The Dalton K-1 chess team made a clean sweep of the major tournaments by winning the K-1 Championship at the Burt Lerner National Elementary Chess Tournament in Atlanta May 7-9.  In December this same team won the First Grade section at the National Scholastic K-12 Championship in Texas.  In January they won the New York City Championship, in March they won the New York State Championship and now they have capped it all with a victory in the biggest national chess event of the year.  Our K-3 team in Atlanta was only a point and a half out of first, tied for fourth but taking home the sixth place trophy.  A lot of the credit goes to our amazing outside coaching;  Grandmaster Miron Sher, Women’s Grandmaster Alla Grinfeld and Women’s International Master Beatriz Marinello were significant contributors to our success.  I would also like to say that the Dalton chess parents are the best in the country.   No other parent group is as cohesive, supportive and generous as the Dalton parents.  I am also very grateful to Ellen Stein and her staff, and to Janet Shaw, Head of the First Program, for making all this possible.  This has been a great year for Dalton chess.