Students from two St. Louis schools that utilize the "Classroom Chess" curriculum developed by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis experienced the thrill of playing chess at the same tables in the same room where the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship is taking place. Championship competitors were taking their rest day Friday.

Fourth-grade students from City Academy squared off against King of Glory Lutheran School in south St. Louis at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The King of Glory team won and was awarded a trophy.

The children were given a tour of the facility and instructed about tournament etiquette and how to use tournament clocks. The students not only were able to play their games at the U.S. Chess Championship competition tables, but got to see the action on the closed-circuit televisions at the Chess Club.

Classroom Chess is a fourth grade through sixth grade curriculum developed by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The students participate in Classroom Chess for one hour each week for nine weeks.

Back at Round 8 of the Championship today, Kamsky and Onischuk are paired on Board 1, and Robert Hess is facing Yury Shulman. Aside from the usual suspects, much attention seems to be on Hess as the rising star, and Michael Brooks looking toward his GM norm but pitted against Hikaru Nakamura, who has been tearing through the tournament.