Tanuj Wins Primary (1-3) Section

First grader Tanuj Vasudeva, the nation's top ranked six year old and National K-1 Co-Champion, won the 1-3 Varsity division of the CalChess Scholastics with an impressive 5.5/6 score. As the top seed, he beat the 2nd place finisher in round 2 and scored wins against two of his top three rated competitors in the final rounds. Afterwards, he proudly showed off his trophy, which was merely two inches shorter than he (see photo at left)! The Bay Area has many prodigies that we've come to know by their first name: Jordy, Vinay, Danya and Nicholas. Tanuj already has a head start to becoming the next star.

Let us not lose sight of the other talented players in the 1-3 division. The average rating of the top 10 trophy winners was over 1360! Many elite players began their chess career as a beginner; Joel Benjamin quintupled his 500 rating from 1st grade as moved up to Grandmaster. While Tanuj shows the most promise, maybe a future GM is named Armaan, Allan, Cameron, Aaron, Kesav, Vignesh, Darren, Alvin or Kevin. If names count for anything, then perhaps Chester has a leg up on everyone else.

Final Standings of 1-3 Varsity

1. 5.5 Tanuj Vasudeva (1577) -- 50 BayAreaChess.com Dollars
   
2. 5.0 Armaan Kalyanpur (1334)
3. 4.5 Allan Beilin (1538)
4. 4.5 Cameron Wheeler (1325)
   
5. 4.5 Aaron Chow (1354)
6. 4.5 Kesav Viswanadha (1494)
   
7. 4.5 Chester Lo (1233)
   
8. 4.0 Vignesh Panchanatham (1472)
   
9. 4.0 Kevin Tang (1231)
   
10. 4.0 Wolfgang Wehle (1084)