April 15, 2009 > Chess team wins national championship Chess team wins national championship Submitted By Nicole Steward Mission San Jose Elementary (MSJE) is now the reigning National Elementary School Chess Champion. Students recently traveled to Nashville to compete in the National Scholastic Chess Championships. MSJE competed with 22 teams in the K-6 Championship section, while a total of 80 teams competed in other K-6 sections of the competition. In addition to winning the K-6 Championship section, MSJE took ninth in the K-5 Championship section and ninth in the K-3 Championship section. First grader Joseph Wan captured fourth place in the K-1 section. Fourth grader Armaan Kalyanpur and sixth graders Hemang Jangle, James Kwok, and Jerome Sun all tied for 13th in the K-6 Championship section. The match was not without excitement. With two rounds to go, MSJE was in third place with 13 points and a maximum of eight more possible points. They scored seven out of eight possible points in the last round to accumulate 20 points and a clear first-place finish!