MADISON – Even with holiday gatherings and family activities, Chess Club members at Rainbow Elementary School squeezed in time during December to participate in the Chess Puzzle Contest.

“Rainbow elementary held its December Chess Puzzle Contest to challenge kids to see who could solve the most chess puzzles on the ChessKid.com website — even over the holiday break,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett serves as Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.

“This (activity) was a great way for our kids to keep up their chess skills and exercise their brains,” Bartlett said.

Marek Fries claimed the title of Rainbow King of Chess Puzzles by solving 2,421 puzzles. Rainbow Queen of Chess Puzzles is Caroline Wang, who solved 506 puzzles.

Contest coordinators also named a king and queen for each grade level. To qualify, each of these students had to rank in the top 10 for their grade:

* Kindergarten — King Brantley Davis and Queen Isabella Wang.

* First grade– King Tyce Crosswy and Queen Emma Kuang.

* Second grade — King Holland Lang and Queen Sarah Rydbom.

* Third grade — King Louis Johnson.

* Fourth grade — King Marek Fries and Queen Caroline Wang.

* Fifth grade — King Owen Lang and Queen Mable Danh.

* Sixth grade — King Austin Holden and Queen Rachael Ehrman.

These students were recognized during a special awards ceremony in the Rainbow cafeteria on Jan. 5.

Bill Nash, Will Stevenson and Nancy Brandon are coaches for the Rainbow Chess Club.

In other achievements, Rainbow elementary had two teams that won first and second place in the Primary (K-3) division at the state scholastic tournament in March 2017.

For information about chess activities in the community, visit madisonchess.com.