Given a choice, fifth-grader Cole Anderson would rather play chess than do anything else. Cory Iwan, also a fifth-grader, and Nolan Bernard, a fourth-grader, agreed that it is even better than recess.

The Grandview Elementary School teammates returned Monday from the 2008 National Bert Lerner Elementary Chess Championship in Pittsburgh. The team, made up of Cole, Cory, Nolan and two other boys, Michael Knudson and Matt Wingert, placed 19th nationally in the blitz division. Michael, a home-schooled third-grader, placed 23rd in the blitz division.

Randy Christensen, their coach and counselor at Grandview, admires the boys' perseverance and concentration.

"I'm proud of all the kids," Christensen said. He said it was a tough competition, especially against the kids from New York, where chess is part of the school's curriculum.

Here, chess is an extracurricular club. To keep their skills sharp, the students meet once a week to play against their schoolmates.

Christensen said about 100 children participate in the school's chess club.

"They love it; it draws them in, and it's neat to see them play," he said.

Christensen said video games don't evoke conversation like chess does - during practice.

At nationals, the competition unfolds in silence, and games can last as long as four hours.

"They have to sit and concentrate for a couple of hours, and if they lose, they have to pick themselves up and play another game," Christensen said.

For some, it was their first time going to nationals.

"It was kind of exciting but kind of nervous," Nolan, a rookie, said.

He won two games, and he got the autograph of grandmaster Susan Polgar, one of the top-ranked women chess players in the world.

Other grandmasters at the competition included Josh Waitzkin, about whom the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" was made.

Cory and Cole, both veterans of the national championships, won four and two games, respectively, though they faced a challenge in playing others at the same skill level, Christensen said.

This was Grandview chess club's fourth year at nationals, and it won't be their last.

"We let them know South Dakota can play chess," Christensen said.