Ryan Phillips Chess

Joseph Neal Simul at End of Year Party

Thanks to the Joseph Neal team for inviting me to their end of the year party! We had a great time with excellent food and intense chess matches. I played a simul against the tournament team, who put up a great deal of resistance in all of their games. I’m excited for next season and a chance to go for the 4-Peat in the CCSD District Championship.

3-Peat for Joseph Neal!

Congrats to Joseph Neal STEAM ES on winning the CCSD district tournament for the third year in a row! The team finished 24-3 over three rounds, overcoming missing their tenth player due to sickness. I’m really proud of the team, it’s been an honor getting to work with them. Mr. Galante does a great job assembling the team, and I teach them every Friday for about five months leading up to their competitions.

Congrats to Olivia, t-2nd at girls State Championship!

Congrats to Olivia Jaramillo for a great performance at the Nevada Girls State Championship! Olivia scored 4/5 at the Lake Tahoe held tournament, finishing in a tie for 2nd place. I am really proud of all the hard work Olivia put into her chess, and I look forward to seeing her future results!

Neal ES Wins CCSD Tournament!

Congrats to Neal ES on a first place finish at the most recent CCSD Tournament. The team finished with 25 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws en route to an extremely strong performance. Congrats to all the kids for their hard work, I’m really proud of how the team progressed this year!

2024 State Championship Success!

Great day at the State championship yesterday! Congrats to Nathan for finishing 4th in the high school division, Steven for being on the first place Clark team, Matthew and Daniel for tying for 3rd in the middle school division, LIED MS for winning first place in the middle school team division, Aden, Idan, Lucas and Holden for tying for 6th place in the K-5 division and Joseph Neal finishing 3rd in the team division. Also, Titus tied for 8th place in the K-3 division, and as his mom mentioned, he was the only kindergartener in the entire event.

I’m really proud of all the kids, I hope they’re proud of themselves for all their hard work over the last couple of years. The state championship is getting more competitive over the years, we didn’t have an 1800 rated middle schooler when I was competing many years ago, and that student didn’t even win.

Congrats to all the players, parents and organizers for making this a fun event. I believe we’ll do even better next year!

Students Great Results!

We had two separate Scholastic chess tournaments in Las Vegas this weekend! Many of the kids had fantastic showings with Daniel winning his section. In the CCSD middle school tournament, LIED MS, who I’ve been working with for a few months now, finished first place in the team section. They also had seven kids win either first, second or third in their division. Matthew, competing for Sig Rogich, went 6/6, showing incredible chess as his team finished in second place. I’m really proud of all the kids, their passion for chess is exemplary, and I can’t wait to see how they do in the future!

Fifth Chess Meetup April 15th Hill Park!

Our fifth chess meetup was held on Saturday, April 15th 2023 at Hills Park. I believe this was our best one yet with kids from varying schools attending to celebrate chess! I wanted to thank everyone for their support of the chess program and classes, I believe we’ve built a great structure to further the grow of our young chess minds. I’m excited for our next chess meetup, which will likely be in either September or October, I look forward to seeing you at the next one!

2023 Scholastic State Championship at Del Sol Academy

The 2023 Scholastic State Championship was held on March 4th, 2023 at Del Sol High School. The tournament was divided into four sections, K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12. Ryan Phillips Chess had a great day as Aden and Lucas tied for 2nd place in the K-3 section and Idan finished in sole 6th place. In the K-5 section, Joseph Neal, a school I’ve been coaching for approximately the last four months, finished in 2nd place in the team division competition. Nolan was the top scorer for Joseph Neal, finishing in a t-2nd in the K-5 division. Another student of mine, Evan finished in a t-10th place. In the K-8 section, Matthew and Jonathan finished with 3/5 points with Matthew winning the biggest upset prize in his section. In the K-12 section, two students I coach are on the 2nd place Clark Team. Nathan, Steven and Bryan t-7th place, and I think they are trending to do even better next year. I wanted to thank all the students who worked so hard for the past year or two, all their hard work showed during the competition.