Chess isn't just for boys

Fremont girls prove chess isn't just for boys
By Linh Tat
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 05/24/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

FREMONT — Chess may be a male-dominated game, but earlier this month a female-dominant team from Weibel Elementary School achieved what was quite possibly a first: It took home a top prize from this year's National Elementary School Chess Championships.

The students — Alisha Chawla, Joanna Liu and Serafina Show, all 8 years old, along with teammate Michael Wang — tied with another team for first place in the K-3 division at nationals, held in Atlanta. The Weibel team also placed third in the K-6 overall championship.

Another Fremont school, Mission San Jose Elementary, which was last year's overall champion, placed second in the K-1 division, fourth in K-3, third in K-5 and ninth in the K-6 overall championship. It was the only team in the nation to have Top 10 placements in all four divisions, Coach Joe Lonsdale said.

Alan Kirshner, who has coached the Weibel team the past 21 years, hopes this year's showing by the K-3 team will encourage more girls to play chess.

In addition to Alisha, Joanna and Serafina, the K-3 team's alternate, Desiree Ho, was a girl.

"It's hard to find girls in any tournament, but to find four girls, all strong, (on a) team, it's very rare," said Christy Lin, Serafina's mother.

Here is the full article.