Three-Peat: Chess Team Claims Third Consecutive State Championship Title

Tara Kurkal, Tiktok Account Manager| March 30, 2023

Courtesy of Murali Yellamraju

Smiling, the chess team poses with their 3rd State Championship trophy. All six members scored in the top 20 out of around 150 competitors. ” It’s been a very amazing experience playing with the same people and seeing us all improve together,” Ambica Yellamraju ’23 said.

The Westwood Chess Team competed at the Texas Super State Chess Championships held at the Convention Center in McAllen, Texas from Friday, March 3rd to Sunday, March 5. Accumulating a total of 24 points, the team continued their three-year streak of being the Texas High School Chess Champions.

Students Ambica Yellamraju ‘23, Aparna Yellamraju ‘23, Ganesh Kumarappan ‘23, Rohit Gundam ‘24, Rithvik Polavaram ‘24, Pranay Singh ‘24 and Kalia Wang ‘26 all competed and ranked in the top 20 out of 154 people in the individual matches.

“[The competition] was definitely very rewarding and it’s a great way to end [my] high school career as a chess player,” Aparna said. “It’s definitely great community building and when you’ve grown up with these people you know you can rely on [them].”

Kumarappan, Ambica, and Polavaram each received a $1000 college scholarship for their high performance.