Members of the Hudson Memorial School Chess Club took part in and hosted the 2025 New Hampshire Scholastic Chess Championships at the school on Saturday, March 29, where they finished with a second place trophy.
This was first time the team had competed in the event and it was the first year the club has been established.
Jay Palmieri, a Math Interventionist at the school took up the task of becoming a Chess Club Advisor after getting the green light by the principal to move foward with the program.
Seven students from Hudson Memorial took part in the 2025 Championships, with the school hosting 78 chess players from throughout the Granite State ranging from kindergarten to grade-12.
The Hudson students competed in the Junior High division, where they captured second-place team title. In that division nearly 25 players faced off through four rounds of games where tallied team points against other players of varied experience. About a dozen of the players where given a rating of between 2,119 to 206, which was scored from participation in past tournaments. The Hudson crew where all new-comers this year and given a novice rating.
One winner from each division of the State Championship moved onto the national championship.
The winner of the Junior-High division was Hrishikesh Vedula, who had a 2,119-point rating and will move onto the Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions in Wisconsin in July.
Hudson students competing in the tournament were: Grayson Tuton, Ryan Collins, Ben Drown, Brad Gonthier, Zach Patmos, and Logan Caiazzo and Max Burgess.