Exclusive | Checkmates: Plucky Brooklyn public school kids trounce private school foes to land national chess trophy

The kings of the elementary school chess world now wear backpacks from Brooklyn.A team of six public school students from PS 130, The Parkside School in Windsor Terrace, pulled off a brainy upset for the ages this month — taking home first place at the 2026 US Chess National Elementary K-6 Championship after toppling some of the nation’s most elite schools.The pint-sized prodigies traveled to Baltimore earlier this month and outmaneuvered roughly 2,500 students from 35 states at what organizers called one of the largest scholastic chess tournaments in recent memory.“It was a really huge event, and the equivalent of our Super Bowl as chess players,” Alexis Paredes, the school’s program director at Impact Coaching Network, told The Post.The six-player squad — made up of fourth- and fifth-graders between ages 10 and 11 — clinched the coveted K-5 Championship section title, the highest honor an elementary school can win at the national level.And they didn’t just squeak by.“PS 130 won by a full two points,” Paredes, 29, said proudly.“And one of the best parts is that we’re a public school in Brooklyn that beat some of the top private schools in the country.”That included powerhouse competitors like Hunter College Elementary School and Speyer Legacy School here in Gotham.The championship capped off a dream season for the Brooklyn brainiacs, who also snagged first place at the New York State Scholastic Championships in Saratoga Springs back in March.“Winning first place in New York State and then nationally showed these kids that all their practice, discipline and dedication truly paid off,” the native New Yorker said.The tournament itself was a marathon of mental warfare: seven grueling rounds played across three days (May 1-3) at Baltimore Convention Center. Teams accumulated points throughout the competition, with PS 130 finishing with 19.5 points out of a possible 28 — comfortably ahead of the pack.For Paredes, the victory was especial...