Last Saturday saw a new elementary school state champion team in the Sabattus Elementary School team. All four players on the team were new to tournament scholastic competition. Team members were Jeffrey Thompson, Jon Landry, Jake Landry, Forest Parks, Christina Gosselin, Christine Oliver and Charlie Agnew.

The state elementary school competition will be held Saturday, March 28, at Orono. It is rumored that Aaron Lewis, state elementary school champion, may try for a title at junior or high school level. If he does, we may well see one of the Sabattus team members become the new 1992 state elementary school champion.

The Deer Isle-Stonington High School Mariners captured their third consecutive Hancock County League Chess Championship. During the 1991-92 season they finished 8-0, winning both matches with Ellsworth High School, George Stevens Academy, Mount Desert Island High School and Bucksport High School. The team has a 20-match League winning streak going back three years.

Senior Ian Stewart led the Mariners at board one with a 9-2 result. He recorded his 50th high school career win Feb. 13 and will take a 51-16 record into the State Team Championship event today at Bates College in Lewiston.

Second board Dan Larabee, a junior, had a 12-1 season. Other players on the 12-man squad are Andrew Wendell, Dickie Larrabee, Christian Blastow, Trevor Harrington, Jeremy Rissi, James Brey, Keith Hutchinson, Aaron Eaton, Sarah DeGiazio and Howard Hutchinson. All won one or more games for the school this season.

In this position from the Cunningham-Elliott postal game, White played Rd7+ and Black resigned because he must lose his Queen and eventually more material. Players should study crucial endgame and middlegame positions to develop an eye for combinational possibilities. Kostyev’s “40 Lessons for the Club Player” is a good book about chess strategy and tactics in practical play.