Lexington Middle School student, Grace Bajarias sat nervously amongst the competitors in the high school section of the 2019 South Carolina Scholastic Chess Championships. Grace and her mother, Liza Marie, had decided to play up a division and enter the eighth-grader in the high school section. She wanted to attend the prestigious, Susan Polgar Girls Invitational tournament, and meet the 9th Women’s World Champion. The opportunity was only open to high school competitors, so she would compete against older players.

Grace hoped for a good day and was eager to see how she stacked up against the other talented players. During Grace’s final game she could hear her chess coach Mario Amodeo saying, “sit on your hands”. The advice is dispensed to many scholastic players in an effort to slow them down, to reduce mistakes, and make them think about the position on the board.

The difficulty of the game tempted her to offer a draw, but she played on. The diminutive Lexington Middle School student scored 3 out of 5, finishing 14th, making her the S.C. Female High School Champion and the state’s official representative to the Susan Polgar Girls Invitational.

Not since 8th-grader, Tori Whatley (the plaque’s namesake) had last won the high school section in 2010, had a female middle-school student achieved this feat. Grace will meet Grandmaster Susan Polgar in June and realize her dream of representing our state in this illustrious national event.