to navigate to the playing  halls.

After the  Bughouse tournament, the  chess team walked to the  nearby mall to get a quick  dinner in before the Blitz  tournament. Gray skies did  not worry the Oregonians  and after their meal, they  headed back to the hotel in  warm rain but dark skies,  thunder and lightening.  Then a tornado type system  invaded the area and torrential  rains flooded the chess  players who found themselves  running through  water inches high on the  ground. When they arrived  back at the hotel, they found  everyone in emergency shelters  due to tornado warnings.  News reports were of  overturned cars and people  stuck on the roofs of their  cars to escape flooded  streets. They were thankful  that all that happened to  them was getting wet.

Once  the tornado warning ended,  the chess players were not  willing to risk the torrential  rain to head to their nearby  hotel, or risk being late for  the Blitz Tournament event,  and instead played 12  rounds of blitz in wet clothing  and wrapped in towels.  The main tournament  was held the following three  days and with dry clothes  they navigated the city size  hotel, found their seats in  city block size halls containing  thousands of players.  They got to meet a variety  of people.

During the opening ceremonies  at the Grand Ole  Opryhouse, Garry Kasporov,  the greatest chess player that  ever lived and a true chess  legend, gave rousing opening  remarks resulting in a  standing ovation. Astronaut  Greg Chamitoff also gave a  speech on how chess helped  motivate him towards  obtaining goals like becoming  an astronaut. He had  been playing chess in space  against voted moves on the  USCF website.

It has been  the longest space chess  game and has made chess  "universal." During the  event, chess grandmasters  gave seminars. Chess legends  like Susan Polgar and  Yury Shulman gave autographs  and spoke with the  current group of prodigy  chess players. The Coquille  Chess team now has four  large trophies and need to  figure out how to get them  home on the plane.