MORE THAN A MATCH CHESS TEAMS SHOW SOME GOOD MOVES.

Byline: Daily News

SANTA CLARITA - Seven young Santa Clarita chess players tested their skills at a tournament with more than 1,300 competitors during the CalChess Championships held April 12 in Santa Clara.

Their combined score of 24 wins and only 11 losses led to six individual trophies and one team trophy.

Kevin Casey and Jackson Stallings were perfect (5-0) in the Primary (K-3) Championship section. They share the title of CalChess Primary Champions with a player from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sammy Kennedy and Brendyn Estolas also earned trophies in the Primary Championship section and contributed to the total team score of 16 points (out of a possible 20), good enough to tie the famous Mechanics Institute Chess Team, which has coaches at the Grandmaster and International Master levels.

In other sections, Shoma Heid competed in the kindergarten through third grade Junior Varsity section, while his brother Yuji Heid and Ian Hurst both earned ninth place trophies in the kindergarten section.

A small group of young chess players also made a quick trip up to Bakersfield for the Western States Scholastic Chess Championships held March 29-30. The 10 players took home 11 trophies including their two team wins.

The results in Bakersfield were impressive. Sean Cosley of Mitchell Elementary earned third place among the kindergartners and first-graders. In the 76-player second- and third-grade section, Santa Clarita players took three of the top five spots.

Stallings finished second for the third year in a row, while Sammy Kennedy and Michael Cosley finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Their combined effort beat out several teams of five players, winning them a 5-foot, 6-inch trophy and the title of Primary Club Champions.

Meadows Elementary was missing its fifth player in the fourth- through sixth-grade section, but still wound up with fifth place. Sean Reader's 12th place finish (out of 136) led the team, with Justin Farr placing 17th. Becky Kennedy and Johnny Kennedy also finished with impressive scores.

All of these players train at the California Youth Chess League Training and Tournament Center in Valencia. The nonprofit organization teaches chess to over 1,000 children in 25 schools in and around Santa Clarita. For information, call [phone], or visit the CYCL Web site at www.cycl.org.

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(1 -- 2) Above, a CYCL chess team, Kevin Casey, left, Jackson Stallings, Brendyn Estolas and Sammy Kennedy, hold a trophy from the CalChess Championships in Santa Clara. Sean Cosley, left, displays his trophy from the Western States Scholastic Chess Championships in Bakersfield.