Chess players from Stevenson Elementary meet their astronaut challenger

For six months, the Stevenson Elementary chess team played in a match that was out of this world.

The game turned down-to-Earth after one of its contestants, astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, returned from space in April.

Chamitoff started the match in October, while he was on board the International Space Station setting up a science-laboratory module. The Canadian-born astronaut has been a sort of spokesman for chess since photos surfaced of him playing a game onboard the orbiting space vessel.

NASA and the United States Chess Federation eventually agreed to set up a publicity match that pitted Chamitoff against the Stevenson Chess team.

"They're darn good players," Chamitoff said.

Stevenson has been on a roll in recent years at the National Scholastic Chess Championship. The team clinched a national title in the K-3 Championship division in 2008, won first in the K-3 U800 section in 2007, and earned a national title in the K-5 Championship section in 2005.

The streak continued this year, with the school winning a national title in the K-5 Championship section and placing first in the K-5 U900 division.

Chamitoff initially squared off with the Stevenson students via satellite, but he's come face-to-face with them several times since returning from space.

The two sides met once in April during the National Chess Championship in Nashville and again on Thursday at the Museum of Flight.

Chamitoff has been on his own in the longstanding chess battle, but his opponents get to collaborate – both with themselves and the public at large. They come up with three candidate maneuvers per turn, and then let the public vote on the final action.

This makes for a rather long game, as the typical move and counter-move can take over three days.

"We've had some good ones," said Stevenson team captain Jiayi Hu, 10. "Since we have so many people, only one of us has to come up with a good idea."

The team from Stevenson lead by two pawns on Thursday, but Hu wasn't counting out his opponent just yet.

"His pieces are more active," Hu said. "Ours are tied up in a close space."

Chamitoff says the students are winners no matter how the match ends.

"They're powerful players," he said. "It's really neat to see the value that chess is having in their lives. It has them thinking about how to strategize and problem solve."