National K-12: finals

Final results are in from Orlando. Trash talk: were I allowed to play hors concours at age 54, I am confident I could win the 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-grade sections, and I think I could be competitive all the way through eighth grade. (But against the high schoolers, I'd be hopelessly outclassed.)

Congratulations to Sam Schmakel, who tied for the 11th-grade title: unofficially, Sam is second on tiebreaks.

 Nathaniel Kranjc and Gavin McClanahan tied for fifth in the 10th-grade section.

Matthew Stevens tied for second in the 6th-grade section.

Shreya Mangalam was playing for the 4th-grade title in the final round.

Stolen from NM William Aramil's Facebook page:

Nationals in Orlando has officially ended. Overall, it went pretty well. I didn't find anytime to go to Disney World though.

Whitney Young won a National Blitz Championship!! Two players placed 4th and 5th. Two pairs of teammates came in 3rd and 4th in bughouse. The Seniors came in 4th place as a team in the main tournament.

Sam Schmakel did it AGAIN and is a National Co-Champion for all 11th graders!! He was a champion his freshman and sophomore year of high school. Can he win next year and make it a clean sweep for all four years of high school? I don't think it has ever been done!?

Overall, most players played well and gained rating points. Good job to the Whitney Young team!

4th grade - another tough section

Alex Yasumoto (1265) won all five games in the 46-player fourth-grade section, winning his game against top seed Shreya Mangalam (1501) in the fourth round.  Shreya tied with Emmett Madigan, David Wallach, Aayan Patel, Edward Zhang, Jason Li for second with 4 points. Alan Wang, Shashank Hirani, Ryan Wong each scored 3½-1½.

In several of these sections, I'm seeing some pretty good players who are not among the top finishers....

Again, here are the MSA crosstable on the USCF site and the organizers' results on PlyCount

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"At Chicago chess tournament, girls rule the board"

Caeley Harihara of Rogers Park is a freshman at Payton 

Photo: Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

Nice coverage in this weekend's Trib.

Local highlights:

Caeley Harihara (photo above) was playing on the top board in final round of the 16 & Under Section.  She lost to 16U winner Lilia Poteat of New York, and finished tied for third with 4-2.

Anjali Toly tied for second in the 12 & Under section, finished 5-1, and gained a bucket of ELO.

Miranda Liu (post-event rating 1675!) scored 5-1 in the 10 & Under Section, finishing tied for third in a 59-player field.

Shreya Managalm (already 1397!) "only" scored 4½-1½ in the 8 & Under Section: Shreya won her first four games, drew the second-place finisher in round 5, and lost to Maggie Ni of Texas in round 6.

Crosstables here.  The KCF All-Girls National Championship (organized by the Kasparov Chess Foundation and Renaissance Knights) drew 230 players in six sections.  And the event will return to Chicago next year!

Jason Daniels wins Grade 2-3 section

162 players!!  Crosstable here.

Top-ranked Jason Daniels (1576) was held to a draw by Si Li (1019) in round 4, but won all other games to take clear first with 6½-½.  Shreya Mangalam, Sean Yu Li, Brian Gong, Kushal Mungee, and Ivan Mitkov tied for second with impressive 6-1 scores.

Gary Janssen and Donna Wallach directed for Bubbacat Chess.