Sun-News Reports

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LAS CRUCES - Monte Vista Elementary first-grader Mia Allison is a few moves ahead of her classmates. Most older students, too.

The young chess enthusiast on Thursday simultaneously played six members of the La Academia Dolores Huerta Charter Middle School chess club. Mia went 5-1.

The exhibition was part of a celebration of the success of the LADH chess club, which formed this year. LADH is a dual-language and arts-based charter middle school primarily serving families in poorer neighborhoods.

Mia, 7, said she first learned to play chess at the Boys and Girls Club of Las Cruces and now hones her skills twice a week at the Las Cruces Chess Academy. Mia has played in local, state and international chess tournaments and said some of her most difficult matches are against her older brother Brady, 9.