By Matan Prilleltensky
December 15, 2010
Josua Colas
Photo Polly Wright
Heading into the final day of K-12 Nationals, there was everything to play for in Orlando, with scholastic stars around the country vying for individual and team titles. The 7th grade section was among the most watched, with White Plains standout Josh Colas leading a chasing pack that included Lilia Poteat, Vaughan Mc Donald, and NM Justus Williams. A sense of balance accompanied the leader, who combined confidence with the understanding that “anything can happen”.
His key 6th round encounter with Lilia Poteat reflected the excellent progress this player is making. Josh recently started working with Alex Stripunsky, and credited his improved opening repertoire to the strong Grandmaster. He identified the finish as “nice tactical moves” that capped off a complex struggle.
National K-12 Championships, 7th Grade
White: Poteat, Lilia
Black: Colas, Joshua
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Qc7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nd2 d5 8.O-O e5 9.Ne2 Be7 10.h3 O-O 11.f4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 Nd5 13.Bc1 f5 14.N4g3 e4 15.Bxe4 Qc5+ 16.Kh1 fxe4 17.Nxe4 Qc4 18.N2g3 Nf6 19.Nc3 Nc6 20.Be3 b5 21.a3 Bb7 22.f5 Qf7 23.Qe2 Rfe8 24.Qf2 Bd6 25.Nge2 Qh5 26.Bb6 Ne7 27.Nd4 Qxh3+ 28.Kg1 Qh2# 0-1
With a full point lead heading into the last round, Josh sealed the deal in a hard-fought draw with Isaac Bareyev, one of IS 318k’s leading scorers. This gives Josh his first national championship in ‘slow’ chess, with more surely to come. Josh was “very serious” before nationals, elevating his study habits in pursuit of first place. Congratulations to a worthy winner!
In the 7th grade team championship, it was the strength of IS318k that carried the day. (Full disclosure: I spent the weekend working with this wonderful group. I am not their coach, not their teacher, and not a school employee). WFM Elizabeth Vicary’s squad ran 15-deep in this section, and scoring members Justus Williams, Isaac Bareyev, and Alex Bradford set a 16.5 tally that was not matched. Alex made a mockery of his 1500 rating, and headed into the final round challenging for first, while Justus shrugged off a slow start to finish with 6, demonstrating mental strength and maturity. The Ramaz school was 2.5 points back with a strong 14, while Colas’ White Plains Middle School took third with 13.5.
12th grade saw Bronx Science run away as team champions by an amazing 4 points, led by individual champion NM Raven Sturt. The former New York Knight took a slender lead into the final round, ahead of a chasing pack that included perennial scholastic champion IM Marc Arnold (more on him later). Would Sturt aim for a draw with black against John Williams, to secure a share of first place?
National K-12 Championships, 12th Grade
White: Williams, John
Black: Sturt, Raven
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.g3 g6 10.b3 Bg7 11.Bb2 Rb8 12.Nd2 Nb6 13.Ne4 O-O 14.f4 d5 15.exd6 cxd6 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.O-O-O Nxc4 18.Qd3 f6 19.bxc4 d5 20.Nd2 Qb4 21.Nb3 dxc4 22.Qd6 Qc3+ 0-1
Raven Sturt
Evidently not. This emphatic attack gave Raven clear first place and a storybook ending to his grade nationals career.
Bronx Science’s other scoring members, NM Nitai Leve and strong expert Richard Tuhrim, meant it was always going to be an uphill battle for the opposition. Rushing to catch a flight after the final round, Tuhrim attributed the team’s success to “Just being better than everyone else.” Enough said. Gilbert HS of Arizona took second, while Stuyvesant (New York City) was third.
Another player finishing his nationals career didn’t get the result he was aiming for, but nonetheless caught my attention. IM Marc Arnold of Columbia Grammar, finishing with 6/7 in 12th grade, is a rare example of an internationally titled player laying reputation and rating on the line in national scholastics year after year. Marc takes pride in “doing well for my school and my city” and believes in his ability to win every game. He also takes the idea of being an ambassador for chess very seriously, and seeks to raise the game’s profile and prestige in his school.
High drama marked the 11th grade team championship, with just half a point separating the first three teams. The balanced attack of Solomon Schechter Westchester (NY) ultimately carried the day, edging out University High (Irvine, CA) and Bergen County (NJ) in the final round.
The Solomon Schecter squad
Photo Polly Wright
Scoring member Josh Abady credited the team’s victory to the progress its players made: “We all jumped since last year; two players went up some 300 points, and we became a more solid team”. Josh liked this sacrificial attack over J.T. Wagner in an early round:
National K-12 Championships, 11th Grade
White: Abady, Josh
Black: Wagner, J.T .
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Nxe5 Bxd1 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Bxg8 h6 9.Ng6+ Kf6 10.Nxh8 Bh5 11.Nc3 c6 12.Be3 Be7 13.Bd4+ Kg5 14.f4+ Kxf4 15.O-O+ Kg4 16.Be6+ Kh4 17.g3+ Kg5 18.Be3# 1-0
Vincent Huang of University High (the second placed team from Irvine, CA) took the first place trophy on tiebreak over Michael Boris Vilenchuk and Michael J Fang. Huang won a solid last round as black over Solomon Schechter’s leader Ben Gershenov.
National K-12 Championships, 11th Grade
White: Gershenov, Ben
Black: Huang, Vincent
1.Nc3 d5
2.d4 Nf6
3.Bg5 Bf5
4.f3 c6
5.Qd2 Nbd7
6.Nh3 h6
7.Bh4 Bh7
8.Nf2 e6
9.e3 Be7
10.Bd3 O-O
11.Bxh7+ Nxh7
12.Bxe7 Qxe7
13.O-O e5
14.Rfe1 Rad8
15.e4 dxe4
16.fxe4 Nb6
17.d5 Qc5
18.Qe2 cxd5
19.exd5 f6
20.Rad1 Nxd5
21.Nxd5 Rxd5
22.Rxd5 Qxd5
23.Rd1 Qxa2
24.Qb5 b6
25.Ne4 Ng5
26.Nd6 Rd8
27.b3 Qxc2 0-1
Christopher Heung
Photo Polly Wright
10th grade saw one of the most dominant individual performances of the tournament: Christopher Heung raced to 6-0 and made a last round draw with fellow Floridian Adam R Miller to take clear first. Heung got things started with a crushing attack in rd. 1 and never looked back.
National K-12 Championships, 10th Grade
White: Heung, Christopher
Black: Douthitt
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.f3 c6 6.Qd2 b5 7.Bd3 a6 8.Nge2 Nbd7 9.Nd1 e5 10.c3 Rb8 11.O-O Bb7 12.Nf2 d5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Bd4 Ned7 15.e5 Ng8 16.e6 Ndf6 17.exf7+ Kxf7 18.Ng4 Nd7 19.f4 Bxd4+ 20.Nxd4 Ndf6 21.Ne5+ Ke7 22.Nexc6+ Bxc6 23.Nxc6+ Kf7 24.Nxd8+ Rxd8 25.f5 Ne7 26.Qg5 Rhg8 27.fxg6+ Ke8 28.Qxf6 Kd7 29.gxh7 Rge8 30.Bf5+ Kc7 31.Rae1 Rd6 32.Rxe7+ Rxe7 33.Qxe7+ Kc6 34.Bc8 a5 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Rh6 37.Qd7+ Kb6 38.Qb7# 1-0
The 10th grade team championship saw Horace Mann (NY) prevail in a tight battle over Whitney Young (IL) and Taos Academy (NM). Horace Mann scoring member John Maguire deserves special mention, stepping above his 1540 rating to contribute 4.5 huge points. Justin Karp and Michael Chiang also posted solid contributions for the 10th grade national champions.
9th grade saw an interesting mix: A runaway team and individual logjam. TXS031 (TX) flew the Lone Star flag in Orlando, their lineup of Brandon Flores, Jose Luis Urrutia Jr, and Jason Daniel Sauceda taking the national championship back to Texas. University School (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and Gulliver (Miami, FL) took 2nd and 3rd respectively. Things were less simple in the individual race! Sam Schmakel, John Lodge Hughes, Nicholas Rosenthal, Azeez Alade, Yuta Kakutani, and Luciano Aguilar all tallied 5.5 points to tie for first. Schmakel, of Whitney Young Chicago, IL, took the first place trophy on tiebreaks. This sharp third round win with black over Albert Ho shows the Chicago junior’s attacking style.
National K-12 Championships, 9th Grade
White: Ho, Albert
Black: Schmakel , Sam
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.O-O O-O 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Kh1 Bd7 10.f4 Rc8 11.Nb3 a6 12.a4 Nb4 13.Bf3 h5 14.h3 Bc6 15.Rf2 Qc7 16.Nd4 Rfd8 17.g4 hxg4 18.hxg4 d5 19.e5 Ne4 20.Rh2 g5 21.Qe1 e6 22.Rh5 Qe7 23.Kg2 f6 24.Qh1 Be8 25.exf6 Qxf6 26.fxg5 Qe5 27.Nce2 Rxc2 28.Nxc2 Nxc2 29.Bf4 Qxb2 30.Rb1 Qa3 31.Rh3 Ne3+ 32.Bxe3 Qxe3 33.Qg1 Qxg1+ 34.Kxg1 Nxg5 35.Rg3 Be5 0-1
Special mention goes to Azeez Alade, who was unbeaten against tough opposition en route to his 5.5. (For more on Azeez, see Elizabeth Vicary's blog.) This early draw against John Lodge Hughes, who finished second on tiebreaks, shows Azeez’s unusual mix of solidity and invention.
National K-12 Championships, 9th Grade
White: Hughes, John Lodge
Black: Alade, Azeez
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.Bd3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Qc2 h6 12.O-O-O hxg5 13.Bh7+ Nxh7 14.Rxd8 Rxd8 15.h4 Be7 16.hxg5 Nxg5 17.Ne5 Bf6 18.Ng4 e5 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 1/2-1/2
I also encourage you to check out Melinda Matthews’ wonderfully personal report on Nicholas (Nicky) Rosenthal’s road to the first place tie. His quick smile, ever-pleasant demeanor, and natural attacking style make it impossible not to root for him. Check out his playoff games for the Miami Sharks, where he carved up higher rated players with joyful abandon. He even likes hockey!
Eighth grade saw another tie at the top: Bryan Hu, Michael William Brown, and Michael Bodek all reached 6/7, with Hu narrowly taking the 1st place trophy on tiebreaks. This key 6th round win as black over Brown shows Bryan creatively generating counterplay after the opening:
National K-12 Championships, 8th grade
White: Brown, Michael William
Black: Hu, Bryan
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.g3 d6 8.Bg2 Bg7 9.Nf3 O-O 10.Rb1 Nbd7 11.b3 Qa5 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.O-O Nb6 14.Nh4 Bb7 15.e4 Nfd7 16.Qc2 Ba6 17.Rfd1 Ne5 18.Bf1 Qa7 19.a4 Bxf1 20.Rxf1 Rfc8 21.Nb5 Qa6 22.f4 Ng4 23.h3 Nf6 24.Nc3 c4 25.Rfe1 cxb3 26.Rxb3 Nxa4 27.Ra3 Qb6+ 28.Kg2 Nxc3 29.Rxa8 Rxa8 30.Bxc3 Qc5 31.Qb2 Qc4 32.Re2 Nxd5 33.Bxg7 Nb4 34.Bc3 Ra2 35.Bxb4 Rxb2 36.Rxb2 Qxe4+ 37.Nf3 f6 38.Bc3 Qc4 39.Bd4 e5 40.fxe5 fxe5 41.Bf2 Qe4 42.Rb6 Qd5 43.Be3 Qa2+ 44.Kg1 Qe2 45.Bh6 e4 46.Rb8+ Kf7 47.Ng5+ Ke7 48.Rb7+ Ke8 49.Ne6 e3 50.Bg5 Qf2+ 51.Kh1 Qf3+ 52.Kh2 Qxb7 0-1
Michael Bodek attributed his membership in the 6/7 group to his improved play over the past year. In addition to studying more, he has “started to take lower rated players far more seriously”. This win over Kevin Rosenberg reflects that: Michael calculated carefully and won a nice game over an outrated, but dangerous opponent.
National K-12 Championships, 8th grade
White: Rosenberg, Kevin
Black: Bodek, Michael
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.O-O-O d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Rb8 15.Bc4 Qc7 16.Bb3 Rfd8 17.Qf2 a5 18.g4 Qb7 19.c3 a4 20.Bxa4 Nf4 21.Ba3 Nd3+ 22.Rxd3 Rxd3 23.Nc5 Rxc3+ 24.Kb1 Qa7 25.Bb3 Bxb3 26.bxc3 Bc2+ 27.Kxc2 Qxa3 28.Kd3 Rd8+ 29.Kc4 Bf8 30.Rb1 Bxc5 31.Qxc5 Qxa2+ 32.Rb3 Qa6+ 0-1
Michael also won the individual blitz, making a successful weekend for this talented and modest Solomon Schechter student.
The 8th team championship went the way of the 7th grade title mentioned in the beginning: To Brooklyn powerhouse IS 318k. With an 11-player lineup led by strong A players Danny Feng and Joel Ogunremi, it was always going to be difficult to challenge their strength in depth. Danny, Joel, and Randy Rivera all scored 5/7, leading their team to the title by two points over St. Michael’s School of Wheaton, IL. I was lucky enough to analyze with all three of these talents over the weekend, and they should all go on to strong careers in high school chess. Randy won a fascinatingly deep game in the last round, where he judged his king could race to the kingside and promote its pawns while leaving the queenside to its fate.
National K-12 Championships, 7th Grade
White: Levitt, Samuel
Black: Rivera, Randy
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.O-O Ngf6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nxf6+ Bxf6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Re1 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Qxf3 13.gxf3 O-O 14.Be4 c6 15.c4 Nf6 16.Bc2 Rad8 17.Rad1 Rd7 18.Re2 Rfd8 19.Red2 c5 20.Ba4 Rxd4 21.Rxd4 cxd4 22.Kf1 Kf8 23.Ke2 Ke7 24.c5 e5 25.Kd3 Nh5 26.Kc4 Nf4 27.Bc2 g6 28.b4 Kf6 29.Be4 Rd7 30.b5 Kg5 31.c6 bxc6 32.bxc6 Rd8 33.Kb5 f5 34.c7 Rc8 35.Kc6 fxe4 36.Kd7 Rxc7+ 37.Kxc7 exf3 38.a4 Nh3 39.a5 Nxf2 40.Rf1 e4 41.Kb7 e3 42.Kxa7 e2 43.Rg1+ Ng4 44.h4+ Kxh4 45.Rh1+ Kg5 46.Re1 f2 47.Rxe2 f1=Q 48.Rb2 Ne5 49.a6 Nc6+ 50.Kb7 Qf3 51.Ka8 d3 52.Rb5+ Kh6 53.Kb7 d2 54.Rb2 d1=Q 55.Rh2+ Kg7 56.Kc7 Qf4+ 57.Kc8 Qd8+ 58.Kb7 Qfc7# 0-1
Third place was taken by the Spence School (NY, NY), a historic achievement for this all-girls team. Leading scorer Julie Flammang thought her group intimidated opponents used to playing against male opposition. Scoring member Kyler McVay noted that “boys are more fun to beat!”, a sentiment echoed by Natalie Berger and Romy Lassiter.
The Spence all-girls team with coach
Fide Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky
The 6th grade team title, in a close encounter, made it a clean sweep for IS 318k, which won every team title it was eligible for (6th, 7th, and 8th grades). Congratulations to the kids for a simply remarkable achievement. Markus Pond led his group with 5/7, followed by Teraab Feaster and Anthony Asseviro with 4 and 3 points respectively. Greenwich CDS (CT) and University School (Fort Lauderdale, FL) tied for second with 10 points, with Greenwich edging it on tiebreak.
The race for individual first ended in a big cluster scoring 6/7: Atulya Vaidya, Kesav Viswanadha, Kendrick D Nguyen, Agata Bykovtsev, and Michael Gianatasio all hit the magic number. Vaidya topped on tiebreak. See his dashing final round attack with white against Joshua Kowal:
National K-12 Championships, 6th Grade
White: Vaidya, Atulya
Black: Kowal, Joshua
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 O-O 10.Nf3 Re8 11.O-O-O b5 12.h3 Nb6 13.Rdg1 a5 14.Ne5 Bb7 15.g4 Nfd7 16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.g5 h5 18.f4 Bf8 19.Bh7+ Kh8 20.g6 f6 21.Qe2 Qf5 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.Qxh5 Bb4 24.Rg4 Be7 25.Bg8+ 1-0
Cameron Wheeler
Photo Polly Wright
The massive 5th grade section (178 players!) saw Cameron Wheeler post a performance to remember. His 6.5/7 was good for clear first, coming from six wins and a last round draw. Wheeler shows his strength in all phases of the game with this key win over James Wei:
National K-12 Championships, 5th grade
White: Wheeler, Cameron
Black: Wei, James
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 g6 5.d3 Nge7 6.Be3 d6 7.Qd2 Bg7 8.Bh6 O-O 9.h4 Kh8 10.Bxg7+ Kxg7 11.h5 Ng8 12.Nf3 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Ne2 e5 15.O-O-O b5 16.f4 Rb8 17.hxg6 fxg6 18.Rdf1 Bd7 19.Bh3 Qc8 20.f5 d5 21.Qg5 Qd8 22.f6+ Rxf6 23.Qxe5 Bxh3 24.Rxh3 dxe4 25.Nxd4 Rbb6 26.g4 h6 27.dxe4 a6 28.Rhf3 Qd6 29.Qxd6 Rbxd6 30.c3 b4 31.e5 Rxf3 32.Rxf3 Rb6 33.c4 Ne7 34.c5 Rb8 35.e6 Rf8 36.Rxf8 Kxf8 37.Kc2 h5 38.gxh5 gxh5 39.Kb3 a5 40.Ka4 h4 41.Nf3 h3 42.Kxa5 Nc6+ 43.Kb6 Nd4 44.c6 Nxe6 45.c7 Nxc7 46.Kxc7 Ke7 47.a4 bxa3 48.bxa3 Kf6 49.a4 Kf5 50.a5 Kf4 51.a6 Kxf3 52.a7 Kg2 53.a8=Q+ Kg1 54.Qa1+ Kg2 55.Qb2+ Kh1 56.Kd6 h2 57.Ke5 Kg1 58.Kf4 h1=Q 59.Kg3 Qg2+ 60.Qxg2# 1-0
This standout doubled as team lynchpin, leading his Regnart Elementary School (Cupertino, CA) to first place in the team standings. Udit Iyengar’s 6 and Pranav Srihari’s 5, along with Cameron’s 6.5, gave their team an impressive 17.5 points. Second and third were taken by PS 124 (NYC, NY) and Churchill Road School (VA), with 15 and 14 points respectively.
Fourth grade yielded another clear winner, Thomas Knoff’s 6.5/7 edging out a 5-player group with 6. Interestingly, no state appears twice in this section’s top 8, a true kaleidoscope of talent enriching the tournament. The same is true of the top 3 in the team standings: Lee John Gilyot, Charles Korndorffer, and Stephen Crocker of Stuart Hall School for boys will be taking the title back to Louisiana on tiebreaks. They edged out, also with 13 points, Scicore Academy (NJ) and Joseph A Williams Elementary (FL), who took second and third respectively.
Moving down the grades just means the kids get smaller; it doesn’t make the competition any less fierce! The third grade team championship was hotly contested, Hunter College Campus School (NY) pipping Dalton (NY) by half a point. Hunter Coach Sunil Weeramantry identified Sophia Zhang as the team anchor, and her 6/7 combined with Max Andras Selendy’s 5 and Inko Bovenzi’s 4 (or Bram Emmanuel Ellant’s 4, if you prefer) for a strong 15 point haul. Third place was taken by NEST+m (NY), just another half point behind Dalton with 14.
The individual standings saw another clear winner, Brandon Nydick justifying every point of his 1894 rating by scoring 6.5/7. He was half a point behind Daniel Asaria in the last round, but rose to the occasion to overtake his rival and take the title. Some adults could learn from the fighting spirit the kids show!
Of course, that doesn’t mean kids aren’t allowed to draw. Josiah Paul Stearman and Marcus Ming Miyasaka each raced to 6-0 in the second grade section, splitting the point with each other in the final round to finish with 6.5/7. Tiebreaks were kinder to the Californian, Stearman taking the second grade first place trophy over Miyasaka. If you score 6.5 points, nobody can say you were lucky! Congratulations to both.
Dalton took top honors in the team championship, Beaudoin Hudson, Auggie Bhavsar, and Sam Pozner/Atticus Young Chang Lee (both had 4.5) leading their team. The atmosphere in the Dalton team room must be seen to be believed: World class players (GM Miron Sher, GM Robert Hess) spend their days analyzing the games of players of all levels – starting with relative beginners – with the utmost care and attention. A massive speaking tiger (apologies if it is a Lion), apparently the team mascot, features on the table closest to the door. “Sometimes it interjects when David (McEnulty, the team coach) is speaking, to everyone’s considerable amusement” one parent noted. WIM Beatriz Marinello, one of Dalton’s coaches, touched on the differences between working on chess and working with kids on chess. “The children need to be before chess; each individual student is different, so there is a different way to talk to everyone. You also have to be very mindful of their emotions.” Second place was taken by NEST+m (NJ), with PS6 (NYC) rounding out a northeast-heavy list in third.
When I asked Dalton’s coach David McEnulty for his weekend’s stories, he graciously referred me to the triplets (!) who took the first grade championship a point and a half ahead of his Dalton team. “My hats off to them. . . I am amazed and impressed by what they have managed to accomplish”. Constantine, Nicholas, and Andreas Oskipper of Scicore Academy, Princeton Junction (NJ) all delivered solid performances to become the first group of triplets to win a national team championship.
Look out for Polly Wright’s sidebar feature on this talented trio in the
print edition of Chess Life!
In the individual standings, Joaquin Perkins justified his top seeding with a tremendous 6.5/7 performance. This favorite, who also won the Kindergarten championship last year, lived up to his billing and will be taking the title home to the Golden State Congratulations!
Last but certainly not least, the section filled with newcomers taking their first steps in chess: Kindergarten! Oak Hall, of Gainesville, FL, marched to the team title with 14 points. Avery Bernstein (their only rated scorer) and Nicholas Dang each notched 5/7, while Frederick Huang contributed four solid points. The short trip back to Gator-land must have been pleasant for this group.
Kindergarten co-champs check their height against their new trophies.
Photo Polly Wright
The individual kindergarten championship left two kids tied at the top: Peter Brendan Crowley and James T Cooper each recovered from a mid-tournament loss to score clutch wins on the final day and finish with 6-1. On tiebreak, Crowley will take the trophy back to North Carolina.
Congratulations to all the winners – I hope to be back at this massive chess festival next year!
Used with permission: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10901/611/
